Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-05-03
How Dat Meal Is Made.

The rapidly increasing use of and
demand for oat-m cal is creating cor
responding inquiry for plump, heavy
oats Hitherto American 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 fifty to fifty-fve
pounds to the measured bushel. OF
course we cannot hope to compete in
our hot dry climate with that II those
places which Is cool, moist and admira-
bly, 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 deteriorate oplZ very slowly.
Our neighbors in Canada produce oats
of forty five pounds 10 the bushel from
seed Of the same weight imported from
New Brunswick. So that it is a ques-
ton 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 q market for the grain,
and in case a farmer should desire to
grow heavy grain, although he may
feed his product on his farm. AS
hint toward this result we give the
following particulars regarding the
manufacture of oatmeal taken from
the American Miller:
"The first operation in the manufac-
ture of the meal is the removing from
the oats all the cookie, small oats, and
foreign seeds of whatever kind, for if
any of these remain the quality Of the
meal is much injured. Black oats, if
even or good quality, give bad ap-
pearance to the manufactured meal,
as it reappears in the form of black
particles, which to the tidy housewife
appears to be something much more
uncleanly. After the oats have been
properly cleaned by sitting, they are
next subjected to the operation of
drying. This is accomplished in dry
kilns, with special apparatus construc-
ted for the purpose. This operation
requires some care to prevent the oats
from burning. As soon as sufficiently
dry they are removed from the kiln
while still very not, and stored in such
a way as to have them retain their
heat; after thus remaining three or
four days and hardening, they are
ready Tor the Smelling operation.
This Smelling is accomplished by pass
ing the oats through millstones Of a.
special pattern. The product that
comes from the stones is greats, or the
whole kernels, dust, seeds, ETC., and
these must he separated, by means of
combination of sleeves ard fans and
the greats are separated from the 9TH
er material, and arc then ready for
grinding, For extra quality meal the
groass may again be shelled and also
passed through brushing machine.
The grinding of them must not be long
delay led, as a few weeks exposure rem
ders them unfit for milling. In grind
igg the groat, the great aim is to AVOID
pulverizstion, and to have the granules
cut square and of uniform size. Dat
meal is generally denominated by the
cut-as pin-head cut, rough cut, me-
dunn and fine cut-though these terms
have different districts. After the
grinding the meal Is passed through
sleeves and the siftings graded according
to size"