VARIETIES OF OATS. 219 



1 6. Of the Avena orientalis the two varieties are the black 

 Tartarian and the white Tartarian. As already stated, all 

 the glumes are carried on one side only of the stalk. The 

 seed of the black Tartarian oat is very long, and frequently, 

 under bad culture, provided with a long pointed beard or 

 awn. Particularly well suited for peaty soils, it often, 

 when well cultivated in such, yields from 80 to 90 bushels 

 per acre. The straw is short; the grain, if good, short, and 

 plump. The black Tartarian is a great favourite in many 

 districts in England, not only from the large produce it 

 yields, but because the grain is particularly valuable for 

 the feeding of horses. The meal produced from it is par- 

 ticularly good, the only fault being that, from the black 

 colour of the husk, small black specks give a dirty look to 

 it. The white Tartarian is also very productive ; the grain 

 is larger than the black Tartarian, of a dull white. The 

 straw is long and stout. Like the black, the white Tartarian 

 oat is highly esteemed for horse-feeding purposes. Mr. 

 Haxton, the author of the prize essay " On the Cultivation 

 of Oats" in the Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society 

 of England, states that he "dibbled 23 varieties of oats in 

 small lots after lea in a piece of good black land, and the 

 results were very decidedly in favour of those which we 

 have marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. The best crops he obtained 

 were from the 'Sandy' and ' Hopetoun' among the early 

 varieties, and from the 'Late Angus' among the common 

 oats. The Sandy and Late Angus gave the greatest bulk, 

 and the straw of both stood remarkably well, although 

 nearly 6 feet long. The latter was 10 days later of being 

 reaped than the former, and even then it was scarcely ripe. 

 Had it been allowed to ripen fully, the difference would 

 have been from 15 to 18 days later than the Sandy. It 

 may be mentioned here that, although these experimental 

 crops were sown with little more than 3 pecks to the acre, 

 the crop was fully better than that sown broadcast along- 

 side with 4 bushels to the acre." 



1 7. With reference to the varieties of oats used in Scotland, 

 and the soils to which they are adapted, Mr. Lawson^ the 



