218 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



The variety has a grain, however, of good quality, large, 

 with a thick husk, the colour of which is darker than the 

 potato oat, and can be readily distinguished from it " by a 

 small reddish mark in the centre of the front of the grain." 

 The variety is largely cultivated in the north of Scotland. 

 The period of ripening is much the same as in Potato and 

 Sandy oats. (5) The Angus oat. This belongs to what are 

 classed as (7) the late or common oat. The characteristics 

 of the common white oat are large grain, thick husks, and 

 late maturity. The Angus resembles the Potato oat in 

 quality, it is not so liable to shed when ripe. (6) The 

 Blainslie oat is greatly cultivated in the south-east of Scot- 

 land ; it has a good well- filled grain of good quality ; it is 

 early. One peculiarity of the common oats is the excellent 

 fodder provided by the straw. The grain is well liked by 

 the millers, as the- meal yielded by them is of superior 

 quality. (8) The Berlie oat is of two kinds, the English 

 and the Scotch : of which, says Professor Wilson, the 

 English " delights in good rich soils," the Scotch being 

 " better adapted for light than for heavy." The grain of the 

 Berlie oat is good, yields a good quality of meal, the straw is 

 long, and the seed rarely sheds. (9) Poland oat, much 

 grown in England, but inferior to the Potato oats ; there 

 are two varieties, the black and the white. Intermediate 

 between the varieties of the two species, the Avena sativa 

 or common oat, and the Avena orientalis or Tartarian oat, 

 we may class the " Dun oat," which may be, as it has been, 

 looked upon as a hybrid between the two species above- 

 named. The Dun oat is divided into two varieties, the 

 common dun and the winter dun. The common dun is 

 grown largely in some parts of Scotland, but always as a 

 spring crop ; it yields largely, the grain is of good quality, 

 the meal obtained from it is good. The straw is long, but 

 is not apt to lodge ; the period of ripening is rather late. 

 The winter dun is more cultivated in England and the Con- 

 tinent than in Scotland ; in the former countries it is sown 

 as a winter crop ; being often eaten down by sheep in 

 spring, and then allowed to grow for seed. The straw is 

 shorter than that of the common ^un. 



