BARLEY AND OATS. 1 15 



when required for mixing with boiled food for swine, 

 than oats alone. The trouble of harvesting, how- 

 ever, must operate as a drawback on this mode of 

 culture, as the crop is almost invariably lodged ; and 

 as it can neither be raked as pease nor cradled as 

 oats, it must be cut with a scythe, which is usually 

 a tedious and wasteful process. 



Although oats will succeed on ordinary soils, and 

 with less care than other crops, still good cultiu'e 

 is as well repaid with this as with other grains. 

 The southern tier of counties in New- York have 

 produced some of the largest crops of oats on rec- 

 ord ; and the quantity annually grown in this state 

 is immense. As examples of good crops, we annex 

 two communications from the Genesee Farmer for 

 1838. 



In answer to your inquiries, the land that the oats 

 grew upon is gravelly loam ; but very little gravel, 

 however. In 1830, 1 put a small coat of barnyard 

 manure on the land, ploughed, and planted it to corn. 

 The year following I sowed it to oats, and stacked 

 it down, and put on about 1 1-4 bushels of plaster to 

 the acre. The three years next following I used it 

 for pasture. The first year of pasturing I used 

 about 1 1-4 bushels of plaster to the acre. In 1836 

 I ploughed it shallow, dragged it well, and planted it 

 to corn. I had a great growth of corn, but the early 

 frost very nearly destroyed it. lu the spring fol- 

 lowing I split the hills as usual, and dragged it well. 

 About one third of the lot is quack land (we suppose 

 land infested with quitch%rass), which I ploughed 

 three times after harrowing, the rest but once. I 

 sowed my oats, 2 1-3 bushels to the acre, and har- 

 rowed the quack part well six times, the other part 

 four times. I sowed 1 1-2 bushels of plaster to the 

 acre immediately after the oats were up. One thing 

 I consider very essential in order to keep land in 

 good heart : when I till it, I till it well ; and when I 



