564 



OATS 



restricted, has the spikeleta in loose panicles, llie 

 glumes as long a- the florets, .ind containing two 

 or more florets ; tin- palc;e (inn, and almost car- 

 tilaginous, tin- outer pale.i of each Horet, or of one 

 or more of the florets, bearing on the back a knee- 

 jointed awn, whirl) is twisted at the base. The 

 awn. however, tends to disappear, ami often wholly 

 disappears in cultivation. Those species which are 

 cultivated as corn-plants have comparatively large 

 spikelets and seeds, the spikelete at least after 

 flowering pendulous. The native country of the 

 cultivated oats is unknown, although most prob- 

 ably it is central Asia. There is no reference, 

 however, to the oat in the Old Testament ; and 

 although it was known to the Greeks, who called 

 it Bromas, ami to the Romans, it is probable that 

 they derived their knowledge of it from the Celts, 

 Germans, and other northern nations. It is a grain 

 better suited to moist than to drv, and to cold than 

 to warm climates, although it does not extend so 

 far north as the coarse kinds of barley. The grain 

 is either used in the form of groats or made 

 into meal. Oatmeal cakes and porridge form great 

 part of the fix id of the peasantry of Scotland and 

 of some other countries. Oatmeal is now more 

 largely used as food amongst the wealthier classes 

 than formerly, hut with the working-classes, alike 

 in town and country, it is losing favour. No other 

 grain is so much esteemed for feeding horses. 

 Besides a large quantity of starch about 65 per 

 cent. and some sugar, gum, and oil, the grain of 

 oats contains almost 20 per cent, of nitrogenous 

 principles, or protein compounds, of which aliout 

 16 or 17 parts are Avenin, a substance very 

 similar to Casein (q.r. ), and two or three parts 

 gluten, the remainder albumen. The husk of oats 

 is also nutritious, and is mixed with other food for 

 horses, oxen, and sheep. From the starchy par- 

 ticles adhering to the husk or teed* after the separa- 

 tion of the grain, a light ditdi, long popular in 

 Scotland under the name of soira&, is made by 

 means of boiling water. The pi am is sometimes 

 mixed with barley for distillation. The Russian 

 beverage called kvast is made from oats. The straw 

 of oat is very useful as fodder, bringing, for that 

 purpo.-e, a higher price than any other kind of 

 straw. 



The varieties of oats in cultivation are very 

 numerous, and some highly esteemed varieties are 

 of recent and well-known origin. It is doubtful if 

 they really belong to more than one species ; but 

 the following are very generally distinguished as 

 species : ( 1 ) Common Oat (A. sntira ), having a MM \ 

 Inn-e panicle, which spreads on all sides, and two 

 or three fertile florets in each spikelet, the palea- 

 quite smooth, not more than one floret awned ; 

 (2) Tartarian Oat (A. oricntu/is), also called Hun- 

 garian Oat and Siberian Oat, distinguished chiefly 

 bv having the panicle much more contracted, and 

 all turned to one side; (3) Naked Oat (A. niida), 

 differing from the Tartarian oat chiefly in having 

 the palete very slightly adherent to the seeds, 

 which, therefore, fall readily out of them, whilst 

 in tin- other kinds they adhere closely; (4) Chinese 

 Oat I A. ehinciuit), which agrees with the last in 

 the characters of the palcip and seeds, but is more 

 like the common oat in its panicle, and has more 

 numerous florets, 4-8, in the spikelet; (5) Short 

 Oat (A. brcrii), which has a close panicle turned 

 to one side, the spikeleta containing only one or 

 two florets, each floret awned, the grains short. 

 Almost all the varieties of oat in cultivation belong 

 to the first and second of these siieeies. The naked 

 oat is cultivate.) in Austria, but is not much 

 esteemed. The Chinese oat, said to have l>en 

 brought by the Itus-inns from the north of China, 

 is prolific, but the grain is easily shaken out by 

 mid*. The short oat is cultivated as a grain-crop 



on poor soils at high elevation- j,, t h,. mountainous 

 jiart- of France and Spain, ripening when- other 

 kinds .l.i not ; it is also cultivated in -ome parts of 

 Furope as a forage plant. Ik ioV- these, there is 

 another kind of oat, the Bristle .pointed < >. 



