Ch.XIlI.i ON OATS. 18^ 



beginning to the middle of the former is, however, generally considered as 

 the best period; for, if deferred so long as until the latter end of Aprils 

 the yield will be found deficient. If, indeed, the seed can be conveniently 

 got into the ground in the close of February, it will be still better ; for 

 early-sown oats are almost invariably found to produce the largest quantity 

 of grain : late-sown, of straw. In wet, low ground, this may not be always 

 practicable ; and in parts of the country where the spring is usually dry, it 

 may not be necessary ; but in much of the western coast of England and 

 Scotland, as well as throughout the whole of Ireland, the climate is humid, 

 and the month of March is commonly so wet, that the land is frequently 

 not in a condition to be sown until May *. It should also be observed, 

 that oats require more moisture in the soil than any other kind of corn, 

 and that it is important to have the grain formed before the commencement 

 of the parching droughts of summer ; in proof of which it will no doubt 

 be recollected, that while the crops of wheat were most abundant in the 

 years 1826 and 1834 — which were the driest within the memory of man — 

 those of oats were deficient, the grain smaller in size, thicker in the husk, 

 and with a longer awn than is usual in moist seasons. 



The autumnal sowing of oats is practised by some persons, and the 

 autumn crops on the sandy loams of the counties of Wicklow and Wexford 

 are seldom known to fail if sown early in October ; but on poor sands, or 

 on cold clays, they probably would not succeed. The autumn-sown crop 

 has the advantage of being ripe three weeks at least before that sown in 

 spring ; which is certainly a very material point ; but it interferes with the 

 sowing of wheat, and occasions the inconvenience of crowding the other 

 farm work. No particular species of this grain has been hitherto dis- 

 covered as being peculiarly suitable to autumnal sowing ; but it is said that 

 the potato-oat, when sown in that season, has been found uniformly un- 

 productive. It was sown, however, on poor land ; but the gentleman by 

 whom the account is given conceives that, had he tried the Tartarian or the 

 red oat, he might have been more successful. There can, indeed, be 

 little doubt that were the seed of any hardy kind which had been raised in 

 the winter, to be sown in the following autumn, the species would become 

 gradually naturalized to the climate, in the same manner as occurs with 

 winter and spring wheat f. 



PRODUCE AND QUALITY. 



The climate of Ireland and Scotland is not only more favourable than in 

 most parts of England to the production of oats — as being of a more cold 

 and moist nature — but the grain there gets at least an equal share of good 

 soil and attentive cultivation; whereas, in this country, it is very generally 

 grown upon the poorest land, and the tillage is very much neglected. To 

 which it may be added, that oats are there generally taken as the first crop 

 after grass, and the best both in quantity and quality are thus always ob- 

 tained. The produce and the quality thus differ so greatly with the nature 

 of the soil and the mode of management, as well as with the varieties of the 

 different species cultivated, that in some situations 28 bushels per acre are 

 thought a fair crop ; while in others five quarters are considered as only an 

 average ; and from six to eight, and, in many places, even ten, are not 

 unfrequently raised, of weights varying from 34 to 48 lbs. per bushel |. 



* Lambert's observations on the Rural Affairs of Ireland, p. 3. 

 f Burroughs on White Crops, p. 34. 



% Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol, i. p. 509, Brown ou Rural Affairs, vol. ii. pp. 48, 50. 

 Surv. of Essex, vol, i. pp. 349, 350. "• 



