THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
813 
Uses of the Oat Crop . — In our review of this subject we 
shall mostly confine our remarks to an illustration of the value 
of the crop as food for the lower animals. 
In an article on oats in Morton’s ‘ Cyclopaedia of Agricul- 
ture ’ we read that “ the consumption of oats as food for 
horses is very great throughout the United Kingdom ; for 
although beans occasionally form a certain proportion, and are 
a most valuable auxiliary, still the main ingredient must 
consist of oats if the health and taste of your horses be con- 
sulted. In Scotland, where oats generally constitute from 
a fourth to a third of the grain crops on a farm, about one 
half of the oat-crop is consumed by the farm servants and 
horses, the other half being sold to corn merchants and 
millers. 
It is estimated that a million and a half of horses are 
employed in Great Britain, and allowing two bushels a week 
to each horse the total quantity consumed will be 21,000,000 
bushels per annum. 
The importance, then, of this crop to the horse-keeper must 
he manifest to all. It is no less so to the stock-master, for as 
a food for cattle and sheep oats are of great value; their 
employment in these cases, however, will most depend upon 
their relative value when compared with other feeding stuffs. 
Now, in estimating the value of oats for feeding purposes it 
is important that we look to their weight per bushel, for if you 
take the extreme case of the wild oat at 14 lb. per bushel, how 
little flour will it produce, while those of 48 lb. per bushel 
will afford a heavier weight of farina than that of the whole 
bulk of the former. Now we believe that intermediate cases 
will give intermediate results. 
Professor Yoelcker sums up the facts as to composition of 
oats derived from analysis as follows : 
“ 1. That the quantity of starch in the oat is nearest to 
that of barley. 
“ 2. That the oat is very rich in oil or fatty matter. The 
fattening qualities of oats must be very great. With 
the exception of Indian corn, in which Boussingault found on 
an average 7 per cent., and Dumas 9 per cent, of oil or fatty 
matter, none of the other starchy feeding materials contain so 
much fat. 
“ 3. That the proportion of flesh-forming matters in good 
oats is larger than in wheat. For the production of muscle, 
oats, even including the husk, must therefore be considered 
superior to almost any other corn.” 
Few among us who have had the care of horses especially 
but know the value of oats, and we all know that they are 
