74 THE HANDBOOK FOR PRACTICAL FARMERS 



AVith the aid of tliese standard grades the farmer should be' 

 able to determine the grade of his oats before it is taken to the 

 market. 



Uses of oats. — Oats find their diief use as a horse feed, for 

 which it has a wide reputation. Many horsemen claim that no 

 other feed is equal to oats in maintaining condition and high 

 spirits. A very large precentage of oats jiroduced is used in 

 this way. Oats likewise make a good feed for sheep and cattle 

 but is not suited for hog feed on account of the hull. Oats like- 

 wise have an extensive use as a human food particularly as rolled 

 oats, which, when properly cooked, make one of the cheapest 

 and best food products of the cereals. Long cooking increases 

 both the palatability and the digestibility. Oats have been 

 employed as a human food for many centuries. 



Oat straw is used as a roughage and as such is more valuable 

 than the straw of other cereals. When not used in this way it 

 should be employed as bedding, thus being returned to the soil. 

 Even as bedding it has a value of at least three dollars per ton. 

 Consequently, it should never be burned, as is sometimes 

 practiced. 



Another important use of oats, particularly on the Pacific 

 Coast, is for hay. AVhen so used it is cut in the milk stage and 

 handled and fed as any other grass or legume. When used as 

 ha}^ it is often sown with field peas or vetch. Hay made in this 

 way is very nutritious and is readily eaten by all kinds of stock. 



BARLEY 



Barley, although important as a grain crop, is less so both as 

 a world crop and as a crop in the United States, than either corn, 

 wheat, or oats. It ranks seventh in importance among the crops 

 of both the world and the United States as seen from the data 

 given on page 70. The world's production averages about one 

 and a half billions of bushels, of which Europe produces sixty 

 per cent, Xorth America nineteen per cent, and Asia seventeen 

 per cent, the other continents producing comparatively little. 

 Among the countries, Russia is by far the leader, producing 

 about three hundred and eighty millions. The United States 

 ranks second mth about two hundred millions, with India, Ger- 

 many, Austria-Hungary and Japan following in the order 

 named. Within the United States, the leading states are Cali- 

 fornia, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, 

 as based on the average production during the years 1914-1918. 



