60 PLANT SUCCESSION AND CROP PRODUCTION 



section led in acreage, the northwestern section led in yield that 

 year. This bears out the contention that in a crop subject to dam- 

 age from conditions beyond the farmer's control, the acreage is 

 frequently a better way of locating the center than is the yield. 

 In a paper recently published the writer (1918, p. 62) discussed 

 the criteria for locating a crop center based upon production. 

 For most purposes the use of production is the method favored. 

 The above example shows how acreage may be used to advantage. 



(c) Oats 



In the United States, the center of oats production is only 

 slightly north of the corn belt. This is the case in spite of the fact 

 that oats are proverbially a cool climate crop with a high moisture 

 requirement. Under such conditions it would be expected that the 

 center of oats production be found much farther north than it is. 

 Oats are grown in rotations into which corn enters as the most 

 important plant. On farms following such rotation schemes, 

 there is need for much horse labor. Oats are ideal for horses and 

 oat straw is much prized for bedding, besides furnishing a cer- 

 tain amount of bulky feed. It is obvious then, that to bring the 

 oats center near to or within the corn center is desirable. The 

 difficulties have been partially overcome by the use of early matur- 

 ing varieties, which have escaped the summer heat, rusts and 

 smuts. There still remain plenty of opportunities to originate 

 new varieties or strains of oats which are better adapted to com 

 belt conditions than any of the varieties now grown. 



In Ohio we find that the production of oats centers strongly in 

 the northern part of the state and that the heaviest production is 

 in the northwest, where corn production centers. For 1915 the 

 total production of oats for the state was 57,087,410 bushels. The 

 sectional yields were as follows : 



Northwestern section 31,380,518 



Northeastern " 19,592,053 



Southwestern " 4,414,773 



Southeastern " 1,700,066 



In the northern part of the state 89 percent of the oats crop 

 was produced in 1915. It is not difficult to see where the center of 

 oats production is located. 



