546 THE SMALL GRAINS 



durum wheat were shipped to the eastern states for poul- 

 try feed, no doubt chiefly because of its cheapness at that 

 time, though it is of excellent quality for the purpose. 

 To furnish poultry with green feed in winter, sprouted 

 oats is prepared for them. The oats is sprouted in flats 

 in a warm room or in a greenhouse. The rapidly growing 

 roots soon form a tangled mat of the oats. The oats is 

 fed when the sprouts are 4 to 6 inches high. The rate of 

 feeding is a piece of the matted oats and attached green 

 stalks 6 to 8 inches square for each 100 birds a day. 

 Sprouted oats is fed purely as a digestive stimulant, in 

 winter, when other green feed is lacking, and not because 

 of its intrinsic food value. 



CEREALS AS HUMAN FOOD 



The cereals are employed in human consumption chiefly 

 in four ways : (1) as flour and meal for bread, (2) in the 

 form of edible pastes, (3) as breakfast foods, and (4) in 

 malting and distilling. 



590. Development of milling. Since the most ancient 

 times some kind of bread has been made from one of the 

 small cereals, and in the Western Hemisphere from 

 maize. For a very long time the grain was ground on a 

 flat stone, hollowed at the center, over which was rolled 

 another stone of rounded oblong shape, tapering at each 

 end. About the beginning of the Christian era the cir- 

 cular revolving mill stones were first used. The first 

 stones were conical in shape, with a hole at the top into 

 which the grain was poured. The stone was turned by 

 .slaves or a donkey. Later flat stones were employed, 

 and finally the highly finished stone burrs, which prevailed 

 until about 35 years ago. 



