106 THE SMALL GRAINS 



Kentucky, and nearly all of Ohio, Indiana, and most of 

 Illinois. The area is partly what is known as the " corn 

 belt." A large oat production is furnished by a few 

 states in this district. Dry periods in certain seasons 

 and periods of severe rust attacks in others near harvest 

 time make it of great importance to grow early varieties, 

 which will escape the effects of these periods. Such 

 varieties have already become well established, including 

 particularly the Kherson, Sixty Day, and Early Cham- 

 pion. The first two named varieties, commonly grown, 

 have a yellow hull, which is commercially undesirable. 



Varieties now grown or adapted : 



Big Four Improved American Silvermine 



Early Champion Kherson Swedish Select 



Great Dakota Sixty Day 



Needs of the district : 



Resistance to lodging Whiteness of kernel 



Rust prevention Earliness 



98. Southern or Winter oat district. The Winter oat 

 district comprises portions of Maryland, Virginia, and 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, northern 

 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, western Kentucky and 

 Tennessee, southern Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and 

 eastern Oklahoma and Texas. As the name implies, 

 winter oats is adapted in all portions of this district. It 

 is practically the " cotton belt," except the extreme 

 northern portions. While the Burt and spring Rustproof 

 oats are often sown, the winter varieties will nearly always 

 give better results. It is a common practice to sow the 

 Rustproof at different dates during the winter, but always, 

 beyond an optimum date in late fall, the earlier the seed- 

 ing the better. Trials at the Arkansas Experiment 

 Station indicated that the first week of October is the 



