Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-03-30
8lisftllarreous.
How oatmeal is Made.
HISTs on THE GROWTH AND CULTIVATION
OF OATS.

The rapidly increasing use Of, and de-
mand for, oatmeal, says the New York
Times. is creating a corresponding inquiry
for plump. heavy oats. Hitherto Ameri-
can oats have been too light and chaffy for
making meal. The culture of this crop
has been careless. and little attention has
been given to improving the quality and
weight Of the grain. Scotch and Irish
oats often weigh 80 to - pounds to the
measured bushel. Of course we cannot
hope to compete in our hot, dry climate
with that Of those places which are COO,
moist, and admirably suited to the growth
OF oats. But As we SOW we shall reap.
and it has been satisfactorily proved that
heavy seed sown will produce heavy grain
for some years, and, with good treatment
that is, with manuring literally. and
with careful culture Of the soil-the crop
will deferiorate only very slowly. Our
neigbbors IN Canada produce oats of 45
pounds To the bushel. and oats have been
grown here weighing AZ pounds to the
bushel, from seed Of the same weight i'm
ported from New Brunswick. So that it is
question Of seed and culture with this
crop, precisely as it is with all others. If
we desire to grow oats suited for making
meal, we have market for the grain and
in any case farmer should desire 10 grow
heavy grain. although he may feed his
product on his farm. As hint toward
this result, we give the following particu-
lars regarding the manufacture of oat-
meal. taken from the American Miller:
"The first operation in the manufacture
Of the meal is the removing from the oats
all cookie, small oats and foreign seeds
Of whatever kind. for if any of these re-
main. the quality OF the meal is much in
iured. Black oats, even if of good quail
ty, give a bad appearance to the manufac-
tured meal as it reappears in the form Of
black particles, which to the tidy house
wife appears 10 he something much
more uncleanly After the oats have been
properly cleaned by sitting, they are sub
jected to the operation Of drying. This
in accomplished in dry kilns. with spec
ial apparatus constructed for the pur-
pose. This operation requires some care
to prevent the oats from burning.
As soon as sufficiently dry they are re-
moved from the kiln while still very
hot, and stored in such a way as TO have
them retain thcii heat; after thus remain
ing three or four days. and hardening,
they are ready for the Smelling operation.
This Smelling is accomplished by passing
the oats through mllstones of a special
pattern. The product that comes from
the stones is greats, or the whole kernels,
dust, seeds, &c, and these must be sep
arated. by means of a combination of
sleeves and fans the greats are separated
from the other material. and are then
ready for grinding. For extra quality
meal the greats may be shelled and also
passed through IA brushing machine. The
grinding Of them must not be long de-
layed, as II few weeks exposure renders
them unfit for milling In grinding the
groat. the great aim is to avoid pull
verization. and to have the granules cut
square and of uniform size. Oatmeal is
generally denominated by the cut-as pin
head cut rough cut, medium. and fine cut
though these terms have different mean
ings in different districts. After the grind
ing the meal is passed through sleeves and
the siftings graded according to size"