Small Grains in the South 



By Prof. M. A. Carleton 



Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



The actual farm value of the small-grain 

 crops in the South is probably greater 

 than is generally supposed. The value of 

 either oats or wheat, is not far from that 

 of the corn crop. Even if no profit is ob- 

 tained from the sale of a surplus it is a 

 great convenience for the farmer to grow 

 the quantity of small grain necessary for 

 his own use. Besides, small grains fit well 

 in several good systems of crop rotation, 

 and rotation is practically necessary to 

 increase the chances of getting returns 



each year and to- maintain a well-balanced supply of plant food 



in the soil. 



The Small Grain Sections — The ' principal small-grain 

 crops are oats and 'wheat, and for convenience of discussion in 

 this paper the entire region may be roughly divided into two 

 portions, (1) the northern or wheat area, including the Carolinas, 

 eastern Virginia, and Tennessee, and (2) the southern or oats 

 area, called also the Cotton Belt, including the remainder of the 

 territory southward to the Gulf, the northern part of Florida, 

 and westward to include most of Arkansas and eastern Texas. 

 Tennessee at present produces the largest quantity of wheat, 

 although South Carolina has increased her wheat acreage pro- 

 portionately much beyond that of any other Southern state. 

 Georgia is the most important state in oat production. 



OATS— The three groups of varieties that are commonly 

 grown in the South include (1) the Red Rustproof strains, (2) the 

 Burt oat, and (3) the Turf or Gray Winter strains. The Red 

 Rustproof group includes red chaff varieties, bearded, and with a 

 bunch of bristles at the base of the lower grain of the spikelet. 

 The chief variety is known simply as Red Rustproof. The 

 Appier oat, however, belongs to the same group. These varie- 

 ties are in adaptation a mean between spring and winter oats, 

 so that while grown in the Northern states as spring varieties 

 they are commonly sown in the fall in the Cotton Belt states 

 and therefore classed there as winter oats. 



The Burt oat, called also Early Burt, has a grayish or dun- 

 colored hull, is distinguished by early ripening, and is much 



