POOD 239 



needles, etc., find their way into oats, and they are a very 

 serious source of trouble. 



Bad Oats. — When oats get damaged from exposure to 

 the weather they become discoloured, they darken and turn 

 brown both the husk and kernel. Depending on the degree 

 of damage they may be merely musty or else sprouting 

 and offensively smelling. If the change is still occurring 

 the grain is quite hot on introducing the hand ; if fermen- 

 tation has ceased through drying, the grain is still irre- 

 trievably damaged, has a reddish-brown colour, bitter 

 taste, and musty odour. Such oats are known as Foxy. 



Various methods are adopted to get rid of the tell-tale 

 colour and odour of damaged oats. A common one is to 

 mix them with good oats, and so endeavour to get rid of 

 them without detection. Another is to fumigate them with 

 sulphur to destroy both the colour and the odour. This 

 fraud can be detected by rubbing the oats in the hand until 

 they are warm, when the characteristic smell of sulphurous 

 acid is produced. Further, the bleaching process cannot 

 convert dark bad flour into good. 



The Weight of Oats. — It is usual to judge oats by the 

 weight of the bushel. A bushel of good oats will weigh from 

 40 lbs. to 44 lbs. Inferior oats will weigh as little as 

 32 lbs. ; an average specimen weighs 38 lbs., but such oats 

 are not economical feeding. Authorities on the Continent 

 insist on the method of weighing as being fallacious, and 

 state that the determination which should be made is that 

 of kernel to husk. 



For this purpose a sample of the oats is taken, and the 

 husk removed by hand from the kernel, and the two 

 weighed separately. The proportion which kernel bears to 

 husk in various qualities of oats is given on p. 237. 



The method of weighing a bushel requires some practice. 

 Nothing should touch the measure, it should be filled at 

 once from a big scoop, and the strike applied. Low 

 class dealers use every device to make the bushel hold 

 more, and this is accomplished by filling it slowly, and 

 giving it a tap with the ' strike ' before levelling the top. 



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