948 



THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. 



BOOK X. 



mature, oats are divisible into three classes : (1) The very early ; 

 (2) the medium ; (3) the late, which need most abundant nourish- 

 ment, and, above all, a prolonged time of vegetation. 



In selecting oats for cultivation the colour of the grain is an 

 important consideration. In the choice of colour white, black, -or 

 yellow, as the case may be it is expedient to attach value to local 

 preferences. 



Oats are liable to an affection known as " Tulip-root " (fig. 442), 

 from the swollen appearance of the base of the stem, which bears some 

 resemblance to a tulip-bulb, and more still to a " duck-necked " onion. 

 This swelling is usually surrounded by a number of small pale 

 doubled-up shoots. The disease is also known as " Segging " or 

 " Sedging," from the sedge -like appearance often assumed by the 

 leaves. It is produced by the same eelworm, Tylenchus devastatrix 

 (fig. 438, page 933), as causes clover sickness. Hence clover should 

 never follow tulip-rooted oats, nor should oats 

 follow stem- sick clover, upon the same land. 



EYE (Secale cereale, L.) is suited to thin dry soils, 

 and is extensively grown in many of the German 

 provinces, both as bread-corn, and for the purpose 

 of distillation. It is there, also, very commonly 

 given to post-horses, in the form of bread, for which 

 purpose the rye is coarsely ground, and the bran 

 not separated from the flour. 



Of the common rye there are two hardy varieties 

 spring or white rye, and winter or black rye, the 

 former of which may be sown from February to 

 March, and the latter from the middle of Sep- 

 tember to the close of October. The quantity of 

 seed per acre is from two bushels to two bushels 

 and a half on poor, sandy, or dry limestone soils. 

 Rye may likewise be harrowed in with a thin crop 

 of turnips, and both fed off with sheep. In the light chalk land 

 districts of Wilts, Hants, and Dorset, it is very extensively grown as 

 an autumn catch-crop to provide fodder for sheep, which are folded 

 on it in the spring. Either for pasturing or for soiling, rye supplies 

 an excellent article of food to sheep as well as to horses and cows ; the 

 first may be fed oft' with it in the spring, the two latter more towards 

 the beginning of summer. The straw is useful for packing purposes, 

 and has a special value in the " potteries." It is also employed for 

 finishing the ridges of thatched houses, as it is tougher than any other 

 straw. It has lately been used at Enfield in the manufacture of a 

 special slow- combustion powder. 



BUCKWHEAT (Polygonum Fagopyrum, L. ; nat. ord. Polygonaceae) 

 flourishes in dry, loose, and sandy soils, that are open to the effects of 

 the sun ; though the variety known by the name of Siberian buckwheat, 

 which is much heavier and more palatable in the grain, will thrive in 



EO 



Fig. 442. 



"Tulip-Rooted 



Oat Plant. 



