Leading Cereals and their By-prodnicts. 141 



of a stimulating principle in the seed coats of tlie oat grain. This 

 was supposed to be an alkaloid, varying in quantity in different 

 varieties of oats and also with soil, climate, etc. Sanson concludes 

 that one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of oats will generally contain suf- 

 ficient avenine to exert a stimulating influence on the motor nerves 

 of the horse for an hour. He claims that grinding and crushing 

 the oats destroys or weakens the principle, for which reason 

 ground oats are not as effective as whole oats. Careful investiga- 

 tions by later chemists have failed to discover any characteristic 

 alkaloid, or in fact any nitrogenous compound of indicated char- 

 acter. ^ Thus we are left in uncertainty as to any stimulating 

 principle in oats. Whether found or not, all horsemen will still 

 unite in holding this grain without a peer for nurturing their 

 favorite animals. (456-9, 463, 465) 



Oats are usually administered to horses unground, grinding 

 being necessary only for animals whose mastication is imperfect, 

 and for foals. For dairy cows there is no better grain than oats, 

 but the use of oats in the dairy is often restricted by their price. 

 (642) In Denmark oats are frequently used by dairymen, who 

 sow this grain with barley, feeding the two in combination. (178) 

 For very young pigs oats should be ground and the hulls sieved 

 out because they are too woody. For pigs more or less mature, 

 and for breeding stock especially, some oats, ground or unground, 

 are always in place. (858) 



189. By-products. — In the preparation of oat meal for human 

 food several by-products result. Oat hulls are of low value, as 

 the table shows, being worth little more than the same weight of 

 wheat- or oat- chaff. Their value may be materially greater if 

 broken kernels are found with them. Oat hulls being produced 

 in large quantities at the oatmeal mills and having a low feeding 

 value, are used by unscrupulous feed dealers for mixing with 

 corn meal and other feeding stuffs, the mixture being represented 

 to prospective purchasers as containing ground oats, in evidence 

 of which are the numerous hulls. In purchasing ground feeds, 

 where an admixture of oats is claimed, it is always well to 



» Ldw. Vers. Sta. 36, p. 299; Rept. Conn. Sta. 1891, p. 124; Eept. Me. 

 Expt. Sta. 1891, p. 58, corr. 



