69 



Another variety, called Church's Oats, are much in 

 request *. And there is also a kind of oat called the 



* The following particulars regarding Church's oats have 

 been transmitted to me by the son of the farmer by whom 

 they were first propagated. They are generally sown, he 

 states, from the middle of March till the end of April, but 

 if they are grown for early cutting, they are sown somewhat 

 sooner. They ripen a fortnight or ten days earlier than the 

 potato oats sown on the same soil at the same time, and are 

 generally cut in the first or second week of August. As they 

 are subject to shake, they require to be cut before they are 

 quite ripe, or when the stalk immediately below the ear is of 

 a pale pink colour, inclining to yell -w. They are sown at 

 the rate of about six Winchester bushels, per acie, and yield 

 from sixty to eighty Winchester bushels per English acre, 

 and there are instances of their doing more. They require 

 to be sown on dry land in good condition, and prove most 

 productive on a friable loam, either after grass or turnips ; 

 on such land they are perhaps not surpassed in increase by 

 any other. They are a round plump oat, rescmbl ng in this 

 respect the potato sort ; but they are larger in the grain . and 

 rather thicker in the husk or skin. They sometime^ have a 

 small bosom pickle attached, and frequently none, and when 

 they are good, they have scarcely any or no caii 



Being of an early quality, they have treqiu ntiy proved a 

 public benefit, by being made into meal, and s>'Ui before ge- 

 neral harvebt. Some years ago they were generally cultiva- 

 ted in the most improved dis'ncrs in the nonh of ilngland 

 and south of Scotland, till the potato oat began .o supers-de 

 them, as they were foun.i nea-ly as produ< uvc, and tioi quite 

 so liable to shake ; neither do ihey require the land to be in 

 so rich order to produce a tjood crop. The first his ta'her 

 got was from an acquaintance, and only amounted to sixty 

 grains. He planted them on the I4th June 1776, and for 

 twenty-five ye.irs or upwaids, h: i:rew them on the same 

 kind of s'il, without degenerating ; but they have now ra- 

 ther declined in quality, (pe'haps owing to want of care in 

 preparing and selecting the seed . since the potato oat has 

 interfered, to dimini-h their reputation. The farmers on the 

 east coat, are n^w begii-nin^ to grow them to a greater ex- 

 tent than they have done fur some years, and that a farmer 



