164 PASTORAL AND AGRICULTURAL BOTANY 



Large quantities of oats are used every year in the form of oatmeal 

 and rolled oats. The grain is extensively used as a feed for horses, and 

 occasionally, it is fed to poultry. The oat plant may be grown for pasture, 

 for hay, or as a nurse crop. Oat straw is a valuable food for cattle and 

 sheep. The United States leads all other countries in the production of 

 oats with Russia a close second. 



Quality. The quality of oats depends principally upon the proportion 

 of hull to kernels. American varieties, as a rule, have on an average about 

 thirty per cent, of hull and seventy per cent, of kernel, and as these per- 

 centages vary the composition of the grain varies also. Oats differ 

 from maize in having a larger per cent, of crude fiber at the expense of the 

 starch. The kernel is richer in fat and protein than any of the other cereals. 

 Oat straw has a higher percentage of protein and a lower percentage of 

 crude fiber than rye, or wheat straw. 



Rotations. Oats generally follow maize in rotations. The following 

 is recommended by Hunt. For winter wheat sections, maize, one year; 

 oats, one year; winter wheat, one year; timothy and common red clover, 

 one or two years. For sections specially adapted to maize and not to 

 wheat, maize, two years; oats, one year; timothy and clover, one to three 

 years, depending upon the live stock kept. For southern states: maize 

 and cowpeas, one year; oats followed by cowpeas harvested for hay, one 

 year; cotton, one or two years. In the first year of this rotation, the 

 cowpeas grown between the rows of maize may be harvested for grain. 



Cultivation and Yield. It is not as necessary to prepare a deep seed 

 bed for oats as for wheat, maize, etc. The oats are sown broadcast and 

 covered with a disk harrow. Oats are sown in the northern states, as soon 

 as possible in the spring and in the southern states, the winter varieties 

 are sowed between October ist and November isth, while the spring 

 sowing takes place there from January to March. The average yield per 

 annum per acre of oats during the decade 1893-1902 was 27.8 bushels. 

 Sixty to seventy-five bushels is considered a good yield, while in Canada 

 loo bushels have been produced to the acre. The center of oat cultiva- 

 tion in the United States is in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. This shows a 

 northward movement over the year 1850, when New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania and Ohio were the principal oat-producing states. 



Wheat (Triticum, several species). As with all cultivated plants, 

 which have been associated with the agricultural operations of man from 

 very early days, there has been a discussion as to the origin of wheat. Re- 



