no 



AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



mate than any other plant that has been used for 

 bread. It is chiefly confined to the more moist and 

 cool portions of the American and European Con- 

 tinents, being scarcely known in the South of France, 

 Italy, or Spain, in the Southern parts of the United 

 States, or in tropical countries. Of all the cultiva- 

 ied grains, oats are the easiest of culture, and the 

 most certain and prolific in their product. The va- 

 rieties are very numerous, and some of them very 

 distinctly marked ; and, as in the case of wheat, 

 there seems no reason why new varieties may not 

 be produced at pleasure. 



Mr. Loudon, in his Encyclopaedia, enumerates the 

 principal varieties cultivated in Scotland as follows ; 

 and from his work we have copied the representa- 



tions of two of these varieties, illustrating the most 

 marked peculiarities of this valuable plant. 



The white or Common oat (a), in most general culr 

 tivation, and known by its white husk and kernel. 



The Black oat, known by its black husk, cultivated 

 in England and Scotland on poor soils. 



