How They Are Grown on the Farm
We have frames three by six feet in size, built of ordinary boards, but not matched material. The sides are about four inches high. These frames are laid on the floor of the Cellar, and each frame is filled with forty-eight quarts of oats spread evenly over the bottom. We have a large sprinkler attached to the hose, and the oats are thoroughly wet as they lie in the trays, and this wetting is repeated every morning. In a temperature from fifty to sixty degrees we find that the oats have started to sprout about the third day, and from this on the growth is very fast. Parts of the oats in the frame will swell two or three inches in places, above the surrounding mass of oats, and we make it a practice to place the sprinkler directly on top of this swelling, and it is found by so doing that the frame in a short time will present a very even growth.
If the Sprouted Oats are fed when the green tops are from one and a half to two inches in length the chemical quality of the oat is not lost, and we really get a double ration when it is fed. If allowed to go beyond this length, they are then just an ordinary green food.
In many instances we have noticed writers advocating soaking the oats overnight, and then, for the next few days, to periodically stir them. And in other cases writers advise, when they are placed in the frames to turn the oats over. This is a serious mistake, for anyone can readily see that the tender shoots, which grow most rapidly after the third day, would be broken off, and where this occurs the oats will rot.
Oats, of course, can be sprouted in sheds, or even out-of-doors, if they are covered up so that the sun will not dry them out too rapidly.
A frame should be made in such a manner that the water sprayed over the oats will slowly drain away. There are a number of different contrivances now being placed on the market for sprouting oats, and we have no doubt that, on small plants, some of them would prove quite satisfactory. Where it is desired to sprout oats in a small way, in the Cellar of one’s house, a rack can be built with run-ways for the trays to slide on, with a space of two inches between the trays. By thoroughly sprinkling the top tray the water will run down through from one tray to another, and, as the growth progresses, the more advanced ones can be moved up from the bottom of the rack, as they require less water than those in a less advanced stage.
The oats sprout more quickly if grown and sprinkled in a fairly dark place, and it must be remembered that too warm a temperature will rot the mass after the growth has reached its fourth or fifth day.