DISCUSSION OF RESULTS. 23 



States >amples being 10.73 pounds. Of the 242 domestic samples 

 there are only ~>s which fell below the average (9.07 pounds) of foreign- 

 grown oats in protein content, and furthermore there is only one 

 sample >ut of the 54 foreign-grown oats which has a nutritive ratio as 

 narrow .r narrower than the average of the United States samples, 

 namely 5.8. This is the same sample, No. 1224, with a nutritive 

 rat i of ru. There are only 39 of the 242 domestic samples which 

 have a nutritive ratio as broad or broader than the average (7.3) of 

 the foreign. Three foreign samples show a production value as low, 

 or lower, than the average Tinted States grain, while there are 18 

 samples <>f the Tinted States oats that have a production value as 

 high or higher than the maximum foreign grown. 



Of the Tinted States samples the variety w r hich gave the highest 

 average protein content i- the Sixty Day oat, 39 samples of which 

 had an average dige-i ihle protein content of 11.46 pounds. The 

 highest individual samples \\nv two samples of Sixty Day oat, one 

 gro\\n in Ohio. No. 1297, \vitli 1">.-H) pounds digestible protein, and 

 the other in South Dakota. No. 1274, with 15.12 pounds. These 

 three instance^ \\ere a Uo the ones showing the narrowest nutritive 

 ratio^. \\hieh \\ere. respectively, 5.3, ::.7.and 3.9. The lowest aver- 

 age protein content of the Tnited States grain was found in four 

 samples of Belgian Winter, \\liicli gave 8.82 pounds of digestible pro- 

 tein, being 0.25 pound lo\\er than the average foreign oats and only 

 pniind higher than the four cm-responding samples of Belgian 

 Winter gro\\n in Kurope. 'I he nutritive ratio of these domestic 

 lielgian Winter samples W&S the broadest of all of the United States 

 . naiiif! :ilv 0.1 lower than the foreign average. 



Thus it is evident that the characteristic tendency of" the oats 

 .\n in the Tnited State-, \\hen compared with oats grown in Eu- 

 rope, i- i.. \\anl a higher protein content with a correspondingly lower 

 amount !' carbohydrate. roulting in a narrow nutritive ratio com- 

 bined \\itb a slightly louer production value. 



In comparison with the other cereals, oats belong to the energy or 

 muscle-producing grains \\itb high protein and narrow nutritive ratio 

 as contrasted with the fat or heat -producing grains, such as maize, 

 which poe>> a -mailer amount of protein and a broad nutritive 

 ratio. A- >ho\vn by Tables XVI and XVII, the oats grown in the 

 Tnited Stale- appear to be le>s inclined toward the maize type and 

 to have their oat characteristics more strongly emphasized than do 

 the same or similar varieties grown in Europe. 



