Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/832

* OAT. 706 GATES. shorter in the straw, they are not so apt to lodge as late varieties. For a concise treatise on the culture of oats, consult .Morrow and Hunt, Hoils and Ciups of the Farm (Chicago, 1S'J2). Food a.nu Feeding Value. The oat plant fur- nishes green forage, liay, and straw, while the ripe grain and its milling products are of great importance as foods and feeding stuffs. The grain has long been useii as a food for man, in the United States chiefly as a breakfast food. In the following table the average jiercentage composition of a number of oat products is shown : When oats are low iu price they may be profit- ably fed to slieep for tlic jiroductiun uf mutton. Like wlieat, they induce growth rallicr than the production of fat. W lieu it is desired to fatten lambs sonu! corn should be fed with the oats. Uats are useful for poultry, ground oats being very valuable as one of the constituents of the iliorning ration. The diU'ercnt milling and by-products obtained from oats resemble the whole grain more or less closely. The hulls represent the loose outer covering of the grain, and the shorts (called also middlings or feed) and the bran consist of the .Average Compobition ut a NrMBEK op Oat Products Water Protein Fat Nitrogen- free extract Crude fibre / Alill Per cent. 62.2 15.0 9.2 11.0 7.3 7.7 7.7 6.5 7.3 7.7 Per cent. 3.4 9.3 4.0 11.8 3.3 7,1 10.0 J3..'i 16.1 16.7 Per cent. 1.4 2.3 2.3 6.0 1.0 2.3 7.1 4.8 7.2 7.3 Per cent. 19.3 39.0 42.4 69.7 52.1 57.9 69.4 60.2 6U.6 64.9 Per cent. 11.2 29.2 37.0 9.5 29.7 19.3 0.1 18.2 0.9 1.3 Per cent. 2.5 6.2 5.1 Wliole oats 3.0 Oat liulls 0.7 Oat bran *. 3.7 Oat .''liorts middlings or " feed" 3.7 (1.9 1.9 2.1 Oat forage and hay compare favorably with similar products from the common grasses. (See Hay.) Oat straw contains a higher percentage of crude fibre than the liays. due to the fact that as the plant ripens the percentage of crude fibre increases. Hay and straw may be fed whole or cliopiied. The oat grain is ricli in ]irotein and carbohydrates and contains a fairly high per- centage of fat. It is very valuable fur all classes of farm animals, though it is perliaps most com- monly thought of as a feeding stuff for horses. It has been claimed that oats contain a peculiar stimulating princi|)k', 'avenine.' to which is due their especial value as a horse feed. Careful analy.sis fails to detect 'avenine.' and the common opinion now is that there is no such substance in the oat. Although the reason is not definitely outer layers of the kernels. After the grain is hulled in milling the little tuft of hairs on the end of the kernel is removed. These accumulate and constitute the basis of 'oat dust.' The mate- rial, which should also contain some broken ker- nels, is a useful feeding stuff provided it does not also contain too much mill sweepings. The hulls- resemble the straw in composition and are not regarded as an especially valuable feed. The bran and middlings contain a large amount of nutritive material in proportion to their hulk. The oat feeds marketed under various trade names are mixtures of the different oat by-pro- ducts with or without other materials, and differ in nutritive value, some being much more valuable than others. The average coellicient of digesti- bility of a number of oat products follows: COEPFICIEXTS OF Dl(!E8TiniI,lTY OF A NCMBER OF OAT PHODnCTS Total drj- matter Protein Fat Nitrogen- free extract Crude fibre Ash Per cent. 69.5 49.3 60.3 72.4 75.7 62.0 Per cent. 71.8 54.2 'sb'.'i 82.4 81.1 Per cent. 69.2 61.9 38.3 82.4 79.9 89.0 Per cent. 62.6 52.0 53.2 79.4 86.1 67.4 Per cent. 62.8 43.5 57.6 31.1 14.4 42.6 Per cent. 53.4 34.6 33.1 29.Q known, jiractically all are agreed that horses fed oats e.xcel in mettle and general condition — and it is certain that no feeding stulV is eaten with greater relish. Oats are usually fed unground to horses — grinding being necessary only for foals and for animals whose teeth are not good. New oats should not he fed to workhorses, as they cause looseness of the bowels and render the animals liable to sweat easily and put them nut of condition. The reason for the bad effects of new oats is not definitely known. For very young pigs, oats should be ground and the hulls removed by sieving. For more or less mature pigs and for breeding stock some oats, either ground or unground, are very desirable. DATES, ots, Tixrs (1640-1705). The prin- cipal informer in the so-called Popish Plot Kngland. He was born at Oakham, and in 1665 entereil the Merchant Taylors' School, but was cNpellcd the first year. After that he went to Si'dli'scombe School, and from there to Oonville and Caius College, Cambridge, ami later to Saint .Tolin's College. Though he never took a degree, he ciiiitrived to be ordained, and in 1(173 was aiijiointcd vicar of Hobbing in Kent. The follow- ing year he bp<'ame curate to his father at All Saints in Hastings, but both were expelled for having invented a scamlal concerning a school- master there. Moreover. Titus O.ites was thrown into prison. Escaping from prison, he became- I