234 The Feeding of Animals 



Station made a study of numerous varieties of oats. 

 It was found that with sixty -nine varieties the hulls 

 constituted from 24.6 per cent to 35.2 per cent of the 

 whole grain, the average being 30 per cent. It did 

 not appear, contrary to the general opinion, that the 

 proportion of hull was larger with light oats than with 

 heavy, although observations elsewhere have sustained 

 the popular view. At the Mustiala Agricultural Col- 

 lege twenty -eight samples of Finnish oats and twenty 

 samples from five other counties gave from 28 to 32 per 

 cent of hulls. Wiley states that the average propor- 

 tion of hull to kernel is as three to seven, which varies 

 with the locality in which the oats are grown. The 

 figures in the next table show the composition of 

 the dry matter of whole oats, oat hulls and the hulled 

 kernel : 



Nitrogen- 

 free 



Ash Protein Fiber extract Fat 

 % % % % % 



Whole oats, 30 samples 3.4 13.2 10.8 67. 5.6 



Hulls, New Jersey 7.2 3.5 32. 56.3 1. 



Hulls, Vermont 6.9 4.4 29.5 57.2 2. 



Hulls, Wisconsin 7.8 2.3 50.1 39. .8 



Hulled kernels, 179 analyses . 2.3 15.4 1.5 72.1 8.7 



The inferiority of the hulls as compared with the 

 whole grain or with the hulled kernels is very appa- 

 rent, because of their smaller proportion of protein 

 and oil and their much larger percentage of fiber. If 

 hulls are purchased at all the price should be on a par 

 with that at which the coarsest and cheapest grades 

 of fodders are sold, and the surprisingly prevalent dis- 

 honest adulteration of ground whole grains with oat 



