GRAIN CR0P8 55 



3. Why should oats be sown as early as possible? 



4. What is "sweating?" How might it do damage? 

 Arithmetic: 



1. If oats yield 30 bushels per acre, weighing 32 lbs. per bushel, 

 how many pounds are produced per acre? 



2. If 500 lbs. of water is given off to produce 1 lb. of dry plant 

 matter, how many pounds were given off to produce the grain alone 

 under conditions of above example? 



3. WTien the acre cost of producing oats was $14.08, the land 

 rental value was estimated at $3.78. What per cent of the cost was 

 that? 



ECONOMIC ASPECTS 



Grades. — The market does not distinguish oats as care- 

 fully as wheat. There are numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 in white, 

 mixed, and red, or rust proof oats. White oats usually 

 bring the best price. The legal weight of oats in most 

 states is 32 pounds per bushel. 



Exports and Imports. — Very little oats is either exported 

 or imported. The importations are principally for seed. 



Prices. — For the ten years from 1908 to 1917 the aver- 

 age December price of oats was 43.7 cents, being 31.9 cents 

 in 1912 and 66.9 cents in 1917. On August 1, 1918, the 

 country price of oats was 73 cents a bushel. The average 

 acre price for the United States from 1913 to 1918 was 

 about $15.74. 



Cost of Production. — It is estimated that in 1909 it 

 had cost on a country-wide average 31 cents a bushel or 

 $10.91 an acre to produce oats, at the same the price was 

 40 cents a bushel or $14.08 an acre. The items considered 

 in cost were land rental, seed, fertilizers, labor and mis- 

 cellaneous expense. As the price has increased since this 

 estimate, it is altogether likely that the cost hsis kept pace 

 with it. When the crop amounts to less than 25 bushels 

 to the acre, it is probable that it is produced at a loss. In 

 Germany the average is 57 bushels and in the United King- 

 dom, 44. Practical agriculture must, therefore, discover 

 ways to increase the yield in the United States. 



Rotation. — In the corn belt oats generally follow corn. 

 They fit in where winter wheat is not grown. Two crops of 

 corn may be raised, followed by oats, which in turn are suc- 

 ceeded by one or two crops of grass or clover. Where 

 potatoes are raised oats should follow, succeeded by clover. 



