Till-] YIELD OF OATS. 



1G9 



coming up it is more likely to be hurt by 

 the feeding and trampling of sheep and 

 other stock than cither wheat or rye. 



568. It should be harvested before it is 

 perfectly ripe, as it is soon injured if allowed 

 to stand too long. If harvested early, the 

 grain is of better quality and less liable to 

 shell oif and be wasted. 



564. Oats. Oats (Fig. 32,) do best in a 

 damp climate and a moist soil, with a 

 moderate summer temperature. As we 

 seldom find these conditions united in this 

 country, the crop rarely succeeds so well 

 here as in some other countries. 



565. In the best oat districts of Scotland 

 and Ireland, the average weight of a bushel 

 of oats is forty-three or forty-four pounds, 

 while more than a hundred bushels per acre 

 are often gathered. In this country crops 

 of eighty or ninety bushels are regarded as 

 large, the average yield being much less, 

 while the weight per bushel is rarely more 

 than from twenty-eight to thirty-two pounds. 



566. After thorough ploughing, oats may 

 be sown broadcast either by hand or by some 

 of the admirable broadcast seed sowers, and 

 covered by means of the common harrow 

 and the roller. The latter is especially 

 useful on light lands, as the compression of 

 the soil affected by it hastens the germina 

 tion of the seed and causes it to spring up 

 uniformly. From two to four bushels of 

 seed per acre should be used, according to 



31. 



32. 



