The Bulletin. 59 



OAT CULTURE. 



By R. L. SHUFORD, Catawba County. 



I grow oats, because I have found them more profitable than any other 

 grain. I can grow moro l)ushels per a(!re than I can of corn, and the cost is 

 considerably less. While the feeding value is not as much as that of corn, 

 they have been bringing about the same as corn on our markets. 



I have grown from both fall and spring seeding, and usually get good results 

 from spring seeding, but fall seeding generally makes a better yield and 

 heavier grain. But the land is loft in better shape, where fall or winter 

 plowed for a pea or corn crop to follow after the oats have been taken off. 

 When sown in the fall, the land should be well prepared with good firm seed 

 bed, and, I think, should not be sown too early. I usually sow after the middle 

 of October. If sown too early, they may get too large before cold weather, con- 

 sequently bo injured by freezing, particularly if of the Apler, Red Rust-proof or 

 Burt, or any of the earlier varieties. I have always succeeded better with 

 the early than the later kinds. While they do not make as much straw, the 

 yield of grain is much better. I have found the Apler the most productive, 

 weighing much more to the bushel than the Burt. I have never made an 

 entire failure from fall seeding, although many complain that oats will not 

 stand the winter freezing. I think the trouble is in not having their land well 

 prepared before sowing. If land is reasonably fertile and well prepared, and 

 oats put in with a grain drill, so that the seed are covered the right depth, 

 so they will germinate quickly and get well rooted before cold weather, there 

 will be no trouble from winter freezing. I seldom use any commercial fer- 

 tilizer on oats, although I believe it pays quite as well as on other grain, 

 particularly in spring sowing. I usually sow fall oats on i>ea or corn stubble. 

 Then I never plow before sowing, but use the disc harrow until the land is 

 properly pulverized. Should it be too hard to get in condition at the right 

 time, I think it best to leave it until spring sowing. This gives one a chance 

 to fall or winter plow the land, which is very important on our heavy, red 

 clay soil. I am never uneasy about getting this kind of land plowed too deep, 

 when there is time for the winter freezes to pulverize it. When the weather 

 conditions are right, I sometimes sow in February. I have gotten good results 

 from oats sown the last of March. I have always had excellent results from 

 oats grown after a cotton crop. I believe it pays on spring sowing always to 

 use the harrow or weeder, particularly if the weather is dry, as it helps to 

 hold the moisture. 



THE PLACE LIVE-STOCK SHOULD OCCUPY m jSTORTH 



CAROLI^TA FAEMING. 



Address of MR. A. L. FREINCH, of Rockingham County, before the State Farmers' 

 Convention, in Raleigh, August 30, 1907. 



No State in the Union is better fitted by nature to produce all classes of 

 live-stock than is North Carolina. From Currituck to Cherokee conditions 

 exist which, if taken advantage of, will insure a profitable live-stock business 

 for our farmers. Conditions are such over a large part of our State that our 

 farms cannot be handled with any profit without the help of live-stock. 



In other sections the greatest profit can be secured only by the aid of live- 

 stock to a greater or less degree. Farming, to be made the most profitable for 

 a term of years, both for the farm and farmer, requires that a good rotation 

 of crops be followed, in which the legumes play an important part. North 

 Carolina is spending five to six millions of dollars each year for the purchase 



