WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 



141 



ever oats can live through the winter, the yield is much 

 larger from sowing the seed in the fall than from sowing 

 oats after Christmas (Fig. 89). 



Increasing the resistance of oats to cold. Fall-sown 

 oats are much, more 

 productive than those 

 sown later, and so it 

 pays to help oats live 

 through the winter. 

 Notice young oat 

 plants on a clay soil 

 late in a cold winter, 

 and you may observe 

 that the whitened 

 roots of many young 

 plants are partly 

 above ground. In 

 this position they are 

 easily killed. The 

 repeated freezing of 

 the water in the soil 

 has lifted them. 

 Water swells in turn- 



ing tO ice, SO that 



the ice is forced up 

 above ground. In rising it lifts a little earth, and with the 

 earth the young and slightly rooted plant is carried. 

 When the ground thaws, the uplifted earth, being heavy, 

 falls back into place, but the plant remains in its raised 

 position. This heaving may be repeated several times. 



FlG - 



Courtesy Cal. Expt. Stfom 



"~* GoOD SAMPLE OF WHEAT 



