Oat

“ In the United States the growth of the oat is confined principally to the Middle, Western and Northern States. The varieties cultivated are the common white, the black, the grey, the imperial, the Hopetown, the Polish, the Egyptian, and the potato oat. ”

“ The oat is generally cited as the most nourishing of all the cereals, and a good nerve food. The fine oatmeal gruel of our grandmothers has gone almost entirely out of fashion, but its use might be revived with advantage. Like wheat, it is a complete food. ”

“ When in full flower, the heads contain a large number of oat-like seeds with long awns, but later on the seeds fall off, and at the head of each little branchlet there appears a minute tuft of feathery plumes, like little stars, giving the grass quite a different aspect from its first one. ”

“ We do not recommend to you even the whole meal of wheat as a substitute for your oatmeal or your oaten-cake. The oat is more nutritive even than the whole grain of wheat, taken weight for weight. For the growing boy, for the hard-working man, and for the portly matron, oatmeal contains the materials of the most hearty nourishment. ”

“ The oat, when considered in connection with the artificial grasses, and the nourishment and improvement it affords to live stock, may be regarded as one of the most important crops produced. Its history is highly interesting, from the circumstance that in many portions of Europe it is formed into meal, and forms an important aliment for man ”

“ Chemistry has here stepped in, and by her analysis of both, has proved not only that the oat is richer in muscle-forming matter than the grain of wheat, but that oatmeal is in all respects a better form of nourishment than the finest wheaten flour. ”

“ Oats, species of the genus Avena, belonging to the grass family. The common cultivated oat is A. saliva, which is native to the eastern hemisphere. The genus contains about 50 species, which are widespread in the north temperate regions. In the United States three species occur, the purple oat (A. striata) , Smith's oat (A. Smithii) and the common wild oat (A. fatud) . The oat is hardy, thrives best in a cool, moist climate, and is extensively grown in the United States, Canada and northern Europe. ”

“ Thus the influence of variety upon the adaptation of the oat to the soil, climate, and wants of a given locality, is shown by the following observations:—
"The Siberian oat is cultivated in the poorer soils and higher districts, resists the force of the wind, and yields a grain well adapted for the support of farm-horses. The straw is fine and pliable, and makes an excellent dry fodder for cattle and horses, the saccharine matter in the joints being very sensible to the taste. It comes early to maturity, and hence its name." ”

“ The wild oat, moreover, has a long stiff awn, usually twisted near the base. In the cultivated oat it may be wanting, and if present it is not so stiff and is seldom bent. The grain is very small and worthless in the one, but larger and full in the other. There are now many varieties of the cultivated oat included under two principal races—common oat or panicled oats with a spreading panicle, A. sativa proper, and Tatarian oats or banner oats which has sometimes been regarded as a distinct species, A. orientalis, with contracted one-sided panicles. ”

“ Oat straw is much relished by sheep and cattle, and is superior to that of barley or wheat. Oats are grown extensively in some localities as a substitute for hay, and are cut before they begin to ripen. They also make an excellent forage crop, and after being pastured off the ground the soil is left in a fine condition for the next crop.
The chemical composition of oats and oat meal is as follows:
The composition of corn meal and Graham is given for the sake of a convenient comparison. ”

“ The cereal oat, on the contrary, is the result of the impress of cultivative processes upon the wild form, and as such liable to lapse into the wild state with greater or less celerity, according to the circumstances of soil and situation. ”

“ A high power is necessary for the examination of these latter. The starch of the oat does not polarise light.
OAT′MEAL. Syn. Avenæ farina, F. ex seminibus avenæ (Ph. D) , L.
Oatmeal is the grain of the oat deprived of the skin, kiln-dried, and afterwards ground. It is regarded as one of the most nutritious of our cereals, being rich in nitrogenous matter, fat, starch, and sugar. According to Letheby it contains in 100 parts:—
Kreusler has shown that the nitrogenous principle of oatmeal contains gluten-casein, a substance very similar to the legumin of peas and beans. ”

