480 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



variety by different seedsmen or in different sections of the country. 

 A good example of this is to be found in the Winter Turf oat, which 

 is variously known as Gray Winter, Virginia Gray, Turf, Grazing, 

 Virginia Winter, and Winter Turf, while several similar names are 

 less commonly applied to it. Every year new varieties of oats are 

 offered by seedsmen, while other names are omitted from their 

 lists, and varieties which may have been common in some sections 

 ten or fifteen years ago have now almost entirely disappeared from, 

 cultivation. 



In the northern portion the later, white varieties adapted to 

 the northern belt succeed in favorable seasons. In the entire south- 

 ern portion of the country, which is heavily shaded on the map, 

 the varieties which do best when sown in the spring are the Burt 

 and the Red Rustproof. For fall seeding the Winter Turf, a hardy, 

 medium-sized, gray oat, and in the warmer portions of the area the 

 Red Rustproof are the varieties which are usually used. 



Cost of Production. Estimates of the cost of producing an 

 acre or a bushel of oats vary greatly. Much depends on the labor 

 used in preparing the land for seeding, the yield produced, the cost 

 of thrashing, and the rent or interest charges on the land. Professor 

 Hume, of the Illinois College of Agriculture, estimated the cost of 

 producing 33 bushels of oats to the acre in central Illinois, in the 

 cheapest possible manner, at $5.45, or 16 cents a bushel, land rental 

 not included. The cost of producing oats in three different sections 

 of Minnesota was reported by the Minnesota station as $9.84, $8.83, 

 and $6.31 to the acre, respectively, with land rental included. 

 Owing to the difference in yield the cost of producing a bushel of 

 oats in these three sections was practically the same, 21 cents. The 

 cost of producing a bushel of oats at Ottawa, Canada, was estimated 

 in 1903 at 21.7 cents. The acre cost of production under irrigation 

 is much greater than where there is no irrigation, but the cost per 

 bushel is not materially increased, owing to the greater yields. 

 Farm estimates of the cost of production are usually lower than the 

 figures just given, as farmers often fail to take into account the de- 

 preciation in value of the farm machinery and other items which 

 are properly chargeable to the crop. 



The ordinary cost of producing 33 bushels of oats to the acre 

 in Illinois, with the land rental included, according to Professor 

 Hume, is $11.84^. At 26 cents, the prevailing price per bushel in 

 Illinois at the time this estimate was made, this crop would sell 

 for $8.52 an acre, or at a loss to the farmer of $3.32, while a crop 

 of 100 bushels, which cost $20.21 to produce, would ^ sell for $26, 

 or a profit of $5.79. At 38 cents, the average price in Illinois in 

 December, 1909, the 33-bushel crop would return a small profit, 

 while the 100-bushel crop would return a liberal one, at least $15 

 to the acre, allowing for a slight increase in the cost of production. 

 At 26 cents, the average farm price in Minnesota for 1904, 1905, 

 and 1906, when the estimates of cost of production in that State 

 were made, the net profit in the three sections was $2.38, $2.35, and 

 $1.36 per acre, respectively. The narrow margin of profit shown 



