OATS 13 



CLIMATE, SOILS, AND FERTILIZERS FOR OATS 



14. Climate. The oat plant is most at home in a cool 

 moist climate. Yet in the Southern States, with a moist 

 but hot climate, it is successfully cultivated, although the 

 yield per acre and the weight per measured bushel are 

 reduced. In the South, climate is most important in de- 

 termining whether Red Rust-proof oats, the kind most 

 extensively grown, should be sown in the fall or after mid- 

 winter. 



That part of the South in which by far the greater part of the 

 crop of Red Rust-proof oats is sown in the fall lies south of a line 

 drawn nearly through Birmingham in Alabama, Atlanta in Georgia, 

 Charlotte in North Carolina, and Norfolk in Virginia. Yet, ex- 

 perience shows that it is profitable to sow Red Rust-proof oats in 

 the fall considerably northward of this line, though at the risk 

 of more frequent failures from winter-killing. Even in the 

 northern third of the Gulf States, this class of oats, when sown 

 in the fall, is not seriously injured by cold in one winter out of 

 three. Since two crops of fall-sown oats usually yield more than 

 three crops of oats sown after Christmas, fall sowing should be 

 more generally practiced. North of the line indicated above, 

 Turf oats are hardy in most winters, at least as far northward as 

 Maryland. 



15. Soils. The oat is adapted to a wider range of soils 

 than is wheat. In fact, it may be grown on almost any 

 soil on which other ordinary field crops succeed. The low 

 yields of oats as shown by statistics are largely due to the 

 fact that the crop is often sown on land too poor for other 

 profitable use. 



Moreover, the oat crop is less frequently fertilized than are 

 the other staple crops. Land that is too poor for cotton is 

 usually too poor for oats sown after Christmas, but such land 



