98 AGRICULTURE 



to sprout, and most of those that grow produce weak 

 plants that yield little or nothing. It will well pay every 

 farmer to take time in the winter to prepare his seed oats. 



Improvement of the seed. It is possible greatly to 

 improve a variety of oats by careful selection of the seed. 

 This may be done by going into the field just before the 

 crop is harvested, and gathering, head by head, the strong- 

 'est, largest grained and best yielding plants, also giving 

 preference to those that are freest from disease. From a 

 peck to a bushel or more thus selected is thrashed out, the 

 small, light or imperfect grains rejected, and the choice 

 seed sown on a special seed plat to raise seed for the com- 

 ing year's crop. 



Harvesting the crop. Oats are harvested with the 

 grain binder, the header, the mowing machine, and the 

 combined harvester and thrasher. By far the greater part 

 of our oats crop is cut with the binder. 



The best time for cutting oats is just as they are pass- 

 ing out of the hard-dough stage of ripening. On account 

 of the fact that they shatter rather easily when ripe, it may 

 be necessary, especially if the acreage is large, to begin 

 when the grain is passing out of the milk stage. Cutting 

 too early leaves the grain slightly lighter and of a greenish 

 color. 



The best method of shocking oats depends on the ripe- 

 ness of the crop when harvested. If the oats are in the 

 hard-dough stage when cut, they should be shocked in well- 

 built, round shocks. If the grain is green and the straw 

 heavy or full of weeds, the long shock is better, since it 

 allows freer curing. Either type of shock should be capped, 

 except in regions where the winds are usually strong enough 

 to blow a cap sheaf off, in which case it takes damage from 

 lying on the ground. 



