Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 057 



Baklet. 



Mr. F. D. Curtis. — On behalf of one of my neighbors, I would 

 ask whetlior barley is a profitable grain to feed to sheep. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — One of the best grains farmers in the country, 

 Mr. Geddes, says that barley is not a good grain for work stock, but 

 it will make hogs and mutton shoep take on flesh about as fast as 

 any other feed. 



Oats. 



Mr. Wm. Newton, of Henrietta, IST. Y., wrote that some four 

 years ago he received from Germany a quart of " White Probsteier" 

 oats. Tlie past season he sowed a field of six acres with this variety, 

 and harvested 587 bushels, or an average of nearly ninety-eight bush- 

 els to the acre, weighing thirty-nine pounds to the bushel. He fur- 

 ther said : '' I notice in nearly all the large yields of oats reported, 

 that returns are given for only a small quantity of ground, which was 

 prepared with extra care, well manured, and only a small quantity 

 of seed used. Farmers are often advised to use less seed than they 

 do. Xow, I think this advice is wrong, and will result in loss to 

 most that follow it. H' our lands were as rich as they should be, less 

 seed might be required. But not one form in a hundred is in this 

 condition, and we must look at things as they are, and not as they 

 should be. I believe nine out of every ten farraei-s fail in raising 

 large crops of oats by not using seed enough. I sowed broadcast, at 

 the rate of three and a half bushels, by measure, per acre, and the 

 result was as stated above. The soil on wdiich they grew is a loam ; 

 the timber originally beach and majle. The preceding crop was 

 corn. About one-half the field was manured in the fall, before the 

 corn was planted. The oats received no manure of any kind. One 

 land in the field was sown at the rate of about two bushels per acre. 

 It was not thrashed separately, l)Ut I should judge the yield to have 

 been from seventy to seventy-five bushels per acre. The oats on it 

 were three or four days later than the rest of the field, and some 

 were rusty, while the other showed no sign of rust. This I noticed 

 before. Last spring I let my brotlier have seven bushels of the oats, 

 which he sowed on two acres. The yield was 201 bushels from the 

 piece. Last year I sowed at the rate of three bushels per acre, and 

 the yield was at the rate of seventy bushels per acre. I was convin- 

 ced by the appearance of the field tliat lia<l I sown one-tljird more 

 seed I should have harvccted nearly one-third more oats. We have 



[Inst.] 42 



