1 62 PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL BOTANY 



after corn. In portions of Ohio there is a three-year rotation of corn, 

 wheat and clover. The following five year rotation has been found suc- 

 cessful: Clover, timothy, corn, oats, wheat. In .the south, there are 

 3 Cs, viz., corn, cowpeas, cotton. 



The larger part of the crop of corn is still husked by hand from the 

 standing plant, which is then cut and put into shocks, or into the silo. 

 In the silo by process of fermentation, it is converted into silage. After 

 being husked, the ears of maize are placed in cribs which are open-slatted 

 storehouses permitting the circulation of the air. Some of the finer ears 

 are laid aside as seed corn. 



Oats (Avena sativa, A. orientalis and A. nuda}. There are three species 

 of oats in common cultivation in the United States (Fig. 71, A and B}. 

 They are the panicle oats (Avena sativa), banner oats (A orientalis} and 

 naked oats (A nuda). Several botanists believe that these three cultigens 

 have originated from the wild oats (Avena fatua} . There are other cul- 

 tivated oats but they are of minor importance. 



Description. The roots of oats extend to a depth of four or five feet. 

 The stems of the plant are larger in diameter and softer than wheat and 

 bear leaves abundantly. The leaves have a closed leaf sheath and the 

 ligule is short and toothed. The spikelets of the oats are arranged in 

 open panicles with a one-sided panicle in banner oats. The spreading oats , 

 Avena sativa, has a panicle with its branches spreading in all directions. 

 An oat spikelet has two to five flowers with two unequal glumes at the 

 base of the spikelet. The lemma is rounded on the back and with a dor- 

 sal awn. The palea is two-toothed and shorter than the lemma fitting 

 closely about the grain. Each floret has three stamens. The blooming 

 of the flowers in an entire spikelet is completed in about a week with the 

 lower floret developing first and the others in ascending order. The 

 flowering period is from 2 to 4 p.m. Self-pollination is the rule, although 

 cross pollination is not impossible. The elongated hairy oat kernel is 

 firmly surrounded by the lemma and the palet which together form the 

 hull. The starchy endosperm of oats, unlike that of wheat, has no gluten 

 and hence it cannot be made into a light head. 



Cool summers favor the ripening of the grain of oats, and hence, the 

 plant is better adapted to high altitudes and latitudes. The plant re- 

 quires more water than the other common cereals, and hence, the crop is 

 generally grown in the spring. The plant is more independent of the 

 character of the soil than any other cereal. 



