XI.] MANURES FOR OATS 311 



be obtained early in the year. Early sowing is essential 

 fur barley of hif^h quality, and except on the very 

 lightest soils if the root land cannot be broken up before 

 the New Year, so that the frosts may have time to break 

 down the clods which have been formed by the sheep 

 treading the wet land, it is better to sow cither oats or 

 a barley like Archer's, which will yield well for feeding 

 purposes though the quality may not reach a malting 

 standard. When the roots have been fed on the land 

 3 cwts. per acre of superphosphate sown with the seed is 

 found to improve the quality of the grain and help to 

 correct the excess of nitrogen ; but neither potash 

 fertilisers nor salt, which is sometimes recommended 

 and which acts as a liberator of potash in the soil, are 

 of value except on the very lightest of soils. When the 

 roots have been grown with farmyard manure and then 

 carted off the land will be in about the right condition 

 for barley, and will want no help except a little super- 

 phosphate, should none have been used for the root crop. 

 Oats. — The general principles of manuring for barley 

 hold also for oats, except that, being grown for feeding 

 purposes only, they can be given much larger quantities 

 of nitrogen without any fear of injuring their quality. 

 When grown on a ploughed-up ley, which in many cases 

 is also lightly dunged before ploughing, oats are not 

 likely to require any fertiliser ; at the most a little 

 nitrate of soda if they are found to be starting away too 

 slowly. As an all-round fertili.ser for oats when the 

 land is in poor condition i to 2 cwts. of nitrate of soda 

 or sulphate of ammonia, and 2 cwts. of superphosphate 

 or basic slag, according to the class of soil, will answer 

 all the requirements of the oat crop ; potash fertilisers 

 would be wasted, as also would the more expensive 

 organic forms of nitrogen with a crop which occupies 

 the land for so short a period. Of course, in a wet 



