THE OAT CROP. 161 



in nitrogen compounds than the English oat the former 

 containing 14<'74<3 per cent, while the latter contained 

 only 13'94 per cent. This superiority of the Scotch oat to 

 the English oat in the quantity of meal it contains, and in 

 the quality of that meal, will tend to explain the cause 

 why oats are so much more valued in the north than in 

 the south as a food material. At the same time, we must 

 only take these results for what they are really worth 

 the comparison being between the coarse black oat of the 

 south and the fine white oat of the north ; and in both 

 countries we know the white to be more nutritious than 

 the black. 



The proximate compounds (organic) have been deter- 

 mined by Boussingault, Norton, Horsford, and others. 

 Boussingault gives an average composition : 



Starch, ............................................................... 46'1 



Nitrogen compounds (gluten, albumen, &c.), ............... 13'7 



Oil, ......................... . ......................................... 67 



Sugar, ............................................................... 6' 



Gum, ................................................................ 3'8 



Husk, ash, &c., .................................................... 237 



Norton, whose examination comprised every portion of 

 the plant, found, on the average, the composition was very 

 much the same as the preceding, viz. : 



Nitrogen compounds (flesh -forming substances), ........... 13'6 



Hydrocarbons, as oil, starch, &c., ............................. 55'5 



Vegetable Fibre, ................................................... 14'8 



Inorganic matter, ................................................. 3'3 



Water, ............................................................... 12'8 



100-0 



Horsford's analyses show the average proportion of 

 nitrogen compounds to be 1 3 per cent., and the other con- 

 stituents to exist in about the proportions already given. 

 These all tend to prove the high nutritive value possessed 

 by the oat. Its nitrogen, or flesh-forming compounds, 



