FIELD CROPS 473 



is corn, wheat, oats, and grass. In some portions of the spring- 

 wheat belt no rotation is practiced, particularly if corn and grass 

 are not included among the staple crops. In the South oats occupy 

 so small a portion of the cultivated area that they do not commonly 

 figure in the rotation. A good rotation in this section which in- 

 cludes oats consists of corn, with cowpeas sown between the rows; 

 oats, followed by cowpeas; and cotton. In the irrigated section oats 

 are sometimes grown in rotation with clover or alfalfa. 



Clearing the Land of Weeds. As oats start into growth early 

 in the season and soon make a dense shade, they are one of the 

 best crops for clearing land of weeds. When used for this purpose, 

 they should be sown rather more thickly than on land that is free 

 from weeds. The crop may be cut for grain or for hay, as desired, 

 but it should be harvested before many of the weeds that grow with 

 it mature their seed. The land may then be pastured to keep down 

 the later growth, or the weeds which develop after the oats are 

 harvested may be cut with the mower or plowed under before they 

 mature seed. If the field is plowed it should be disked or harrowed 

 occasionally to destroy any weeds that start into growth. N If fall 

 grain is sown or if the land is used for a cultivated crop the next 

 season, it will be practically free from annual weeds by the end of 

 the second year. 



Preparation of the) Seed Bed. Less attention is ordinarily 

 given to the preparation of the seed bed for oats than for any other 

 , field crop. A common method in the corn belt, where the oat 

 crop almost invariably follows corn, is to sow the seed broadcast on 

 corn land without preparation. This method is now less used than 

 it was a few years ago, when its prevalence was well shown by an 

 inquiry sent out by the Iowa station in 1905. Of 452 farmers who 

 replied to the list of questions regarding the preparation of the land 

 for oats, more than 70 per cent neither broke nor burned the corn- 

 stalks before seeding to oats, only 13 per cent disked the ground 

 before seeding, and a still smaller proportion harrowed before seed- 

 ing. In other words, nearly three-fourths of those who replied 

 sowed their oats broadcast on cornstalk land without preparation 

 of any kind. 



A good seed bed can hardly be prepared with fewer than two 

 diskings, and usualy at least one harrowing is necessary. Where 

 pats are to be sown on corn land on which the stalks are still stand- 

 ing it is good practice to break the stalks before disking. This can 

 readily be done, especially on a frosty morning, by dragging a 

 heavy pole or iron rail broadside across the field. The stalks can 

 then be cut with a disk harrow much more readily than if left 

 standing. Where there is much trash on the land it is sometimes 

 advisable to rake and burn the stalks and weeds before disking. 

 This is common practice in some sections. Ordinarily this humus- 

 making material should not be destroyed, but should be worked into 

 the soil. If the disks of the disk harrow are sharp they will cut 

 the stalks into short pieces, which soon decay, and much of the 

 trash will be covered by the disking and harrowing. Breaking the 



