On the Cultivation of Oats. 



131 



The produce was 6 quarters per acre, which;, at '20s., gives 6/. ; 

 thus leaving a balance of 21. ] 25. Q)\d. for interest on capital and 

 profit. At the present prices of oats (15s-. per quarter) the value 

 of produce would only be 4.1. IO5. per acre ; but as the rent is 

 partly paid in grain, the charge against it on this head will be 

 about 4^. per acre less for crop 1849. Calculating from these 

 data, we have as before : — 



For horse and hand labour, cost per acre . . . £l 8 2i 

 Seed, 3i bushels, at Is. lO'^d. „ . . . 0 6 6f 



Rent and taxes for crop 1849 . . . . 1 6 0 



£3 0 9i 



which, deducted from 4/. IO5., the value of produce, leaves 

 II. 9s. 2^d. for profit and interest on capital. 



When oats in the straw are purchased either on the ground or 

 after being stacked — as is generally done by auction in Scotland — 

 the straw is usually valued at 3d. per stone of 141bs. ; and as 

 8 bushels will yield from 30 to 35 stones of straw, the whole 

 value of the oat-crop (straw and grain), supposing it to be 6 quar- 

 ters per acre, will be as follows : — 



6 quarters of oats at 205. . . £6 0 0 



195 stones of straw, at 3c^. . . 2 8 9 



Total . £8 8 9 



Economical Uses of Oats. — " In England/' as Dr. Johnson 

 more wittily than wisely remarks, ^'^oats are food for horses, and 

 in Scotland food for men ;" but this is only true as regards the 

 southern part of the island, as oatmeal is largely used in the 

 northern counties of England. In Scotland and Ireland it is (cheap 

 as wheaten bread is at present) still the principal food of the 

 rural population, as well as of that portion of the mechanic class 

 whose employment is not of a sedentary nature. In a warm 

 climate, oatmeal is not an agreeable nor healthful article of human 

 diet, as it heats the blood and produces eruptions on the skin ; 

 neither is it a proper food for persons engaged in sedentary 

 employments ; but for all who are exposed to plenty of outdoor 

 exercise or labour, in a bracing atmosphere, no species of food 

 can be more wholesome or nutritious. Professor Johnston, of 

 Edinburgh, has rescued this excellent article of diet from much 

 unmerited obloquy, by showing that the grain from which it is 

 made is rich in those protein compounds which constitute the 

 mw5c/e-forming principle of the animal frame. In some of the 

 eastern counties of Scotland the unmarried ploughmen live solely 

 on oatmeal and milk, except in winter, when they get potatoes in 

 addition ; but the latter is generally optional on the part of the 

 employer^ and is often discontinued when they become high 



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