Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-16

II one win take the trouble to ask the
next ten men he sees what grain crop
gives the greatest yield OF grain in bush
els, five Of them probably will answer in
stantly, Corn" Two Of the others will
guess Wheat" and two will say "Rioe."
The tenth will be In doubt, but he will
say 1. is one or the other Of those three
crops. Yet every one OF them will be
wrong. Premiership in world production
belongs to pats. The worlds crop OF oats
leads that OF corn by $4,000, 900 bushels, ex-
ceeds the production Of wheat by nearly
400, 900, 900 bushels, is nearly three times as
great as the production Of barley and more
than double the yield OF rye. Even rice,
the principal diet of Asiatic millions, does
not show as great a bushel yield as oats
by 10000 900 bushels. Oats king Of grain
crops, showed a world yield Of more than
8, 500,O 900, 900 bushels in 1905.
r. Samuel johnson said oats were eaten
by men In Scotland and horses In England.
Yes" replied a canny Scot, and have
you observed that England Is famous for
Its horses and Scotland for its men7' What
wheat is to the American. rice to the Japa-
nese and Chinese. that Is oats to the Ia
bles of millions Of Bropean families. In
deed, Europe, which produces only an
eighth Of the worlds corn and half OF It's
wheat, produces two-thirds Of its oats.
Crop concentration is one OF the most
interesting things that relates to the
worlds food supply. While North America
reduces nearly so per cent of the worlds
corn, Europe grows &C per cent of lis oats
and Asia 9S per cent OF Its rice. North
America furnishes eleven out Of every
nineteen bales Of the worlds cotton, while
Europe yields nine out Of ten bushels of
its potatoes. While oats furnishes the big
gest grain crop, cotton the biggest fioer
crop and cattle the biggest meat crop, it
remains for potatoes to furnish the big
gest Of all crops which enter into the diet
Of man. Nearly 6.COO.oOO.o0O bushels were
grown in 1907, and, while the potato is
distinctly a plant of American ancestry.
the Americans produce less than one
bushel Of potatoes where Europe produces
a hundred
In point of quantity oats is the second
grain crop grown in the United States,
although wheat outranks 1t in weight and
in value. 1t is first among the grain crops
of Canada. The yield Of oats in the latter
country is practically equal to that of
corn, wheat and barley together. In 1905 II
was equal to all these, with all the smaller
grain crops thrown in for good measure.
Its prestige in Canada is due mainly to the
fact that It is one Of the hardest OF crops.
and will start in northern climates late
enough in the spring to escape the ending
winter, and mature early enough in the
fall to escape the cold and frost Of the be-
ginning winter. II, Is also one Of the most
imn une of all the crops from diseases and
pests, thus assuring a good average yield.
Likewise, Its straw is much more palatable
to cattle and other live stock than is that
Of any other of the grain crops.
1t has been estimated that the demands
of the American people for cereals as
breakfast foods has multiplied a hunrded-
fold In a single generation, and that while
oats was first on the ground as a claim
ant for favor. and has been hard pressed
by the vast advertising campaigns con-
Quoted In the interest Of corn and wheat
preparations, 1t: stun holds first place as
the cereal OF the breakfast table. 1t used
to be believed that oats contained a slim
ulant principle like caffeine in coffee. II
was named "avenin." But the most dill
gent search in the chemical laboratory
has failed to isolate It from the other
properties of the oat grain.
Liberty Hyde Bailey, the great aKricul.
tural expert, who has written a long list
OF books on the farm and the farmer, and
who headed the Roosevelt Country Life
commission, is authority for the statement
that the domestic species of oats may
have sprung from the wild oats Of Europe
Many botanists believe that it has come
down unhybridized for generations from a
Tartarian species now lost and extinct
That Its native heath is eastern Europe Il
generally believed. There Is said to be nc