414 THE SMALL GRAINS 



the Columbia Basin, Coast or Blue barley is usually em- 

 ployed in late fall and winter. It does not shatter and 

 sprout so easily as wheat or other barleys. In one in- 

 stance in Umatilla County, Oregon, during November, 

 80 hogs were pastured 18 days and 98 hogs 10 days on 

 11.4 acres of barley, on a hillside too steep for the use of 

 a self-binder. The gain in weight averaged 230 pounds 

 an acre, valued at $18.34. The estimated yield of the 

 barley was 21 bushels an acre (Hunter, 1914, pp. 7-9). 



440. Cereals in crop mixtures for pasturing are used 

 to a considerable extent. One bushel of oats and 4 pounds 

 of rape are sometimes sown together about May 1 for 

 summer pasture. This mixture is used from the time it 

 is 5 to 6 inches high until beginning of winter. First the 

 rape is eaten and later the oats. On ripening, many 

 kernels fall and sprout with the fall rains. The later 

 growth of both oats and rape then make excellent fall and 

 winter pasture. 



Wheat and vetch, or oats and vetch, are also grown 

 together for late fall, winter, and early spring pasture. 

 A bushel of oats, or 40 pounds of wheat with 1 bushel of 

 vetch, are sown to an acre, either in corn at the last cul- 

 tivation, or on spring-plowed stubble land in early fall. 

 If sown in corn, the 1 -horse disk drill is used for seeding. 



GATHERING THE CROP 



441. Time of harvesting. It is the general tendency 

 in the Western area to do all harvesting too late for the 

 good of the crop. Natural conditions of dry ness and 

 adaptation of non-shattering varieties, and the kinds of 

 machines employed, favor the practice. Aside from the 

 question of quality of kernel, much waste would be 



