Injury : Wild Oat plants are hardier and able to withstand injury 

 much better than the cultivated varieties of oats. The seeds, unlike thoso 

 of the latter, can remain in the soil in a vital condition not only over our 

 severest winters, but for several years. On account of their irregular and 

 early ripening, many seeds ripen and shell out before the grain crops in which 

 they are growing are ready to cut. Thus the land becomes infested with the 

 seeds, which continue to appear in succeeding crops for many years. 



Remedy : Sow clean seed grain. Wild Oats, if in the land, must be 

 grown out of it by adopting some method by which the seeds are made to 

 germinate and the young plants are destroyed before they have ripened their 

 seeds. In the East, a short rotation, with seeding down for hay and pasture 

 at regular intervals, should be adopted. In the West, where grain is grown 

 almost to the exclusion of all other crops, the land should be cultivated di- 

 rectly after harvest to cover up seeds on the surface. Many of these will 

 germinate in autumn and will be killed by the winter cold. Early the next 

 spring more seeds will germinate ; these must be cultivated down as soon as 

 theTe is a good growth ; plough about 1st June and sow early oats or barley 

 to be cut for green feed as soon as the heads appear. The land may then be 

 ploughed and cultivated twice or as often as necessary to kill the weeds before 

 winter, or a second cutting of green feed may be taken off before ploughing 

 down the stubble. Instead of growing a green feed crop, some farmers sow 

 early barley and leave for seed ; but care must be taken that no Wild Oats 

 ripen. If plenty of cattle are available, the Wild Oats may be kept fed off 

 as they come up on stubble land, and seeding down will help very much to 

 keep them in check. 



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