“ YELLOW OAT-GRASS.—Is much eaten by cattle, and forms a good bottom. It has the property of throwing up flowerstalks all the summer; hence its produce is considerable, and it appears to be well adapted to pasture. The seeds of this grass are not to be obtained separately; hence it is not in cultivation. It is however worthy of attention, as the seeds are produced very abundantly in its native places of growth. It will grow either in wet or dry soils.
10. AVENA pubescens. ROUGH OAT-GRASS.—This appears to have some merits, but the foliage is extremely bitter. It grows in dry soils. ”

“ The one only thing to do with wild oats is to put them carefully into the hottest part of the [80] fire, and get them burnt to dust, every seed of them. If you sow them, no matter in what ground, up they will come, with long, tough roots like couch-grass, and luxuriant stalks and leaves as sure as there is a sun in heaven—a crop which it makes one’s heart cold to think of. ”

“ OAT. The Oat is a native of Britain in its wild and uncultivated form, and is distinguished by the spikelets of its ears hanging on slender pedicels. This is the Avena fatua, found in our cornfields, but not indigenous in Scotland. When cultivated it is named Avena sativa. As it needs less sunshine and solar warmth to ripen the grain than wheat, it furnishes the principal grain food of cold Northern Europe. With the addition of some fat this grain is capable of supporting life for an indefinite period. ”

“ While, therefore, the whole meal of wheat is superior to the fine flour, in economy, in nutritive power, and in wholesomeness, and therefore should be preferred by those who must live upon wheat,—in all these respects the oat has still the advantage, and therefore ought religiously to be adhered to. ”

“ Besides the use of the straw when cut up and mixed with other food for fodder, the oat grain constitutes an important food for both man and beast. The oat grain (excepting the naked oat) , like that of barley, is closely invested by the husk. Oatmeal is made from the kiln-dried grain from which the husks have been removed ”

“ The men rushed from one task to another: the beets had to be planted, the hay taken in, the fields prepared for the winter cabbage. They would never be done with all this in time for the harvest. The oat fields were ripening fast, too fast,—fairly roasted by a hot week in June. ”

“ Foreign oak is less durable, but more brittle and workable. The bark (OAK BARK; QUERCÛS CORTEX, QUERCUS—B. P., Ph. L., E., & D.) is used as an astringent and febrifuge, in doses of 30 to 120 gr., frequently; an astringent decoction is also made of it, but its chief employment is in tanning leather. The peculiar appearance of old oak or ‘wainscoting’ is given to the new wood by exposing it, whilst very slightly damp, to the fumes of ammonia.
OAT. Syn. Avena, L. The common cultivated oat is the Avena sativa (Linn.) ”

“ It is pale in colour and soft. It spreads rapidly by means of creeping stolons.
Oat grasses are of several species; one is cultivated as a cereal, others are valued as forage for cattle, while others still are [Pg 137] troublesome weeds. The wild oat (Fig. 108) is a common weed in cornfields. It is an annual, from two or three feet high, with large spikelets forming a loose panicle, the flowers having awns twice as long as the spikelets. The cultivated oat is supposed to be a variety of the wild oat. The panicle of the yellow oat grass is oblong, and has erect spikelets. ”

“ The oat is a hardy grain, and is suited to climates too hot and too cold either for wheat or rye. Indeed, its flexibility is so great, that it is cultivated with success in Bengal as low as latitude twenty-five degrees North, but refuses to yield profitable crops as we approach the equator. It flourishes remarkably well, when due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, throughout the inhabited parts of Europe, the northern and central portions of Asia, Australia, Southern and Northern Africa, the cultivated regions of nearly all North America, and a large portion of South America. ”

“ Others again, have the mouth grown together, and being destitute of nostrils, breathe through one passage only, imbibing their drink through it by means of the hollow stalk of the oat, which there grows spontaneously and supplies them with its grain for food. ”

“ There are many varieties of oats in cultivation, but in general characteristics they all correspond to one description. The husk adheres firmly to the grain, and when threshed the grain of a common variety of oat carries the first layer of husk or chaff with it. Oats, as bought in the market, therefore, consist not only of the kernel or grain but also of this outer, chaffy envelope. The magnitude of the crop in the United States is very great, but only an inconsiderable proportion of the whole is used for human food, and this chiefly in some form of oatmeal. ”

