470 Transactions of the Amebican Institute. 



Improved Oats. 

 Mr. Henry J. Rudiscli, Home Place, near Fort Wayne, Incl., sends 

 a half bushel of so-called Hungarian oats, which he has raised for a 

 few years past, the seed having been received by him originally from 

 the Agricultural Bureau at Washington. He says : " These oats do 

 not produce such enormous crops as we read of; but yield, with lair 

 farm cultivation, a reasonably good product, from seventy to seventy- 

 five bushels to the acre, stand up finely, and resist the extremes of 

 moist and dry weather to a wonderful degree. * * * They, 

 average in weight, through a series of years, about forty-five pounds 

 to the bushel, which is their weight this year. The best connnon 

 oats this year range from twenty-eight to thirty pounds to the bushel, 

 as I am informed by a large dealer in oats. * * * This 



variety was tested with great satisfaction this season by a few farmers 

 who got seed of me last spring. It will be well distributed this season, 

 as I have disposed of my entire crop (amounting to several hundred 

 bushels), except what I shall need for my own use. 



I have such confidence in this variety that I send the package to be 

 distributed among the members of the club, that they may test its 

 merits next season by sowing it alongside of any other kind that they 

 may desire to compare with it. 



Mr, Wm. S. Carpenter. — Unless we are careful how this discussion 

 on oats is conducted the farming community may be greatly deceived 

 as to the merits of these new varieties. Now, if these oats that weigh 

 forty-five pounds to the bushel in Indiana, were sown in central New 

 York, the first crop would probably be heavier than oats commonly 

 grown in that region, but the following year the grain would be 

 lighter, and so on until it had degenerated down to the old average. 



Mr. Wm. Lawton. — It is well understood that the introduction of 

 seed from other localities will often of itself produce a better yield. 

 Nature seems to require this change of seed and soil. It is quite com- 

 mon for farmers to go into another neighborhood for seed corn, even 

 if it is no better than that which they had grown on their own land. 

 The rule doubtless applies more or less to all kinds of grain. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller (showing two samples of oats). — Here I show you 

 one handful of the so-called Norway oats, and another of the oats 

 that we have just been speaking about. You see that the oats from 

 Indiana are a much heavier and better grain than the Norway oats. 



