226 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



culture, a second liming will be found more injurious than 

 beneficial; bone manuring will therefore be better than the 

 application of lime or of shell marl. Clay marl, rendering 

 it, as it does the light soil, more cohesive and more absorb- 

 ent and retentive of moisture, will be beneficial in such 

 cases. Of all the profitless and annoying soils to take in 

 hand for the cultivation of the oat crop, that class known 

 generally as moor-band is the worst ; in these soils, indeed, 

 consisting of mossy land overlying a subsoil of mixed clay, 

 sand, and oxide of iron, oats as a rule refuse to grow. The 

 moor-band, forming a hard impenetrable crust below the 

 upper surface, completely prevents all capillary action from 

 below, so that in dry weather there is no moisture ascend- 

 ing to the roots of the oat crop above ; and the consequence 

 is, that at a certain stage generally as the ear or shot blade 

 is being formed the plant begins to droop, to turn yellow, 

 and finally and completely to blast all hopes of a coming crop. 

 The result is all the more depressing, inasmuch as generally 

 the crop at its first start has all the appearance of a peculiarly 

 healthy and promising one. Even when drained and fairly 

 well cultivated, moor-band soils never yield a successful 

 crop of oats. The following is a list of the soils adapted 

 for oats arranged into groups, commencing with the highest 

 or most favourable soils. First Glass (1) Eich, friable, 

 reddish-coloured loams, either alluvial in their origin or 

 derived from the new or old red sandstones, or basalt, or 

 from greenstone. ('2) Eich, black loams, at the base of 

 " trap " hills. (3) Drained and clayed fen lands. Second 

 Class. (1) Limed and furrow-drained clay. (2) Medium 

 trap and whinstone soils. (3) Light loamy land. (4) 

 Moss or peaty 'land reclaimed. The soils of both these 

 classes are, with the exception of the last (4) of the second 

 class, well adapted for wheat as well as oat crops when 

 they are situated in a dry and a warm climate. The second 

 soil of the second class light loamy land as also the 

 third, require to be folded by sheep or consolidated by 

 roller to improve their consistency. On all soft soils, as 

 reclaimed peat, soft loam, or black earth, the oat crop 



