150 VARIETIES OF FOOD. 



Mr. John Hubert Moore, the famous owner and trainer of 

 steeplechase horses, for drawing my attention to the fact that 

 when horses are given as much corn as they can eat, oats 

 of moderate weight are quite as good as the heaviest 

 samples. Owing to the general belief among stablemen 

 that the weight per bushel of oats is a correct measure of 

 their nutritive worth, heavy oats as a rule command a 

 fictitiously high price as compared to the cost of lighter 

 samples. 



The feeding value of black and tawny oats appears to be 

 as great as that of white oats, other things being equal. New 

 oats are apt to act as a laxative, and to produce a debilitating 

 effect on horses, probably on account of their comparative 

 indigestibility. I do not think that English oats are at their 

 best before they are at least a year old. Oats grown and 

 kept in hot countries need not be stored so long as English 

 oats ; for they lose their moisture quicker. Oats are best 

 preserved in an unthrashed condition (in the stack). 



Measuring and weighing. In the United Kingdom oats 

 are usually measured as follows : 



1 6 quarterns (4 gallons) = I bushel. 

 4 bushels = I sack. 

 2 sacks = I quarter. 



In Cheshire, a bushel is generally called a "measure." 

 Quartern and quart are synonymous terms. 



Oats are sold by weight or by measure (so much a bushel). 

 As the difference between the market value of heavy oats and 

 light oats is greater than the difference between their respec- 

 tive weights per bushel ; it follows that if a buyer pays the 

 market price of heavy oats, he will not get proper value for his 

 money, if he is given a lighter sample made up to the weight 

 of the heavy oats. For instance, if instead of getting a quarter 

 of oats worth 253. and weighing 360 Ib. (45 Ib. per bushel), 

 he were to receive 360 Ib. of oats which were worth 2os. 



