OATS. 293 



J. Buckman, prove that this seed when gathered ripe and sown the following spring will pro 

 duce a grain differing very materially from the original, and when subjected to further culti 

 vation, a grain is produced bearing a very strong resemblance to many of the varieties now 

 cultivated. Oats vary in weight per bushel according to the variety, some of the large and 

 heavy -grained variety weighing from forty to fifty pounds per bushel. American oats vary 

 generally from thirty to thirty-five pounds per bushel. The average yield of oats per acre in the 

 United States is from thirty to thirty-five bushels. When the soil is of good quality and well-pre 

 pared and the season favorable, the crop may be made to be largely in excess of that amount. 



As a proof of what may be accomplished with this crop on thin soil, a thin, rocky drift 

 soil at the Massachusetts Agricultural College was sown, and produced without manure, fifteen 

 bushels per acre. With a suitable supply of manure, the yield was sixty -two bushels per 

 acre. The same principle holds true respecting sowing seed that is free from smaller and 

 blighted grains, and that which has not been thus separated. At the Agricultural College at 

 the Wisconsin University the experiment was tried by Prof. Daniels which resulted in giving 

 a yield of 48 bushels per acre to the cleaned seed, and 43f bushels per acre to the 

 uncleaned. As a general result, we think the difference would be considerably greater than 

 these figures show. 



Oats are one of the very best crops cultivated for feeding working animals, and especially 

 as provender for the horse, they are superior to all other grains. In Scotland, oatmeal forms 

 a very important item in the diet of the peasantry, as well as that of the more wealthy classes 

 also, to a certain extent, to which fact has been attributed the robust health, strength and well- 

 developed forms and muscles characteristic of that nationality. More than half the annual 

 grain crop of Scotland consists of oats. In this country the use of oatmeal as an article of 

 diet has been more common for a few years past, and if the taste of the American people 

 could be cultivated more generally in the direction of regarding it a dish to tolerate, (if not as 

 a palatable one,) there is no doubt that it would do much towards increasing their strength 

 and vigor of constitution. 



We once heard a gentleman remark, while ordering a dish of oatmeal at a hotel, that he 

 did not like the food, on the contrary it was distasteful to him, but he ate it from prin 

 ciple, out of a sense of duty, or &quot;as a sort of penance for his sins,&quot; hoping to receive 

 good to the body thereby, which is certainly a novel theory on diet. For invalids and 

 young children, it is very nutritious and strengthening when properly prepared. Oat straw 

 makes quite good feed for farm animals when cut fine and mixed with other materials. When 

 cut while in blossom and cured like hay, it makes excellent fodder for cows that are giving 

 milk, or for- sheep ; especially, pregnant ewes or those with young lambs. When stirred into 

 water oatmeal makes a very healthful beverage for laborers in hot weather, and obviates the 

 evil effects of drinking too much water under such circumstances. 



Varieties of Oats. Among the numerous varieties of this grain, we shall mention 

 some of the long-established and leading ones, together with a few of those of more recent 

 origin that have become established in agriculture, or that give promise of success. The 

 White or common oat is quite extensively cultivated in England and Scotland, as well as in 

 this country, and is known by its white husk and kernel, the latter of which is of medium 

 size, the grain weighing from thirty-two to thirty-five pounds per bushel. 



The Black oat is characterized by a black husk arid its adaptability to poor soils, doing 

 better on such lands than many of the other varieties. The Red oat has a brownish red 

 husk, ripens early and is suited to a late climate ; the grains are quite firmly attached. The 

 Potato oat has quite large and plump grains, which are rather thick-skinned and white, and 

 are double and sometimes treble, the straw being quite long. English authorities state that 

 this oat is more extensively cultivated in the south of Scotland, and north of England 

 than any other, and that this, with the Hopetown, Sandy, and Early- Angus are chiefly 

 cultivated on the best class of soils, in those sections, these commanding the highest 



