CHAPTER XV. 



OATS. 



History. — While the origin of the cultivation of 

 wheat can be traced with some probability to a warm 

 climate and that of ry.e to a cold climate, oats we 

 find occupying an intermediate position. They were 

 not cultivated by the ancient Egyptians or the He- 

 brews as was wheat. Neither the ancient Greeks nor 

 the ancient Romans cultivated them. They were 

 likewise unknown to the ancient Chinese or the peo- 

 ple of India. 



All evidence points to eastern temperate Europe, 

 and possibly Tartary, in western Asia, as the probable 

 place of their first cultivation. They were cultivated 

 by the prehistoric inhabitants of central Europe, but 

 did not appear, it is believed, until long after wheat 

 and barley. Hence they were less important in the 

 early history of our race than either of the last-named 

 crops or rye. When central and northern Europe 

 became civilized the cultivation of oats became vastly 

 more important, becoming in some of the cool, moist 

 climates north the most important cereal used for 

 man's food. In Scotland it occupies one-third the 

 land in cultivated crops, excluding land in pastures 

 and meadows. In Ireland it constitutes one-half of 

 all the grain and green crops. 



Prodactioii, — Oats stand third in acreage and 

 value of product and second in number of bushels of 

 the cereals of the United States. The annual pro- 



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