VARIETIES OF OATS. 



365 



with the exception of No. 1 (see opposite page), were shorn by 

 the same hands ; a portion of No. 1 was kept out when making 

 the divisions, as being unfit for experiment. 



The year 1864 in Ayrshire was remarkably favourable for 

 the oat crop, and the produce in strong land in the central district 

 was unusually bulky. 



1865 Experiment. 



The produce of 1864 was used for seed in this year's experiment- 



The weather after sowing was dry and warm for the season, and 

 the brairds made their appearance about the 10th of April, being 

 in five days shorter time than last year. On the 28th April they 

 were looking remarkably fresh and healthy. They were very 

 even and thick, and there was no perceptible difference between 

 them, except that the Black Tartar was, as usual, darker in 

 colour and broader of blade than the rest, &nd it seemed fully the 

 thinnest on the ground. A path 2 feet 6 inches wide was made, 

 in the end of May, along one end of the plots, and similar divi- 

 sions were run down between them. The breadth left in each 

 was then measured, and another path was made near the other 

 end, so as to enclose exactly an acre in each lot. 



Neither frost nor grub affected the experiments this year, and 

 all the lots throve well till the drought in June slackened their 

 pace, and caused the whole to be shorter in the straw than they 

 would otherwise have been. The weather in July was all that 

 could be desired ; the Sandy oats were in full ear on the 1st of 

 the month, and the Finlay, Potato, Black Tartar, and Hopetoun 

 came all out about the 5th and 6th, and the Late Angus in a 

 day or so after. August was a wet month, but none of the lots 

 were laid to any extent, and they were all mostly cut with the 

 reaping machine. The whole grain produce was made into meal. 

 The season 1865, in Ayrshire, from seed time to harvest, was 

 perhaps the warmest and driest since 1826, and the oat harvest was 

 one of the earliest, and of the shortest duration, in the memory 

 of the oldest inhabitant. The birr of the reaping machine and 

 the shearers' song were heard almost simultaneously, on the 

 earlier lands near the shore, and far inland on the steep hillsides. 

 The produce on light land was short, on medium land average, and 

 on the clays and late districts unusually large and good in quality. 



