The Bulletin, 31 



other words, for every bushel of r>(> pouiuls of corn there would he n yield of 

 two hushels, or (>4 pounds, of clean oats. Moreover, the two husbels of oats will 

 not have cost more than one-half as much per bushel as the cost per bushel of 

 the corn. To put it still clearer: Sujipose the one l)usbel of corn (-ost 2.S cents 

 to produce it, or 50 cents per hundred jiounds, then the two bushels of Oiits 

 will cost not more than 14 cents per bushel, or about 43 cents per hundred 

 pounds. 



But one of the signal advantages of oats -is the fact that, being ready for 

 the harvest in May or early in June, a full crop of cow-pea vines may be grown 

 on the same land as a catch crop. The value of this advantage is not easily 

 over-estimated. It is true that occasionally, in spite of close attention to the 

 details necessary to success, a crop of oats may prove a more or less failure. 

 But it may be affirmed that the oat is not really more likely to fail, nor will 

 it fail oftener in the long run, than will a crop of corn. Since the introduction 

 of the rust-proof varieties oat rust is rarely hoard of except on the farms of 

 those farmers who insist on sowing such varieties as "Winter Turf," and the 

 like, or some nondescript variety bought from the grocery, or from some feed 

 and forage merchant who knows nothing of the origin and quality of the .seed 

 he sells. 



I come now to speak of the 



TIME TO sow OATS. 



One year with another a well-sown fall crop will nearly double the yield 

 of the same land sown of the same variety of oats in the spring. According 

 to my experience, the best time to sow is during the month of October, varying 

 somewhat according to latitude. 



TO PREVENT BLAST IN OATS. 



For 50 bushels of seed oats dilute one pint of formalm with 50 gallons of 

 water. Spread the oats on a tight floor or a hard, clean surface of soil, to a 

 depth of 3 or 4 inches and sprinkle the diluted formalin over the same. 

 Shovel over the mass until every gi-ain shall be well moistened. Leave the 

 whole in a compact heap for two hours. Then sow at once (or within a few 

 hours), or spread the oats thinly and dry them for future sowing. 



HOW TO sow. 



I come now to the most important detail of oat culture — how to sow. On 

 the Georgia Experiment Station Farm we commenced experimenting in 

 methods of sowing as far back as 1890. Among other methods was sowing 

 the seed in furrows 18 to 24 inches apart, made with an ordinary scooter 

 plow. I cannot do better than quote directly from a bulletin published by the 

 Georgia Station, September, 1899, as follows : 



"On the Station Farm we have found, even when the drills were laid two 

 feet, or one and a half feet apart, using a common scooter plow, or better, a 

 single-row fertilizer and seed-distributer, that oats so sown always produce a 

 larger yield than when sown broadcast and harrowed in. But a more im- 

 portant discovery is the fact that when the- seed are sown in open furrows and 

 barely covered, leaving the furrows open or unfilled, the oat plants are very 

 much less liable to be killed by a severe freeze. The idea was conceived sev- 

 eral years ago, and annually since we have sown the larger portion of the 

 fall-sown area in drills, 18 to 24 inches apart, latterly using a Gantt fertilizer- 

 distributer. This sows but one row at a time, has no covering attachment, but 

 simply opens a small furrow and sows the seed, the single wheel following in 

 the furrow and barely covering the seed and pressing the soil. (The Gantt 

 Manufacturing Co., Mabon, Ga., now makes a double-spout distributer, which 

 sows the seed and fertilizer at one operation). The result is the plants come 

 up one and a half or two inches below the general surface, and the "crown" 

 of each plant is formed and established, say two to two and a half inches be- 

 low the general surface. The winter rains, light freezes and thaws gradually. 



