BARLEV AND OATS. 113 



As with other grain, the quantity sown per acre 

 varies much with different agriculturists and in dif- 

 ferent countries. Here, from two and a half to three 

 bushels to an acre are considered amply sufficient : 

 " in England, from four to six bushels are usually 

 sown." — Loudon. A less quantity of potato oats is 

 required to be sown than of other varieties, as they 

 tiller better, and, having no awns, give a greater 

 number of grains to a bushel. 



Oats require and receive no after-culture, unless 

 it may sometimes be necessary to go ovgjyi,.jfield 

 and pull up such weeds as threaten to ■^fv^yruit.-tiife>^ 

 plant, or prove injurious by seeding to after-cropa!^ 



There are few of the plants cultivatetras gratn§ so '^ \ 

 oat. The wire-worm sometimes attacks the plant -r . 



little liable to injury from insects or disease 



in the ground ; and we have in one oji; two instances 

 detected in the oat the worm that is-^ow proving so 

 injurious to wheat. The disease to which oats are 

 most liable is the smut. This may in general be 

 prevented by sowing seed of good quality, and put- 

 ting it in when the ground is dry and in good tilth. 

 According to Loudon, liming oats or barley, which 

 is so effectual in destroying smut on wheat, is use- 

 less. This may,pe»fe,ps,be owing to the husk, which 

 prevents the immediate contact of the alkali with 

 the kernel. Would not soaking the seed in lime- 

 water obviate this difficulty, and secure the plant 

 against this disease ? The mode of preventing the 

 ravages of the wire-worm practised in Europe, is to 

 plough the land immediately before sowing. If it 

 be in grass, the worm is turned under, and, before it 

 works its way to the surface, the grain is beyond its 

 reach. In this country, late ploughing, by exposing 

 the larvae and eggs of insects to the action of frost, 

 has been found one of the most effectual means for 

 their destruction. 



The great danger to which late-sown oats are ex- 

 posed, is the being overtaken with frost before the 



