The comparative Value of White Scottish Oats and Black English 

 Oats. By Dr AUGUSTUS VOELCKER, Professor of Chemistry in 

 the Koyal Agricultural College, firencester. White oats are 

 generally considered more valuable than black, and Scottish, in 

 particular, are usually preferred to those grown in England, it 

 being the opinion of practical men that the former possess greater 

 nutritive properties than the latter. The direct proof, however, 

 that this is really the case, as far as I am aware, has not been fur- 

 nished ; at all events, it has not been shown to what extent the 

 feeding properties of the two varieties differ. 



With a view to supply this deficiency, I examined, some time 

 ago, specimens of white Scottish and black English oats, and 

 am enabled by the results of this examination to furnish a direct 

 and positive proof of the correctness of the opinion above stated. 



Black oats can frequently be obtained in the market at a much 

 cheaper rate than the white Scottish ; but as the first are inferior 

 to the latter in feeding value, as will be shown presently, the ques- 

 tion naturally suggests itself, Is it more economical to buy white 

 Scottish oats at a higher, or black English at a lower price ? An 

 answer to this question has a direct practical bearing, and I shall 

 therefore endeavour to point out how far the difference in the cost 

 price of both is compensated by the greater nutritive properties of 

 the Scottish sample. 



The commercial value of different kinds of wheat, barley, or 

 other grains of the usually cultivated cereals, is influenced in a 

 great measure by the relative proportions of bran and flour, which 

 different samples of the same grain furnish to the miller. The 

 various kinds of oats, especially, furnish greater differences in the 

 proportions of husk and meal than probably any other grain. 

 Whilst some yield as much as three-fourths of their weight of oat- 

 meal, others yield only 10 parts of meal from 16 of grain; and 

 some samples of inferior quality produce but one-half their weight 

 of oatmeal. 



My attention was therefore naturally first directed to the deter- 

 mination of the relative proportions of husk and meal, which the 

 two specimens of white Scottish and black English oats yielded. 



1. In the white Scottish I have found in 100 Ib. 



Oatmeal, 7U Ib. 



Husk, 284 -. 



100 ... 



2. In black English oats the proportion of husk and meal in 

 100 Ib. was as follows : 



Oatmeal, ..... 66^ Ib. 



Husk, ..... 33f ... 



100 



