234 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



34. We now come to the choice of seed, and much of what 

 we have said on this point in connection with the wheat 

 and the barley crop will refer to the oat crop ; certainly 

 not less pointedly, so far as regards this, that the quality 

 of the seed be the best which can be got. We are no be- 

 liever in the notion that poor seed grain gives good har- 

 vest grain ; the very contrary we believe in. Further, 

 the seed should be free from injury ; although, to be 

 sure, this recommendation is of necessity involved in 

 that already given ; for an injured grain cannot possibly 

 be said to be of good, certainly not of the best, quality. 

 Lastly, let the seed be true to its variety, for if you 

 wish a certain variety for a certain purpose, or as being 

 adapted for a certain soil, if you do not obtain this 

 variety, true disappointment will result. We have drawn 

 attention in a previous paper to the mixture of different 

 kinds of seeds for wheat. However doubtful this practice 

 may be in connection with the wheat crop, as doubtful by 

 some authorities it is deemed to be, there seems little 

 doubt of this, that a mixture of different varieties of oats 

 is productive of considerable advantage. The following 011 

 the mixture of oat seeds is from the pen of the late and 

 lamented Mr. Finnie of Swanston. " The practice of mix- 

 ing two or more varieties of seed has become of late years 

 very common in Scotland. The object for doing so is to 

 obtain a heavier and more prolific crop, by taking advan- 

 tage of the particular habit of growth of different varieties, 

 so that the excellencies of the one may compensate for the 

 deficiencies of the other. Thus it is common to sow a 

 mixture of Hopetoun and Sandy oats, because the former 

 is weak-strawed, stands thin on the ground, but very pro- 

 lific ; while the latter is strong-strawed, grows thickly, but 

 is less productive ; consequently a mixture of this kind 

 generally yields a better crop than when each variety is 

 sown separately. Of course it is necessary, in such cases, 

 to select such varieties of oats for mixing as possess about 

 the same degree of earliness, in order that the whole may 

 come to maturity at the same time." The following results 



