114- AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



grain is ripe. The result is an inferior light grain, 

 unfit for seed, and of little value for meal. The great 

 iifference of weight between good and poor oats is 

 principally in the meal, as the husk of immature 

 is equal to that of ripe oats. Fortunately, frost-bit- 

 ten oats are easily detected. The Rev. Mr. Farqu- 

 harson observes, in the 19th vol. of the Farmer's 

 Magazine, " that every oat-kernel, Avhen stripped of 

 the husk, will be found to exhibit the appearance of 

 a groove on one side. If the bottom of the groove 

 has a clear, translucent appearance from end to end ; 

 if it is not much shrunk into the substance of the 

 kernel ; and if the kernel splite with difficulty in its 

 direction, then we may pronounce the vital pan of 

 the seed to be safe from the action of frost. If, on 

 the contrary, there is a black speck seen in the 

 groove at the root end of the kernel ; if the groove 

 cuts deep into the kernel, so that it may be split in 

 that direction ; and if, when so split, the blackness, 

 accompanied by a rotten, scaly appearance, is seen 

 extending from end to end at the bottom of the 

 groove, then the vital part, or future plant, may be 

 pronounced as being entirely unfit for seed." 



Oats are extensively used fo^^man food in Scot- 

 land and some parts of Englafl^ and in some few 

 instances during the past season, oats were so used 

 in this country. Generally, however, they are cul- 

 tivated almost exclusively for horses, there being 

 no grain which agrees with this useful animal so 

 well, or which can be so cheaply furnished. Oats, 

 when cut in a rather green state and well cured, fed 

 out to sheep or calves, without threshing, in small 

 daily quantities, have been highly recommended by 

 some intelligent practical farmers. A mixture of 

 oats and pease sown together, at the rate of two 

 bushels of the former and one of the latter to the 

 acre, has been adopted by some farmers, and are 

 considered preferable to clean oats for feeding. 

 They require grinding, of course, and must be better. 



