2G SOUTHEBN FIELD CROPS 



which lays its eggs in the body of the greeu-ljug, where they hatch 

 and kill the host. 



32, Harvesting and marketing. — Oat f.^rains mature 

 from the top of the panicle downward. Mo.st of the grains 

 should change color and be in the late dough stage, or riper, 

 before being harvested for grain. The harvesting of oats 

 is done ■with the self-binder or the mowing machine, or on 

 small areas of rough land with the grain cradle. 



It is an ad"\'antage in threshing if the grain is tied in liundle.s, as 

 is done bj^ the self-binder or bj' laborers folhjvring the eradler. 



Oats are marketed without any special preparation beyond 

 that of sacking. 



It is customary in some eonnnunities for oat-, to he bound into 

 bundles and shocked, left for a week or more in the shocks, 

 and then stored for se\'eral ^A-eeks in a stack or barn l^efore being 

 threshed; however, oats are often handled directly from the 

 shock to the threshing machine. Damp or rainy weather during 

 threshing renders this operation slower and more incomplete. 



33. Yields. — For the first few 3'ears in the twentieth 

 century the world's oat cro]) averaged api:iroximately 

 3,500,000,000 loushels, of which more than one foin-th was 

 produced in the United States, on aliout 28,000,000 acres. 

 The average for the United States is usually between 30 

 and 35 bushels per acre. This yield is much l^elow that 

 in Germany and Great Britain. 



For oats sowar in the fall in the cotton-belt a yield of 

 less than 20 bushels may be regarded as poor ; of 20 to 30 

 bushels as fair; and a good yield is one exceeding 40 

 bushels per acre. 



A medium yield of oat hay is about one ton jier acre, 

 which may be greatly increased by the lib(>ral use of nilrate 

 of soda or by sowing seed of hairy vetch or crimson 



