490 



OATS 



OATS 



In cases in which the vitality is lower than that, 

 it will be necessary to sow more seed per acre. 



There is no question that if care is used in 

 selecting, cleaning and treating the seed, and in 

 the preparation of the soil, oats should grow better 

 in yield and quality from year to year. The ease 

 with which seed can be procured and the lack of 

 knowledge concerning the best methods induces 

 many a farmer to change his seed when by care 

 and industry he might himself produce seed as good 

 as any he buys. 



In an effort to teach the young farmers the 

 importance of good seed and the proper methods of 

 selection and grading, many of the agricultural 

 colleges have taken up the study of the grain by 

 the use of score-cards. A thorough understanding 

 and application of all the principles of the score- 

 card will enable any one more intelligently to take 

 up the work of improving the oat crop. 



Preparation of the seed-bed. — Oats demand cool 

 weather and abundance of moisture, so that the 

 sooner they can be sown in the spring the better. 

 The amount of water taken from the soil by oats 

 exceeds that used by any other of our important 

 crops. King, at the Wisconsin Experiment Sta- 

 tion, found that oats removed from the soil 504 

 pounds of water to each pound of dry matter pro- 

 duced. Of course a part of this moisture passes 

 from the leaves of the plant through transpiration, 

 and from the soil by evaporation, but the amount 

 is very great and demonstrates the need of getting 

 the grain into the soil as early in the season as 

 possible, while the moisture is still available. 



In cases where the ground has been fall-plowed, 

 the stirring of the soil should begin as early in the 

 spring as it is possible for teams to get on the 

 land. The value of early stirring to form a soil 

 mulch and thus prevent the evaporation of mois- 

 ture was well shown at the Wisconsin Station. 

 Professor King used two plots, side by side, both 

 of which were alike at the beginning. On one the 

 hardened or packed crust was allowed to remain. 

 On the other the stirring process was begun as 

 soon as practicable and the soil mulch carefully 

 preserved. It was found that the evaporation of 

 moisture from the unstirred plot was enormous, 

 amounting to 198 tons per acre in seven days or 

 at the rate of thirty tons per day. Nothing could 

 indicate more clearly the short-sightedness of 

 allowing the land to lie with a packed surface be- 

 cause a little extra time would be required to keep 

 it in proper condition. The extra labor would be 

 well repaid by the increase in crop due to the wise 

 conservation of moisture and the destruction of 

 weeds. 



While oats will do well after corn with only a 

 surface disking, increased yields will undoubtedly 

 be obtained when the ground is plowed, especially 

 if the soil is naturally very compact. The seed-bed 

 should be in good tilth. Although oats will produce 

 well on poorer grades of soil than any other of the 

 cereals, a careful preparation of the seed-bed will 

 be amply repaid by increased production. The seed- 

 bed should be compact, and on rather light soils 

 rolling may be necessary. Should the soil be wet, 



however, rolling is likely to pack it to the exclusion 

 of proper amounts of oxygen, and even to the point 

 where the young plants will be unable to reach the 

 surface. In all cases rolling should be attended 

 with caution ; and a light dragging afterward to 

 preserve the soil mulch is to be recommended. 



Fertilizers. — Oats do best on soils that are not 

 too fertile, and the direct application of fertilizers 

 is generally inadvisable, as it is liable to produce 

 lodging of the grain and consequent loss. When 

 oats are grown in a rotation following corn which 

 has been manured, there is no need of manuring 

 the oats, as enough plant-food will still be availa- 

 ble after the corn crop has been removed. On soils 

 too poor to raise good crops of oats, the applica- 

 tion of barnyard manure at the rate of ten to 

 twenty-five loads per acre, or of a standard com- 

 mercial fertilizer, would put the soil in good condi- 

 tion. A standard commercial fertilizer, according 

 to Hunt, is "one that furnishes ten to twenty 

 pounds each of ammonia and potash and thirty to 

 sixty pounds of phosphoric acid. This can be 

 obtained by applying 250 to 500 pounds of a com- 

 mercial fertilizer containing 4 per cent of am- 

 monia, 12 per cent of available phosphoric acid and 

 4 per cent of potash." On soils, such as some of 

 those in Iowa, Illinois and other states of the corn- 

 belt, and in some of the eastern states, where con- 

 tinuous cropping has lowered the fertility, it may 

 be necessary to increase the percentage of nitro- 

 gen in the fertilizer. Commercial fertilizers may 

 best be applied with a fertilizer attachment to the 

 grain drill and at the time of sowing the grain. 



All in all, oats need little fertilization. The 

 Ohio Experiment Station (Circular 54) found that 

 while the addition of a complete fertilizer to oats 

 increased the yield, the increase failed to pay for 

 the fertilizer in one case and barely paid expenses 

 in another. It was found, however, that when 

 phosphorus alone was used, a marked increase 

 resulted and at a profit. The fertilizer applied will 

 have to depend on the soil and is largely a matter 

 of judgment. 



Depth of seeding. — The proper depth to sow the 

 seed and the best method of sowing will depend 

 much on the soil. Better results have been obtained 

 by shallow sowing. The Illinois Experiment Station 

 in a six years' trial has found one inch to be the 

 best depth at which to sow oats. This was corrobo- 

 rated by the Ohio Experiment Station, where seed- 

 ing at a depth of one inch gave a yield of 3.56 

 bushels more per acre than when the grain was 

 sown two inches deep, and 7.73 bushels more than 

 when sown three inches deep. All things taken 

 into consideration, drilling is the best way of seed- 

 ing when the seed-bed is properly prepared, because 

 the depth of seeding can be made more precise and 

 uniform. No especial advantage has been found in 

 ordinary drilling over broadcasting. Large areas, 

 however, are now drilled on old corn land by using 

 disk drills. Broadcasting in this manner necessi- 

 tates sowing slightly more seed per acre. 



It is well, in all cases, to follow the seeder with 

 a harrow to aid in covering the seed in the case of 

 broadcasting, and to level the soil in any case, as 



