Rural School Leaflet 103 i 



cultural directions 

 E. R. Minns 



Choosing the soil. — Oats will ordinarily make the best yield on a moist, 

 fairly fertile soil. This crop requires a larger amount of water to bring 

 it to maturity than do many other farm crops. If the soil is too rich in 

 nitrogen, oats tend to lodge and that reduces the yield. A clay or clay- 

 loam soil is most likely to contain the necessary moisture during mid- 

 summer, and a region that is naturally cool during most of the growing 

 season is better adapted to oat-raising than a warm one. The soil chosen 

 should be well drained, in order that planting may be done early. Late- 

 sown oats may fail to yield well if the summer turns warm and dry when 

 the oats are making their most rapid growth. 



Preparation. — In general practice, oats follow some intertilled crop 

 such as corn or potatoes. They may be sown on other stubble or sod 

 land, provided plowing is done the previous autumn and care is used in 

 making a good seed bed. The ideal preparation is corn stubble that 

 has been heavily manured the year before. Fall plowing on the type of 

 soils best adapted to oats has the advantage of exposing the furrows to 

 the crumbling action of frosts, giving the winter rains or snows a chance 

 to soak into the ground, and making it possible to stir the ground and sow 

 the oats at an earlier date in the spring than if the plowing is deferred 

 until the opening of spring. However, good crops of oats can be raised 

 on spring-plowed land, if enough care is used in fitting the seed bed. 

 The seed bed for oats should be fairly compact, level, and fine to a depth 

 of two inches. 



Fertilizers. — On land that normally causes oats to lodge, no nitrogen 

 should be added in the way of fertilizers. Potash and phosphoric acid 

 in moderate quantities may prove beneficial. The use of lime is claimed 

 to be beneficial to the oat crop, and it is needed on many soils in order 

 to insure a good crop of clover following the oats. A moderate application 

 of one thousand pounds per acre of any good agricultural lime may be 

 used if the soil is not well stocked with lime. 



Seed. — Because oats are naturally adapted to a cool climate, it is 

 often advantageous to use seed from a region farther north, or at least 

 from one that produces large yields of oats. If good seed can be obtained 

 near by from varieties that have proved their worth as yielders, such 

 varieties can be used. Some varieties of oats tend to decrease in yield 

 the longer they are grown in a locality. The introduction of new varie- 

 ties from better oat-growing regions is sound policy. Some kinds of oats 

 are quite susceptible to the attacks of loose oat smut. If the seed used 

 has had any of this disease present in the past, it should be treated with 

 a solution of formalin and water in order to kill the smut spores before 

 sowing the seed. 