“ The genial soil is well adapted for the growth of those grains which are suitable for European or North American emigrants. Wheat, barley, rye and oats grow abundantly, as well as potatoes, turnips, onions, and all the roots known to our gardeners and farmers. Oats, of the species cultivated in the Atlantic States, are annually self-sown on all the plains and hills along the coast, and as far inland as the sea-breeze has a marked influence on the climate. ”

“ When all is in the mow-yard, we'll stop, and thank the Lord. 4 The oats, oh the oats, 'tis the ripening of the oats! All the day they have been dancing with their flakes of white, Waiting for the girding-hook, to be the nags' delight: 'Tis the harvest, let them dangle in their skirted coats. (Chorus) The oats, oh the oats, and the silver, silver oats! Here's to the oats with the blackstone on the board! We'll go among them, when the barley has been laid in rotes: When all is home to mow-yard, we'll kneel and thank the Lord. 5 The corn, oh the corn, and the blessing of the corn! ”

“ At the time of harvest it may not have become fully ripe, while the varieties mixed with it had reached maturity. The wild oat, Avena fatua, is very common in [101] Europe from whence it has been introduced in the United States. In summers which are unfavorable to the development of the cultivated oats it may be observed to multiply with an almost incredible rapidity. It does not contribute to the harvest, and is quite useless. ”

“ Very glad they are to get their heavy leather collars and harness off and rest in the cool barn. They have hay to eat but they have been working hard so they have oats besides. Jehosophat, Marmaduke, and Hepzebiah eat oats too but theirs are flattened out and cooked. We call it oatmeal. The oats for the horses are not flat but round like little seeds, and are not cooked on any stove. Farmer Green cuts the stalks in the oat field. ”

“ I hold that 60 bushels of Carrots and 50 of Oats, fed in alternate meals, are of at least equal value as horse-feed with 100 bushels of Oats alone, while more easily grown in this climate. The Oat-crop makes heavy drafts upon the soil, while our hot Summers are not congenial to its thrift or perfection. Since we must grow Oats, we must be content to import new seed every 10 or 15 years from Scotland, Norway, and other countries which have cooler, moister Summers than our own ”

“ The United States, more like England than Scotland, has used oats mostly for feed. The crop is second only to the corn-crop. Oats are eaten in the form of oatmeal, which is a finely granulated meal, and as the common rolled oats which have been steamed and put through rollers. There is little oat flour on the market at present. A successful and palatable home-made flour may be prepared by putting rolled oats through a food-chopper. Any of the forms of oats can be used in breads of all kinds, but the more finely ground flour can be substituted in larger proportion. ”

“ Crop oats, like wheat, have ever been considered as a direct gift from Ceres, and few, indeed, amongst scientific men were willing to believe that they were derived from a wild and weed species. Still, the farmer had long maintained that oats, when cultivated, often left behind them weed oats; and in some districts of Worcester, Gloucester, and Warwick, we have known men refuse to grow oats as a crop from their fear of producing the terrible weed, which, indeed, the wild oat is on all hands admitted to be. ”

“ When Oats go to the mill they are put into a kiln and subjected to considerable heat until the hull cracks and they are three-fourths cooked, then they are sifted and ground either coarse or fine as you wish. ”

“ From this stack I took as much oats in the sheaf as I could carry, and going on a few miles, stopped in a pine forest, made a large fire, and parched at least half a gallon of oats, after rubbing the grain from the straw. After the grain was parched, I again rubbed it in my hands, to separate it from the husks, and spent the night in feasting on parched oats.
The weather was now becoming quite warm, though the water was cold in the rivers; and I perceived the farmers had everywhere ploughed their fields, preparatory to planting corn. ”

“ Oats are grown in almost every part of the United States, but chiefly in the northern and western portions. In the southern states the crop is planted in the late autumn or early winter. In the northern states it is chiefly a spring crop, being sown early in the spring as soon as the ground is in fair condition. The oat crop is one which requires a rather abundant and well-distributed rainfall. A spring drought is very detrimental to the growth of oats, much more so than wheat or rye. It is a crop which is well suited to be grown under irrigation. ”