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broths, and soups, and likewise, as a kind of hasty-pudding or porridge, 

 is coarse oatmeal previously baked to brownness. 



The care bestowed upon the cultivation of the oat in those countries 

 in which it may be regarded as a principal staple of human subsistence, 

 has led to the production of some valuable agricultural varieties, among 

 which the Friesland oat holds the foremost rank ; the grain of which is 

 much larger than that of those commonly grown in England, and the 

 superiority of the groats imported from Embden, Hamburgh, and other 

 ports of Northern Germany, is due to the excellent quality of the Fries- 

 land oat from which they are prepared. 



A powder separated from the grain in the process of husking, pre- 

 paratory to grinding, or the preparation of groats, forms, with water, a 

 kind of jelly much prized, both in Scotland and Ireland, known in 

 the former as sowens, and in the latter called ywrmeiy. 



Considered as a bread-corn, the oat in these islands is being rapidly 

 superseded by the more nutritious, and, therefore, more economical 

 wheat. Successive generations have witnessed the steady progress of 

 this change, and the oat-cake, even at the breakfast-table of the sub- 

 stantial Scottish-lowland farmer, is no longer paramount, either having 

 yielded its place to the wheaten loaf, or retaining it only as an occa- 

 sional luxury, like the muffin and crumpet among the Londoners. For 

 feeding horses, especially where hard work is required from them, no 

 better nourishment has hitherto stood the test of experiment ; nor is 

 the cultivation of this grain for such purpose likely to be neglected, 

 unless under some unforeseen revolution in the present system of agri- 

 culture throughout Western Europe. Though barley contains a larger 

 quantity of nutriment, it does not appear upon the whole to be so well 

 adapted, in these climates at least, to the digestive powers of the horse ; 

 and its higher price in the market, consequent upon the greater expense 

 of cultivation, is another circumstance against its rivalry of the oat. 

 We have no space for notice or discussion of the varied views of writers, 

 practical or theoretical, concerning the manner of administering the 

 grain before us as food, bruised or entire, alone or in combination with 

 other fodder, all of which may have their advantages under different 

 conditions and modes of employment ; but a practice that has of late 

 years been apparently gaining ground in France and some other conti- 

 nental countries deserves mention. It is that of making coarsely-ground 

 oats and rye into loaves of baked bread, for feeding horses, a form in 

 which more perfect digestion renders a smaller quantity of food neces- 

 sary, while the health of the animal is improved by the substitution. 



Avena nuda, the naked oat, hill oat, or peel-corn, has its first and 

 last names from the circumstance of the grain when ripe dropping out 

 of the husks, or peeling itself. It is a weed of cultivation in many 

 parts of Central Europe, where it is occasionally grown too as corn, 

 but the grain is much smaller than that oi A. sativa, even under the 

 most favourable conditions. By terming it " a weed of cultivation," it 

 must not be considered an actually wild or indigenous plant, but as one 

 of fortuitous introduction among those which it accompanies. As such 

 it is sometimes met with, among corn and other crops, on arable land 

 in this country ; in the northern and mountainous parts of which it 



