THE OAT CROP. 147 



that in Norfolk he found on farms in high cultivation a 

 crop of oats was frequently taken after the wheat, thus 

 converting the usual four-course into a five-course, and 

 getting an extra straw crop in the rotation. If they take 

 the place of the barley, care should be taken to plough 

 the land to the full depth ; and if they replace the wheat, 

 the clover lea should be ploughed up early, so that it 

 may be as much decomposed as possible before the oats 

 are got in. In the five and six course systems, the usual 

 practice is to take them after seeds, mown the first year, 

 and then pastured the second, or merely the third (if with 

 sheep), as the case may be. They may also with advantage 

 follow a root or leguminous crop instead of wheat, if the 

 land be thought hardly in condition to carry a good crop. 

 On the fen-lands (Lincolnshire), where oats are grown very 

 successfully, frequently averaging 80 to 100 bushels to 

 the acre, they generally are sown after roots or rape, and 

 are followed by wheat wheat again forming the last crop 

 in the rotation of seven years. In this case oats are taken 

 before the wheat, in order to reduce the condition of the 

 land, which would be too rank to produce a good crop of 

 wheat. 



Where oats follow a fallow crop, it is generally consi- 

 dered advisable to give the land a ploughing as early after 

 the crop is off as possible, and to repeat it, if necessary, 

 previous to sowing in the spring. This may not be neces- 

 sary if the land be well laid up, and left to the weathering 

 action of the winter, when there is always sufficient tilth 

 in the soil to cover in the seed satisfactorily. After a root 

 crop, it is not necessary to plough so deep for oats as after 

 seeds, as the tillages for the preceding crop have sufficiently 

 stirred up and opened the soil. When taken after roots, 

 it is -customary to sow them down with seeds ; and when- 

 ever this is done, width between the rows is most impor- 

 tant, as otherwise oats have a greater tendency to cover 



