AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 141 



diet than is generally supposed in this country. Loudon, in 

 his Encyclopedia of Agriculture, in giving some notices of 

 the agriculture of Angus, in Scotland, observes, that 



' Oat-meal, when it is sufficiently diluted with any sort of 

 liquid, is known to be laxative, aperient, wholesome, and at 

 the same time a strengthening food for those engaged in 

 hard labor. Engineers who superintend the excavation of 

 canals have assured the reporter that those laborers who 

 lived entirely on oat-rneal and milk did a third more work 

 than those who used butcher's meat and ardent spirits. All 

 of the former saved money, while many of the latter involved 

 themselves in debt. As this sort of work is done by the 

 piece, it affords a fair comparison not only of the wholesome- 

 ness of oat-meal in promoting health, but its power in sup- 

 plying labor.' 



In harvesting oats, it is recommended to mow, instead of 

 reaping them, as soon as they begin to turn yellow. If they 

 are then well dried, the straw v\ill make food for cattle, after 

 being threshed, which will be eaten by the animals in pre- 

 ference to the best meadow hay. 



Mr. Jacob Smith, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, is said to 

 have raised, in 1833, the prodigious crop of seventy-four bush- 

 els and three pedes of oats on four-fifths of an o.cre. The 

 average height of the plants at the time of harvest was esti- 

 mated at five feet four inches. 



BARLEY. The follow ing is from the pen of judge Buel, 

 of Albany. 



' The soil for barley should be such as will grow good 

 turnips, or other green crops, including clovers, and which 

 embrace the varieties of loams and sands that are not wet, 

 or very dry and poor. Indeed, I have taken my crops, and 

 they have been pretty good, from my lightest turnip soils. 

 Barley cannot be cultivated to advantage upon stiff, heavy, 

 and wet grounds, or on such as are of a cold and tenacious 

 quality. This crop occupies the ground but about three 

 months ; and it is only in a dry, light, mellow soil that its 

 roots can extend with sufficient facility, and supply the food 

 necessary to bring the grain to rapid and perfect maturity. 



' Previous Crop. Crops that precede this grain should be 

 such as leave the ground mellow and free from weeds ; 

 and for ihis reason hoed crops are to be preferred, such as 



