BREAD PLANTS 2g 



In the bleak climate of northern Scotland, this is 

 the staple food crop. So it is in Iceland, in 

 Alaska, in Russia, and Siberia. Rye and oats 

 furnished the bread of Europe in the Middle 

 Ages, and wheat bread has replaced the coarser 

 loaves and cakes but partially. 



The reason oats are so extensively used as 

 human food is because they lead all the grains in 

 muscle-forming elements. They contain a large 

 proportion of oily and nitrogenous materials, and 

 a low percentage of starch. Oatmeal porridge is 

 given the credit for producing the brain and brawn 

 of the Scotch and other hardy European races. 



England raises oats, but oatmeal porridge is not 

 a national dish. The famous dialogue contains 

 both a clever retort and a plain fact. An English- 

 man, with a party of friends, met on the road a 

 Highlander carrying a bag of oats. Pointing to 

 it he said: "That is oats — the grain that in 

 England is fed to .horses; in Scotland it is fed to 

 men!" The Scotchman was not so stolid as he 

 looked, for his reply came promptly: "True 

 enough; and that is the reason why in England you 

 grow such fine horses, and in Scotland we grow 

 such fine men! " 



Oats grow best in cold regions; they do poorly 

 An countries around the Mediterranean, because 



