118 Food fop. T^i.ants. 



Oats. 



Tliis grain does well on nearly all types of soil, but 

 responds freely to good treatment. There is a vast dif- 

 ference in the quality of oats when grown on poor or rich 

 soils. Perhaps no other crop so elfectually conceals 

 impoverishment; at the same time the feeding value of 

 oats grown on poor soil is very low. In the North oats 



Oats. 



30 Bushels. C5 Bushels. 



Average product ]ier acre, for The product of an acre of oats 



the U. 8. of oats, willi average fertilized with Nitrate of Soda. 

 Jana fertilization. 



are sown in the spring, and usually after corn or a turned 

 down clover sod. In such cases the crop is rarely ever 

 given fertilizer, but shows an excellent return for a broad- 

 cast dressing of 100 pounds of Nitrate of Soda per acre. 

 The crop has strong foraging powers, and will find avail- 

 able mineral plant food where a wheat crop would utterly 

 fail. On soils pretty badly exhausted, an application of 

 400 pounds of fertilizer will yield a profitable return, 

 provided the dressing of Nitrate is not omitted. 

 Under any condition of soil or fertilizing, a sickly green 

 color of the young crop shows need of Nitrate of Soda 

 plant food, and the remedy is a dressing of Nitrate. In 

 seeding, use two or three bushels to the acre. 



