22 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



27. Cultivation or inter-tillage of oats. It is unusual 

 to till oats after germination occurs. It is probable that in 

 the South, especially on soils inclined to bake, it will be 

 generally advantageous to harrow drilled oats. Harrow- 

 ing is seldom injurious to the stand of oats sown -with the 

 grain drill and not at all hurtful to the stand of oats sown 

 in open furrows. 



But few tests have been made to determine whether inter- 

 tillage of small grains is profitable. At the Nebraska Experiment 

 Station (Bulletin No. 104) the yield of oats sown with a grain 

 drill was increased by harrowing, in three dry years out of five. 

 With oats sown broadcast, harrowing reduced the yield every 

 year, because it thinned the stand. Drilled oats, tilled, yielded 

 more grain than broadcast oats without tillage. At the same 

 station the yield on the harrowed plots decreased as the space 

 between rows was widened from 6 to 12, 18, and 24 inches. 



28. Pasturing oats. During periods when the soil is 

 so dry as to be uninjured in its mechanical condition by the 

 tramping of live-stock, there may be no harm in pasturing 

 oats intended for grain. 



Cautions to be observed in pasturing any small grains 

 are : (1) Keeping the stock off the land while wet ; (2) dis- 

 continuing pasturage early enough to afford abundant 

 time for the plants to tiller and head; (3) avoidance of 

 pasturing too closely while there is danger of severe 

 freezes. 



For oats sown rather early in the fall, pasturing may be 

 a distinct advantage in preventing the formation of stems 

 while there is still danger of freezing weather, which would 

 be especially injurious to oats in the " booting " stage, that 

 is, after the stems have begun to lengthen rapidly. 



