86 AGRICULTURE 



and learn to identify quickly the chief varieties grown in 

 your region. 



3. Raising the Crop 



Oats are usually planted with less care than any other 

 crop. Where they follow corn in the rotation of crops, 

 they are often sown broadcast on the corn land without 

 previous cultivation or preparation of the ground. The 

 field is then either disked or gone over with a cultivator 

 and harrowed. This is a careless method of farming, and 

 undoubtedly results in a diminished yield. 



Preparing the seed bed. When oats are sown after 

 corn the seed bed should be prepared by plowing or two 

 thorough diskings before seeding. The oats may then be 

 covered by harrowing. The corn stalks should be broken 

 down before disking. This can easily be done by means 

 of a heavy pole dragged broadside across the rows when 

 the ground is frozen. A still better method is to cut the 

 stalks with a corn cutter. If the growth of stalks and weeds 

 is especially heavy on the field, it is best to rake and burn 

 the rubbish to get it out of the way of cultivation. 



It sometimes may not be necessary to plow the ground 

 for oats following a well cultivated crop. Especially is this 

 true if the plowing can not be done in the fall. One of the 

 things most necessary in growing oats is to get the seed 

 into the ground as early as it can be worked in the spring. 

 And the seeding can be done more quickly by disking than 

 by plowing. There is little or no danger to oats from 

 freezing after they are sown, and the seed will sprout and 

 grow in a much colder temperature than that necessary for 

 corn. 



Methods of seeding. Oats are sown by two methods, 

 (1) scattering the seed broadcast over the ground, and (2) 

 drilling. The old method of broadcast seeding was to scat- 



