iv] OATS AND BARLEY 47 



Oats. 



Oats are, like wheat, a national necessity at the present time 

 and must therefore be liberally treated. Fortunately oats have 

 been the subject of numerous experiments and in each locality 

 where they form an important crop a suitable dressing has been 

 worked out. This is usually 2 cwts kainit, 2-3 cwts basic slag or 

 superphosphate, worked in with the seed: 1-1 J cwts nitrate of 

 soda or sulphate of ammonia applied later. 



Where kainit is known to be essential it would be well to use 

 dung, or if this cannot be spared, salt. It has sometimes proved 

 advantageous to put on part of the nitrogen as sulphate of ammonia 

 (1J cwts per acre) at the time of sowing, and the rest as a top 

 dressing of nitrate of soda (1 cwt per acre) later on. 



The standard dressing worked out on the basis of the West 

 of Scotland College experiments is : 2-3 cwts superphosphate, 

 2-3 cwts kainit, f to 1 cwt sulphate of ammonia, all harrowed 

 in at the time of seeding. Practically the same results are obtained 

 by replacing the sulphate of ammonia with a top dressing of 

 nitrate of soda or nitrate of lime after the crop is well up. Basic 

 slag proved suitable in place of superphosphate for winter oats but 

 not for spring oats, except on very moist soils such as moss land. 



Barley. 



From our special point of view it is unnecessary to say much 

 about barley except that some of it should be displaced by wheat. 

 Where grown after roots fed off it is often improved by 2 cwts 

 superphosphate. Suitable nitrogenous dressings are: 1 cwt 

 sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda, or 3 cwts rape cake. 

 There is no substantial evidence for supposing that nitrate of 

 soda in this amount injures the quality : season is far more potent 

 than manuring in this direction. In the Yorkshire experiments 

 1 cwt sulphate of ammonia gave an additional 5 bushels of grain, 

 while the phosphate gave an additional 2 bushels 1 . 



1 Leeds Bull. No. 75, p. 12, 1909. 



