INSECTS AND DISEASES 191 



straw is soft, hay of excellent quality can be made. Field 

 peas are frequently sown with oats when the crop is to be 

 cured into hay or is to be cut green for feeding. Peas add to 

 the yield as well as to the feeding value of the crop. A com- 

 mon rate of seeding is 1 bushel of peas and IJ^i bushels of oats 

 to the acre. Oats and peas may also be used as pasture for 

 stock of all kinds w4iere permanent pasture is lacking. Hogs 

 should not be turned in on this pasture until the peas have 

 made considerable growth, as they will quickly destroy the 

 young plants. Sheep and hogs will make good use of both 

 peas and oats if not turned on the crop until it matin-es. 



IN8ECT8 AND DISEASE^ 



236. Insect Enemies. Several of the insects which are 

 troublesome in wheat are also destructive to oats, though this 

 crop is seldom seriously injured by insect pests. Among the 

 more troublesome insects in oats are the army worm, chinch 

 bug, green bug, or grain aphis, and the grasshopper. Except 

 in years of specialh' heavy damage, it is usualty not profitable 

 to attempt to destro}^ insects in oat fields, for the expense 

 of killing them is greater than the damage they do. The 

 means of combating chinch bugs which are given under wheat 

 (Section 196) are equally applicable for oats and other crops. 

 The most destructive insects in stored grains are the Angou- 

 mois grain moth and the various grain weevils. Oats, on 

 account of the protection given by the hull, are less frequently 

 damaged bj^ these insects than wheat, rye, or barley. Placing 

 the grain in tight bins and fumigating with carbon bisulphide 

 or hydrocyanic acid gas is i-ecommended where these pests 

 are common. 



237. Diseases. The most common and destructive dis- 

 eases which attack the oat crop are the rusts and smuts. The 

 rusts are of two kinds, usually known as the leaf rust and the 

 stem rust, from the portions of the plant which they most 

 commonly attack. The leaf rust of oats is well known to 



