OATS. 401 



should be the aim of every farmer to emulate with each 

 other in developing the capacity of the land, and thus will 

 the result bring its own reward. 



TIME OF SOWING. 



There is no difference of opinion as to the time and 

 manner of sowing. Every one knows that spring oats 

 should be put in the ground -as soon as the frosts will per- 

 mit. If the weather is favorable, in the latter part of 

 January, or as soon thereafter as practicable the land should 

 be prepared and the oats sown. The soil should be deeply 

 broken and thoroughly pulverized and the oats sown broad- 

 cast over the field, and then either harrowed in or plowed 

 in with a cultivator. If the seeds are plowed in with a 

 a turning plow many of them do not come up, or if they 

 do come at all, they are too weak and feeble to grow off 

 promptly. A bull-tongue is used by some, and while this 

 is very good for the oats, it is bad for the farmer, as but 

 little progress is made with so small an implement. A 

 double shovel or a walking cultivator is the best plow, pro- 

 vided the farmer wishes to get the seed in deeper than a 

 harrow will do it. But a shovel- tooth harrow will do it 

 quickly, and, I think, more effectively than any other im- 

 plement The farmer who delays sowing his "oats until the 

 latter part of March or in April, will fail to reap those ad- 

 vantages due good labor Occasionally a farmer does sow 

 late, and from favorable seasons makes a good crop, and this 

 circumstance will injure succeeding crops for years, as 

 dilatory men will refer to this success as a criterioti, aud 

 thus excuse their habit of procrastination. Some may plead 

 the effect of frost on an early crop. This is futile, for al- 

 though the first blades may be destroyed by a freeze, it does 

 not in the least injure the crop, as oats are the hardiest crop 

 grown on our farms. 



While the general opinion is in favor of early sowing, 

 there is not the same observance in the quantity of seed per 

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