<. regarded by some botanist* a-- In-longing 

 even to a distinct genus, Danthonia, because the 

 lower pah-a is much prolonged, and instead of 

 merely being bilid at the point, as in the other 

 oats, 18 divided into two long teeth, extending into 

 bristles. The panicle is inclined lo one side, very 

 little branched ; the florets, two or three in a spike- 

 let, all awned, the grain rather small. This plant 

 is common in cornfields, is cultivated in many 

 countries, but chiefly on poor soils, ami WON at one 

 time much cultivated in Scotland, but is now 

 scarcely to be seen as a crop. Not unlike this, 

 but with the panicle spreading equally on all sides, 

 the outer iialen- merely bifid, and long hairs at the 

 base of the glumes, is the \Vild Oat (.1. A''""), 

 which is generally regarded by fanners s a weed 

 to be extirpated, springing lip so abundantly ill 

 some districts as to choke crops of better grain. 

 Its awns have much of the hygrometrical piopcrty 

 which gains for A. uteri/is, a sjwcics found in the 

 south of Europe, the name of the Animal Oat. be- 

 cause the seeds when ripe and fallen on the ground 

 resemble insects, and move about in an extra- 

 ordinary manner through the 1 twisting and untwist- 

 ing of the awns. The seed of the \Vild Oat has 

 been sometimes used instead of an artificial fly for 

 catching trout. Amongst the species of oat useful 

 not for their grain but for fodder are the Downy 

 Oat-grass (A. nubarens) and Yellow Oat grass 

 ( .1. f/in'cjiceii.i't, iHith referred by some botanists to 

 the Deling Trisetum the short awn being like a 

 middle tooth in the bifid palea anil lioth natives 

 of liritain, the former growing on light ground and 

 dry bills, especially where the soil is calcareous, 

 the latter on light meadow-lands. 



Far more ground is occupied with oats in Scot- 

 land than with any oilier giain In all the higher 

 districts it is almost the only kind of giain which 

 is cultivated. Throughout Scotland it is the crop 

 that is chiefly sown after land has been in pasture 

 for one or more years. The seed is generally sown 

 broadcast hv hand over the ploughed hind, which 

 i- afterwards well harrowed and rolled. Sowing 

 by broadcast or drill machines is now hugely prac- 

 tised, and in this case the harrowing is done before 

 the seed is sown. On soils that are infested with 

 annual weeds, such as charlock, it is common to 

 drill the seed, which permits the land to be hand- 

 hoed and thoroughly cleaned. Oats thrive best 

 upon deep and good soils, especially if enriched by 

 dcca\cd vegetable matter. They \ ield but poorly 

 on thin sandy soils, where they sutler sooner from 

 drought than barley, rye, or wheat. The produce 

 i>er acre varies from 20 to over 80 bushels, weigh 

 ing from .'id Ib. to 48 Ih. per bushel. Common 

 yields run from 32 to 56 bushels ; average weight 

 from 40 Ib. to 44 Hi. per bushel. A crop of 45 

 bushels per acre will absorb and carry away about 

 ;Vi Ib. of nitrogen, 46 Ib, of potash, and Ht'j Ib. of 

 phosphoric acid per acre. Few soils, in ordinary 

 tillage, require the direct application of potash for 

 oats. Very light soils are most likely to need it. 

 Superphosphate ,,f lime, and nitrate of soda are 

 suitable manures for oat-"; common quantities 

 being from 1 to '2 cwt. of the former and from J 

 to 1 cwt. per acre of the latter, applied as a ton- 

 dies-ing. The Potato Oat is a \aiiety generally 

 cultivated in the best soils and climates. It is an 

 early and productive variety. The llopetoun Oat 

 i also much sown in the earliest districts. The 

 Sandy Oat is still more largely sown, more par- 

 ticularly when the climate is inferior and wet. It 

 is not liable to be lodged with rains, and the straw 



