16 SOUTHEBN FIELD CROPS 



use of a light harrow or weeder immediate!}' after so'ttdng the 

 fertilizer would often be advantageous, especially if the surface 

 should be quite dry, or if a heavy rain should fall soon after the 

 application. 



Cultural Methods for Oats 



18. Preparation of land. — The usual preparation of the 

 land for the oat crop is poorer than for most other crops. 

 Too often the seed is sown broadcast on unplowed land and 

 then covered with a one-horse or two-horse turn-plow. 

 The danger in this procedure is that the seed may be 

 covered too deeply or by large clods, either of which pre- 

 vents the germination of some of the seeds. A method 

 that insures more tliorough preparation is the following: 

 pIo\ving, then sowing the seed broadcast, and covering by 

 the use of a disk-harrow. A still better method consists 

 in first plowing the land and then sowing with the grain 

 drill. 



Either of these methods permits deeper plowing than is 

 advisable when the seed is covered with the turn-plow. 



On clean, friable soil oats are sometimes merely disked 

 in without plowing. This method is not so well suited to 

 Southern soils, deficient in vegetable matter, as it is to 

 regions farther north. 



19. When to sow. — Repeated experiments have'shown 

 that throughout the greater part of the cotton-belt the yield 

 secured from fall-sown oats is at least 50 per cent greater 

 than from crops sown after Christmas. Frequently fall- 

 sown oats yield twice as much as those sown in February. 



The exact date of planting that is most likely to give the 

 maximum yield varies with the latitude and climate, and 

 even with varieties. The earliest practicable date for fall- 



