184 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XIII. 



The average produce upon medium soils throughout the United Kingdom 

 cannot, however, be estimated at more than four quarters per acre ; nor 

 the weight than, at the most, 40 lbs. per bushel. 



According to the analysis made by Sir Humphry Davy, the whole quan- 

 tity of nutritive matter contained in 1000 parts of a bushel of Scotch oats, 

 which probably weighed at least 42 lbs., was 743, containing 

 641 parts of mucilage ; 

 15 of saccharine matter ; and 



87 of gluten. 



These analytical tables, it should, however, be observed, can only be received 

 as affording a general idea of the comparative qualities of different kinds of 

 grain ; and the most usual mode of estimating the value of any particular 

 species is by grinding the corn of the same kind, but different weights, into 

 flour, and ascertaining the quantity which it will produce of meal, as shown 

 regarding oats, in the first volume of this work *. 



In the mealing process, the oats, after being previously dried on a kiln, 

 are made to pass through tlie mill-stones, to divest tliem of their coarser 

 husks or " shealings," before being ground. The kernels are then named 

 " grits" or " groats;" and are next ground over again into a coarse rough 

 meal, varying in its fineness according to the custom of different districts. 

 This is afterwards either baked upon a heated iron into thin flat cakes ; 

 or made up with water, usually boiled into a thick consistence, and is eaten 

 either with skimmed milk, butter, molasses, or ale. It is thus very generally 

 used as the common breakfast and supper of the greater portion of the pea- 

 santry of the northern parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and forms 

 a very nutritive and healthy foodf. 



The quantity and the quality of oat straw produced per acre differ, of 

 course, according to the nature of the soil on which the crop is grown. The ; 

 quantity generally bears a proportion between that of wheat and barley ; or, 

 upon an average, about a load of straw may be expected from every 

 twelve bushels of grain ; but the weight depends greatly on the species 

 grown. The quality also varies in the different sorts more than in any 

 of the other kinds of corn ; and this, as it is universally used as fodder for 

 store cattle, is an object of such importance as, in some cases, to occasion a 

 preference being given to the growth of oats, the grain of which is known 

 to be of an inferior species. Thus the kinds known as the common feed- 

 oat have a strong stem, which affords a large quantity of good fodder, while 

 the Tartarian or Siberian, though very productive of grain, yet yields straw 

 of a nature so coarse as to be only fit for litter. Tlie produce of the Polands 

 is small; the red, tlie potato, and the Plopetoun, yield straw which is too 

 reedy to be relished by cattle ; while the late Angus species is both more 

 abundant and superior in quality. 



There is, however, mucli difficulty in ascertaining the merits of the straw 

 of the different varieties, in consequence of the many contingencies to which 

 they are exposed. Some kinds — such for instance as the Polish and the 

 Georgian — grow rapidly in the early part of the season, and soon attain the 

 moderate height to which they arrive ; while the Potato, the Dutch, and early 

 Angus, though also short, are yet later in attaining their growth ; and 

 others — as the Hopetoun and the late Angus — which are taller than tlie 

 former, are also still longer in reaching their full extent. Thus, when the 



* Chap, vii p. 146. 



•j- Surveys of Lancashire, p. 333 ; of Northumberland, p. 85 ; Gen. Rep. of Scotland, 

 vol. i. p. 513 ; of East Lothiao; p. 12; Mid-Lothiau, p. 105; and Surveys of Ireland, 

 passim. 



