132 



On the Cultivation of Oats. 



priced. The regular allowance to each man is 65 stones of oat- 

 meal per annum, or IZ^lbs. weekly, with 12 gills of new milk 

 daily ; and on this diet, with no other cooking than boiling water 

 stirred among the meal, the ploughmen are strong and healthy. 

 The writer does not advocate this system of dieting ploughmen ; 

 and he only adduces it in proof of the nutritious and wholesome 

 nature of oatmeal, as food for people engaged in outdoor labour. 

 Wheaten bread might, no doubt, be introduced with great advan- 

 tage into the dietary of the Scotch and Irish agricultural labourer; 

 and if the present low price of wheat continue, there is every reason 

 to expect that its use will soon become more general, at least in the 

 former country ; but before it can be made entirely to supersede 

 that of oatmeal, the tastes of the people must undergo a great 

 change. Whether rio^ht or wrongs, a Scotch labourer never thinks 

 he can stand so much fatio^ue on a wheaten flour diet as on one of 



o 



oatmeal ; and so long as he thinks so he will retain his preference 

 for the latter. 



The making of oatmeal forms a source of considerable employ- 

 ment to a great many people in Scotland. The millers purchase 

 oats from the farmers, make them into meal, and sell the produce 

 principally in villas^es and manufacturing towns. The husks of 

 the grain are used for mixing with whole oats, for feeding horses, 

 and with crushed grain or oilcake for cattle. Large quantities of 

 husks — oatmeal seeds they are commonly called — are also dis- 

 posed of to distillers, who mix them with their spent grains, and 

 sell the mixture for fattening cattle or sheep. The usual price 

 of oatmeal seeds is from 4(i. to Q)d. per four bushels, the weight 

 being about 12 lbs, per bushel. 



When farmers get oats made into meal for the use of their fami- 

 lies and servants, the miller retains as multure 8f lbs. (a Scotch 

 peck) for every boll (140 lbs.) of meal produced.* The proportion 

 of meal, husk, and moisture of potato oats (41 lbs. per bushel) of 

 crop 1849, grown by the writer, was in 100 parts as follows: — 

 Meal . . . 57-34 



Husk . . . 22-64 



Waste in drying (water) 20*02 



Total . 100- 



One quarter of these oats, weighing 328 lbs., would thus yield- — 



lbs. 



Meal . . . 188-08 



Husks . . . 74-26 



Water . . . 65*66 



Total . 328- 



* In those districts where thirlage does not exist or is falling into disuse, the charge 

 for grinding is generally commuted into money, one shilling being charged, instead cf 

 a peck of meal, for every six bushels. 



