The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-06
Bohemian Oats.

@. 0. Bartlett, in the indianapolis Corn Miller.
OF all the kinds of grain that have been talked
about the so-called Bohemian oats take the lead.
They have been lauded to the skies, and have
been cursod-even deacons Of the church have
sworn about them. OF all the swindling
schemes, this Bohemian oats deal is the biggest.
see the milling journals have commenced talk
ing about them, and now, Mr.. Editor. with your
consent, / will say a few words about these So
called Bohemian oats and the manner in which
they have been and are are now being sold
to farmers throughout the country.
The oats are of a hulless variety, and by q
great deal of cleaning can be kept passably clear
of the ordinary oats. The word Bohemian is all
bosh, this name having been given them simply
for the want of a better one. They were first
introduced into this country lin the ten-dollar-a
bushel plan, about seven years ago, by one MIR.
Beatty, of Beamsville, Ont, although they have
been for sale for many years by the leading
seedsmen of the country. Mr.. Beatty started
the business in Wisconsin, but that place soon
became too hot for him, and he migrated to
other quarters; came to Ohio and .gbt two
ing them that if they would pay him $40 a
bushel for the seed, he would give them a writ
ten agreement that he would sell as
many bushels s : s Of their ,.s coming hnS
bought, and for doing this they were to pay him
% per cent, or 81 so a bushel; also, that he
would sell as many more OF their oats as he
could. Everything being satisfactorily ar
ranged, the papers were made out, the farmers
giving their notes payable in one year from date,
and Mr.. Beatty, after disposing of the notes,
| went back to Canada to await results. Of
course nearly everybody around pronounced the
| oats q swindle, but the two growers claimed the
oats all right, and, the season being quite favor
able, the yield was fair, probably twenty-five
bushels to the acre, which was easily stretched
to fifty. Of course the growers were anxious to
sell all their oats for $40 a bushel, and Mr.. Beatty
was willing to sell them for the 20 per cent
/ ccrpv AND 40 ha said tn redaam hig bond.
| and then the fun began.
In selling the oats an agreement was entered
into whereby the purchaser was to have as many
| oats sold for him the coming season as he
bought, and always giving his note In payment
for the oats, which was Immediately sold to some
bank at a sufficient.discount to satisfy a Sunday
school superintendent. In this way the two
farmers sold their entire crop, and each made
several thousand dollars. OF course, other
farmers wanted to get rich, too, and from this
| the business spread. Agents were sent into the
field, and the oats have been sold all through
Ohio, Michigan, part of Indiana, Pennsylvania
and New York. For the last two years many
sharpers have taken hold of it, and buy the oats
for a dollar a bushel, and work them off for ten,
frequently agreeing to sell three times as many
oats for the purchaser as he buys. In some parts
of Michigan they bond the oats out, and even
incorporate companies for this purpose. 1t is
always the rule for the agent to pick out some
one of the farmers and sell his entire crop. SO he
can go ahead with them into new territory, and
tell his farmer brothers how much money he
has made and how well they have done by him..
These oats are used for oatmeal by the Buck
| eye mills of this city, and make an excellent
| quality of meal, but the manufacturers generally
find it more profitable to sell the oats to the So
! called Bohemian oats agents for So a bushel than
to work them into meal. The present price of
the oats at the mill is from forty to fifty cents a
bushel Of fifty pounds. The average weight of
these oats from the machine is from thirty-eight
to forty-fve pounds to the busheI. but after be-
ing thoroughly cleaned they will weigh from
forty-fve to fifty pounds. Taking it as a whole,
the oats cannot be called q swindle, but the man
ner in which they are sold is a swindle, and
farmers wish to be swindled l should advise
them to go into the so-caIled B Eiemian oats
deal and they will be wiser after they get
through.