190 FIELD CROPS 



may extend well into May or be finished by April 20. 

 Fall-sown oats are sown in September in North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, and Arkansas, and in October in the states 

 farther south. 



The rate of seeding varies greatly in different sections 

 as well as on different soils and with different varieties. 

 The usual rate is from 2 to 3 bushels to the acre, though in 

 some sections it is considerably greater, while in the "dry 

 farming" region of the West, from 1 to 1% bushels is the 

 usual rate. In England and Scotland, 6 or 7 bushels to the 

 acre are sometimes sown; such heavy seeding is almost or 

 never practiced in this country. Numerous experiments in 

 the upper Mississippi Valley show that there is little dif- 

 ference in the yield either of grain or straw when from 2 to 3 

 bushels are sown, but that the yield of straw increases while 

 that of grain decreases at rates of less than 2 bushels. Within 

 reasonable limits, the number of culms produced from thin 

 seeding will be as great as from thick seeding, as thin seeding 

 induces abundant tillering. 



Oats are now commonly sown with some form of broad- 

 cast seeder or with the grain drill. Up to a few years ago, 

 large acreages of oats and of other grains were sown broad- 

 cast by hand and the seed covered with the disk harrow, 

 spike-tooth harrow, or cultivator. This practice is still 

 quite common in some sections, except that the broadcast 

 seeder has been substituted for the old method of scattering 

 the seed by hand. Seeding with the grain drill is usually 

 considered the most profitable and satisfactory method of 

 sowing oats, for all the seed is covered to a uniform depth, 

 less seed is required, and the yields are usually better. 

 Uniform depth of covering is an aid to uniform germination 

 and growth; in broadcast seeding, some of the seed may not 

 be covered at all, some may be at the best depth, and some 



