HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [35 



the barley : the grass-seeds late sown succeed equally well, and 

 do less injury to the barley crop in harvest than when more fully 

 grown. 



Oats are grown upon one ploughing-up of grass land, and if such 

 land be mellow and in good condition, the greatest crops are thus 

 obtained ; 5 or 6 bushels per acre of Poland oats are sown, which 

 upon such land may produce 40 or 50 bushels in return, and on 

 turnip soils should be followed by turnips. 



Or the oat stubble may be manured, and immediately ploughed 

 and sown with winter vetches. These may be used in spring, time 

 enough to make a good fallow for wheat or for turnips. Oats are 

 also grown in succession after fallow wheat on cool land (improper 

 for barley), generally upon one ploughing of the wheat stubble, 

 when grass-seeds are sown with the oats. This is too much prac- 

 tised, and an imperfect tillage : it would be much better to sow 

 grass-seeds in spring upon the fallow wheat, and let oats and vetches 

 precede the wheat as above. 



The oats adapted to the better kind of land are the white oats, 

 Dutch or Poland, also a variety called potatoe oat, which is an im- 

 proved variety of the Dutch oat. Red oats are preferred by some 

 for horses, and the black oat is sown upon inferior soils ; but the 

 better kind of white oats is alone used for groats and oatmeal, 

 and in that form for human food. 



Oats are a considerable article of human food in this county, be- 

 sides their general use as groats, and in soups and gruels. Oat 

 bread is eaten in the Moorlands over a considerable extent of 

 country ; the origin of which custom seems to have arisen from that 

 high mountain-land being too cold to ripen wheat. It is believed 

 that oatmeal is equally nutritious with wheat flour, weight for 

 weight; and two bushels of oats are nearly equal to one bushel 

 of wheat as human nutriment. 



For, one bushel of good wheat, Winchester measure, weighing 

 601bs. will yield 491bs. of flour, lOlbs. of pollard or bran : lib. waste. 



Two bushels of oats, same measure, weighing SOlbs. may yield 

 501bs. of oatmeal, 281bs. of husks : 21bs. loss. 



Advantage on the side of the oats lib. meal, (281bs. of husks 

 being supposed equal to the lOlbs. of pollard or bran) ; oats there- 

 fore to be equal to wheat in cultivation as human food, must be pro- 

 duced in double quantity per acre. 



Beans are grown considerably upon the strong loams, and are 

 principally sown broad-cast, and left to chance. The Worcestershire 



