THE JOURNAL 



22AU6.1907 Q f the 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol, XIV, No. 5. 



AUGUST, 1907. 



THE MILLING PROPERTIES OF OATS. 

 R. B. Greig and W. M, Findlay, 



It has always apparently been assumed by farmers that 

 the proportion of oatmeal obtained from a given weight of oats 

 (a) will depend on the weight per bushel ; (b) will differ according 

 to variety ; (c) will vary with the same variety on different 

 classes of soils and in different climates. 



Speaking generally, it is understood that oats of heavy 

 weight per bushel, with thin husks, and grown on a strong 

 soil at a moderate elevation, will produce most meal per 

 quarter. The farmer has arrived at this understanding in- 

 directly, through the discrimination exercised by millers in 

 offering for samples. Few attempts have been made to 

 discover by actual experiment the agricultural factors which 

 condition the milling properties of oats. 



Past indifference to these matters is in part excusable, for 

 the conditions are only partly within the control of the grower ; 

 moreover, the few experiments, the results of which have been 

 published in agricultural journals, show the general superiority 

 as milling oats of such popular and widely grown strains as 

 Potato and Sandy, and the inferiority of other varieties is 

 doubtless counterbalanced, in general opinion, by their greater 

 productive power on the soils to which they are suited. In 

 Morton s Cyclopaedia of Agriculture experiments are quoted 

 which establish the position of Sandy, Scotch Birlie and 

 Potato as good milling oats. Until about 1890 nearly all 

 varieties of oats grown in Scotland were of the same character 

 in respect of milling, i.e., they differed very little in size of 

 grain and proportion of husk ; and although it is stated 

 (1912) R 



