258 



Milling Properties of Oats. [august, 



{Stephen s Book of the Farm) that " the finer class of oats give 

 nearly 9 stones, and some as much as 12 stones per boll (of 

 16 stones)," such differences never appear in the tables of 

 comparative experiments which have been examined by the 

 writers. 



The introduction of " cross-bred " oats by Messrs. Garton, 

 of Warrington, and others, and more recently the advent of 

 imported strains from Canada and the United States brought 

 the milling properties of oats into greater prominence. Many 

 of the new kinds are larger and much thicker in the husk 

 than the old varieties, and, for a time at all events, were 

 regarded with suspicion by the miller. The difficulty of 

 obtaining the usual price for such varieties as Abundance and 

 Banner when they were first introduced occasioned a number 

 of milling tests to be made. 



A great many estimates of milling power were also made by 

 weighing the husk of the grain apart from the kernel, and 

 expressing the result as a percentage ; the assumption being 

 that an oat with a large proportion of husk would be a poor 

 miller. However satisfactory such laboratory examinations 

 may be theoretically, they are not accepted as proof by the 

 farmer and miller, and the purpose of this article is to supply 

 some evidence obtained from the meal mill, as well as from 

 the laboratory. 



Varieties. — Allowing that percentage of husk indicates the 

 mealing property of the variety, there is as yet little to show 

 that the older strains are superior ; and there is nothing to 

 show that they have invariably a smaller proportion of husk. 

 McAlpine and Tudhope (Report of Glasgow and West of Scot- 

 land Agricultural College, 1900) found that Potato and Banner 

 oats from eight farms gave the same average proportion of 

 husk, viz., 25*9 per cent. They also found that on thirteen 

 farms the percentage of meal, and the calculated meal per 

 acre, were as follows from four varieties : — 



Percentage of 

 Meal. 



Yield of Meal 



per Acre. 



Tartar King 



Waverley . . . 

 Newmarket 

 Potato 



64*5 

 65*4 



Lb. 



1,453 

 1,446 



i,3 61 

 i>354 



