PLANT ANALYSIS AS AN APPLIED SCIENCE 195 
Oats 1 stand the third cereal of importance in the United 
States. Maine, Vermont, New York, and Wyoming raise 
more oats than any other cereal. The muscle-producing value 
of oats depends upon the amount of their albuminoids. The 
average composition of some American oats on analysis 
showed a higher percentage of albuminoids than the richest 
wheat flours. The amount of fat in oats ranges from four 
to nearly six per cent. 
Barley 2 is successfully cultivated in a wider range of cli¬ 
mate than any other cereal. It is the most hardy of all the 
cereals, and it grows in the north nearly to the point where 
all cultivation ceases. On the other hand, barley flourishes 
well in semi-tropical countries, and in this country the region 
of its greatest production is California. In Arizona and Ne¬ 
vada, more of barley than any other cereal was grown in the 
census year. 
Rye 3 has become of very minor importance in the United 
States, in comparison with other cereals. It can be grown upon 
very poor soils. In Europe, for many ages, it was the prin¬ 
cipal bread-stuff of the people, for it could be cultivated on 
soils too poor to grow wheat. Pennsylvania has, at each cen¬ 
sus return, been the leading state in total production; it is 
now followed by New York. 
From analyses, rye in the kernel is less nutritious than wheat,, 
and the deficiencies in their respective flours is still greater. 
Wheat flours average about eleven per cent, of albuminoids, 
while rye flours average at about six per cent. On the other 
hand, rye bran is richer in albuminoids than wheat bran. 
The popular belief that buckwheat 4 is less strengthening 
and more fattening than wheat, is founded on a chemical rea¬ 
son; for the percentage of albuminoids is low, ranging from 
four to eight per cent. The starch is in larger amount than 
in wheat, the percentage of oil being about the same. The 
peculiar aroma of buckwheat cakes is probably derived from 
the presence of an essential oil decomposed by heat. 
Chemistry plays an important part in the cereal production 
1 Cereal Report, p. 491. 2 Ibid., p. 497. 
3 Ibid., p. 502. 4 Ibid., p. 508. 
