GROWING GRAIN CROPS IN DRY AREAS 257 



when preparing it for oats. If oats is made the second 

 crop after summer-fallow, the land should be worked in 

 the autumn by the aid of the plow or disc and harrow, or 

 by the aid of all of these, as may be thought best. 



Sowing. The best varieties to sow will be influ- 

 enced by soil and climatic conditions. The quick matur- 

 ing varieties have been found the most suitable in dry 

 seasons, as the dry weather of the approaching harvest 



DRY LAND SIXTY-DAY OATS, CHOTEAU COUNTY, MONTANA. 

 Courtesy Northern Pacific Railway Co. 



season will injure the crop less than if maturity in it was 

 later. In reasonably moist seasons, varieties that are 

 slower in maturing will give larger yields, but since it 

 cannot be known beforehand as to the character of the 

 season, it is safer to give the preference to early matur- 

 ing varieties. Of the spring varieties the Sixty-day oat is 

 one of the most popular, because of the early season at 



