142 



AGRICULTURE 



If oats are sown early enough in the tall, they form 

 long, strong roots which tend to anchor them. A more 



certain method of pro- 

 tecting them against 

 death from cold con- 

 sists in planting them 

 in deep furrows that are 

 not entirely filled in. 

 The young plants are 

 safer here because it is 

 more difficult for a 

 plant in a low place to 

 be lifted by a freeze 

 than for one in a higher 

 place. In sowing oats 

 thus in open furrows 

 a one-horse planter is 

 used, run in the bottom 

 of a furrow made with 

 a shovel-plow. The 



Courtety Cl. E*pt. Station i -11 O 



FIG. 91. A POOR SAMPLE OF WHEAT; to 2 4 



GRAINS SHRIVELED inches apart. 



Improvement of seed. Large seeds generally produce 

 larger crops than do light seeds (Figs. 90, 91 ). Both wheat 

 and oats can be greatly improved by selecting the best 

 plants and sowing their seed in a small seed-plot. Any 

 improvement once made is apt to be permanent, because 

 wheat and oats do not cross with inferior kinds. On any 

 farm where oats or wheat mature large, plump grains, it 

 is better to use home-grown seeds than those from other 



