298 



OAT 



ONI 



handled at all, when they are in 

 the driest state. It should rather 

 be done in mornings and evenings, 

 when the straw is made limber 

 and pliable by the moisture of" the 

 air. If they should be got in 

 when they are somewhat damp, 

 there will be no danger, having 

 been before thoroughly dried; for 

 the straw and chaff are of a very 

 dry nature. 



Some choose to reap them : But 

 the straw is so valuable a fodder, 

 that it is better to cradle or mow 

 then). And that the ground may 

 be well prepared for mowing and 

 raking, a roller should be passed 

 over it after sowing and harrow- 

 ing : But some prefer rolling the 

 ground after the grain is some 

 inches high ; it is said to close the 

 soil to the roots, and make the 

 grain grow with fresh vigor. 



Oats are so apt to rob the land 

 of its richness that they should not 

 be sown on the same spot twice 

 in succession, unless the soil be 

 very plentifully manured. In a 

 succession of crops, oats may some- 

 limes be sown to advantage the 

 tiisl year after the breaking up, 

 before the land can be made mel- 

 low enough for other grain : Or 

 they may follow wheat or barley. 

 In the latter case, the wheat or 

 barley stubble should be ploughed 

 in as snoii as (he crop is off. 



The Farmer's Assistant says, 

 that oats are not so great exhaus- 

 ters of the ground as is generally 

 imagined, and that a piece of in- 

 tervale land vvas sowed eighteen 

 years successively with this grain 

 without manure, and without any 

 sensible diminution of the crop. 



Cypsum is said to afford an ex- 

 cellent manure for oats. A change 

 of seed is as necessary in this 

 plant as in most others. 



A writer in the IMassachusetts 

 Agricultural Repository, vol. V. 

 pp. 331, 2., says : — " It appears to 

 us best, all things considered, that 

 the first crop after turning over 

 sward, should be oats. The rea- 

 son, why an oat crop should pre- 

 cede a potatoe crop is, that it not 

 only pays well by its product for 

 the year's labour, but chiefly be- 

 cause it enables the husbandman 

 to deepen his ploughing, prepara- 

 tory to the second year's series in 

 the rotation." 



ONION, Allium, a well known 

 esculent root. The common sort 

 have purple bulbs. The white, 

 or silver skinned, which are sup- 

 posed to have come from Egypt, 

 are by some preferred to the other. 

 They have not so strong a taste. 



This plant flourishes so well in 

 the southern parts of New- England, 

 that it has long been a considera- 

 ble article of exportation ; in the 

 northern parts, it requires the very 

 best culture ; but even there, on- 

 ions may be raised in sufficient 

 plenty for home consumption. 



A spot of ground should be cho- 

 sen for them, which is moist and 

 sandy ; because they require much 

 heat, and a considerable degree of 

 moisture. A low situation, where 

 the sand has been washed down 

 from a neighbouring hill, is very 

 proper for them. And if it be the 

 wash of a sandy road, so much the 

 belter. The most suitable ma- 

 nures are old rotten cow and horse 

 dung mixed, ashes, but especially 



