COMMERCIAL FEEDING-STUFFS 



249 



study of the relation of the oat hulls to the kernel in 

 quantity and composition. (Figs. 13 and 14.) 



338. The oat grain, oat hulls. It is common knowl- 

 edge that the oat grain consists of a hull and kernel, 

 which are easily separated. The former is fibrous and 

 tough, and the latter 

 soft with very little fiber. 

 The hull forms a con- 

 siderable portion of the 

 grain. In 1894, the Ohio 

 Experiment Station 

 made a study of numer- 

 ous varieties of oats. It 

 was found that with 

 sixty-nine varieties the 

 hulls constituted from 

 24.6 to 35.2 per cent of 

 the whole grain, the aver- 

 age being 30 per cent. 

 It did not appear, -con- 

 trary to the general 

 opinion, that the pro- 

 portion of hull was larger 

 with light oats than with 

 heavy, although observa- 



FIG. 14. Partial section of oat grain 

 (enlarged 170 diameters). 0, hull; 1, 

 seed coat; 4, gluten cells; 5, starch 

 cells. 



tions elsewhere have sustained the popular view. At the 

 Mustiala Agricultural College twenty-eight samples of 

 Finnish oats and twenty samples from five other coun- 

 tries gave from 28 to 32 per cent of hulls. Wiley states 

 that the average proportion of hull to kernel is as three 

 to seven, which varies with locality. The figures in the 

 next table show the composition of the dry matter of 

 whole oats, oat hulls, and the hulled kernel : 



