OATS. 



ther case, Tour btisliols of seed per 

 acre are an amplp allowance. Tliey 

 are sown as soon as frost is out of 

 the ground, but not in land too wet, 

 lest they rot in the soil. A second 

 crop is often ploughed in to enrich the 

 soil, but they arc inferior to clover. 



" \\'hen the ground has been well 

 prepared, there is no necessity for 

 weeding or hoeing the crop as it ad- 

 vances ; but if large weeds appear, 

 such as charlock, May-weed, docks, 

 or thistles, they must be carefully 

 weeded out, or else the ground will 

 be so infested with their seeds or 

 roots, that it will be difficult to erad- 

 icate them afterward. Oats, when 

 fully ripe, are very apt to shed, and 

 many are lost for want of attention. 

 As soon as the straw turns yellow 

 under the heads, the oats should be 

 reaped, however green the lower part 

 of the straw may be : the straw will 

 be better fodder for cattle, and all the 

 corn will be saved. Oats are gener- 

 ally mown with a scythe, and- raked 

 into heaps to dry like hay ; but this 

 is a wasteful and slovenly practice. 

 A good crop of oats should be reaped, 

 like wheat, close to the ground, and 

 tied in sheaves. A cradle scythe, or 

 a short Hainault scythe, does the 

 work well in the hands of an expert 

 mower, who should be followed by 

 binders, who gather the straw with 

 their hands, and lay it regularly on 

 the ground, if it be not fit to tie up 

 immediately : the straw should after- 

 ward be tied up into sheaves, and set, 

 with the corn uppermost, in shocks 

 of ten or twelve sheaves, leaning 

 against each other, and open at bot- 

 tom, in order to allow the air to pass 

 through. Thus, in a short time the 

 oats become sufficiently dry to be 

 stacked, or carried immediately into 

 the barn. 



" Oats, ground into a coarse meal, 

 form a considerable portion of the 

 food of labourers, and many men in 

 the middle ranks of life in Scotland, 

 Ireland, and the north of England. 

 The meal is simply stirred into boil- 

 ing water with a little salt, until it 

 becomes of the consistence of a has- 

 ty pudding ; it is then called porridge, 

 528 



or stirabout ; and, when eaten with 

 milk or treacle, makes a wholesome 

 and palatable food. It is sometimes 

 mixed with the thin licpior of boiled 

 meat, or the water in which cabbages 

 or kale have been boiled, and ac- 

 quires the denomination of beef- 

 brose or kale-brose. When made 

 into a dough with water, and baked 

 on an iron plate in thin cakes, it 

 makes a bread which is very palata- 

 ble to those who are accustomed to 

 it, and who often prefer it to wheat- 

 en bread. In Germany and Switzer- 

 land the coarsely-bruised oatmeal is 

 put into an oven till it becomes of a 

 brown colour ; it is then called haber- 

 meel, and is used in broths and pot- 

 tages, as the semolina, made from 

 wheat, is used in France and Italy. 

 The coarsely-broken grains, after the 

 husk has been removed, form grits, 

 which are extensively used to make 

 gruel for children and invalids. The 

 chaff of oats, put into a canvass bag, 

 forms a good substitute for feather 

 beds. 



" In some countries the oats are 

 given to horses in the straw, without 

 thrashing them ; and, where the quan- 

 tity can be regulated, the practice is 

 good. The horses masticate the corn 

 better in the chaff, and the straw is 

 wholesome ; but where horses do 

 hard work they would be too long in 

 eating a sufficient quantity, and it is 

 better to give them oats thrashed and 

 cleaned, with clover hay cut into 

 chaff. When hay is dear, it is often 

 cheaper to increase the quantity of 

 oats, and to give it with wheat straw 

 cut fine. In this way very little hay 

 is required. The calculation is easi- 

 ly made, wiien we consider that a 

 pound of good oats gives as much 

 nourishment to a horse as two pounds 

 of the best clover or sainfoin hay. A 

 truss of hay of 5G pounds is therefore 

 equal to 28 pounds of oats, or a bush- 

 el of the best oats will go as far as 

 one truss and a half of hay. 



" Farmers who have hay-ricks, 

 from which they often allov/ their 

 men to take as much as they please 

 for their horses, will carefully meas- 

 ure out the oats, which probably are 



