THE OAT CEOP. 157 



built on the ground, the only preparation being a thin 

 "bed" or "bottom" of straw or faggots, " staddles" or "stack 

 frames" being very rarely met with in the north, where, 

 from the nature of the climate, they would be even more 

 advantageous than in the south. In the field, a rough 

 estimate of the produce may be arrived at, from the num- 

 ber of sheaves per acre : 



Sheaves. Stocks. 



A small crop (say 32 bushels) would require 240 or 24 



A good average crop 48 320 32 



A large crop 64 480 48 



In the stack, an estimate may be made of its grain con- 

 tents by calculating that, if the yield be indifferent, each 

 18 cubic feet will give one bushel of grain; if it be an 

 average, then 13^ cubic feet will yield a bushel; but if it 

 be large, only 8| to 9 cubic feet are required for the same 

 amount. 



Oats are less liable than either of our other cereals to 

 injury from disease. The only one that they are subject 

 to is the " Smut" (Uredo segetum), and this rarely attacks 

 them to any injurious extent. The leaves are sometimes 

 seen affected both by mildew and rust, as in other grain 

 crops; and in northern latitudes Mr. Berkeley tells us 

 that, in some seasons, " the plant is liable to be checked 

 just as the spike is forming, and a red ' fusarium ' 

 sometimes occurs in the stems, proba,bly doing but little 

 injury." 



In regard to the attacks of insects, however, oats have 

 not the same immunity. They suffer, perhaps, more than 

 either of the other crops from the "wireworm," owing, no 

 doubt, to the general practice of taking oats as the first 

 crop after old grass-land has been broken up. The best 

 preventive is, according to Curtis, 1 to pare and burn the 



1 See Farm Insects, p. 207. 



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