228 CULTURE OF FAKM CROPS. 



(grass) never flourish after tares, the eighth tnat was under 

 summer fallow should only be seeded. 



26. As regards the kind of soil best adapted for the differ- 

 ent varieties of oats we have already named, the following 

 " notes " may be useful : For potato oats the best soil is 

 black land, or reddish-coloured loam of a consistent and 

 firm texture, but not clayey. Sharp trap whinstone soils, 

 and the better class of granite soils, are also well adapted 

 for the potato oats. As on clay land the roots of the 

 plants of the potato oats are apt to become sedge-rooted 

 when there is much rain in spring or early summer, this 

 class of soil is not fitted for this variety. Sandy oats grow 

 better in clay land than the potato ; they are most valuable 

 on soft moss soil. The Hopetoun oat grows well on light 

 soils; but not on high and exposed parts. For peaty or 

 marshy soils, the black tartarian oat is well adapted, that 

 is where they are well cultivated, and clayed or gravelled ; 

 it is also a good variety for high lying, late districts ; but 

 is not suitable for dry trap soils. The Dun oat grows best 

 on clayey or cold soils; becoming rapidly deteriorated in 

 light dry soils. 



27. The place of oats in the rotation of a farm is usually- 

 after grass which has either been cut for hay or pastured ; 

 although a modification will depend upon local and other 

 circumstances. In the five or six course of husbandry, oats 

 come, as above stated, after the seeds or grass. The crop 

 may, however, succeed beans or turnips ; in some districts 

 in England, it is taken after the wheat ; throughout Scot- 

 land, the rule is pretty universal that the oat should follow 

 the grass crop. The modes of managing the land after 

 grass, are fully detailed in the paper to which we have 

 alluded, and we shall therefore give a resume of what is 

 there stated in connection with it. If the grass has been 

 down only for one year, and then depastured by sheep, it 

 is looked upon as valuable for the oat crop as if it had 

 been grazed for two years by cattle, and this on account of 

 the equal distribution of the manure over the surface, given 

 by the sheep. 



