286 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1917. 



A tight closet provided at the bottom with steam or hot 

 water heating pipes, glass doors open to the south in a sunny 

 room, and suitable trays for the thoroughly moistened grain 

 furnish these three essentials. At the Station the trays are 2]^ 

 feet square and 2 inches deep inside. The closet can be of a capa- 

 city suited to the size of the poultry plant. The closet at the 

 Station holds 12 trays in 3 tiers with 15 inches in height between 

 the trays. The trays are made of wood and have holes bored 

 in them to allow surplus water to drain off. 



The only difficulty with which one has to contend is the 

 matter of mold. There is always a tendency for the oats to 

 mold in the sprouting process. The only way in which it has 

 been found possible to control this mold is by thoroughly clean- 

 ing the trays after each time when they are used. After a tray 

 has been emptied it is thoroughly scrubbed with a 50 per cent 

 solution of commercial formaldehyde (that is, equal parts of 

 commercial formaldehyde and water." Enough formaldehyde 

 is used to soak the tray well. With this precaution, and if the 

 oats are further made to grow rapidly, the mold does not give 

 any trouble whatever. 



The actual method of sprouting the oats is as follows : 

 Clean and sound oats are soaked in water over night in a pail. 

 The next morning the trays are filled to the depth of about 2 

 inches, and put into the sprouting closet. At the beginning 

 freshly filled trays are placed near the top of the closet so as 

 to get the maximum amount of heat, and in that way get the 

 sprouts started at once. During the first few days, until the 

 sprouts have become from a half to three-quarters of an inch 

 long, the oats are thoroughly stirred and raked over 2 or 3 times 

 during the day. This stirring insures an even distribution of 

 moisture throughout the mass of oats in the tray. After the 

 sprouts become sufficiently long so that the oats form a matted 

 mass it is not desirable to stir them, or to disturb them in any 

 way. 



The sprouting oats need plenty of water and should be wet 

 3 times a day. This is readily done with an ordinary green- 

 house sprinkling can, with little expenditure of time or labor. 

 As the oats grow the trays are moved to different positions in 

 the closet. The taller the green material gets, the nearer the 

 trays are moved towards the floor, because the growing grain 



