494 



OATS 



OIL-BEARING PLANTS 



of a fall-sown oat crop into a reasonable surety. 

 It has been exploited in Georgia for some fifteen 

 years, and although it made slow progress at first, 

 now that its advantages are more fully realized it 

 is being rapidly adopted by the public. 



Under this system grain may be seeded as late 

 as the last week in November with the assurance of 

 a good stand and of the crop passing the winter 

 uninjured. Throughout the cotton-belt the loss 

 from the "winter-killing" of hand-sown fall oats 

 ranges from one crop in two to one in three, 

 equivalent to an annual average loss of at least 

 40 per cent. With the "open furrow" method, an 

 annual average loss of 4 per cent would seem 

 to be an excessive estimate. Moreover, the yield 

 is relatively greater, while its additional cost is 

 comparatively moderate. 



Details of the "open furrow" method. 



The details of the process are as follows : — The 

 corn land of the previous year is well broken 

 and harrowed, preferably in the first or second 

 week in October. The implement at first used for 



Fig. 722. "Open farrow" oat-growing. 



planting was a light, one-horse combination seeder 

 and fertilizer distributer, seeding and at the 

 same time fertilizing only one row at a time. 

 It was provided with a six-inch "shovel" plow- 

 point to open the furrow, into which were drilled 

 seed and fertilizer together from separate hoppers 

 and in any desired quantity. The covering was 

 effected by means of a wheel at the rear of the 

 implement. 



An "open furrow" machine, however, has recently 

 been devised by which four rows at a time may be 

 seeded in place of one if the oats are exceptionally 

 well cleaned. The machine will doubtless be still 

 further perfected and eventually supersede the 

 original " single row " implement. 



The seeds on germination thus occupy the bottom 

 of an open furrow some four inches deep, where 

 the roots find anchorage in permanent moisture. 

 The sides of the furrow are miniature "bluffs" 

 which serve as windbreaks for the tender grain 

 against the cold northwest winds, while the recur- 

 ring frosts of winter successively sift the soil into 

 the furrow, almost filling it by harvest time. The 

 rows are run preferably east and west, but their 

 direction is not of serious moment, since the 

 prevailing cold winds of the cotton-belt are 

 from the northwest, and would therefore cross 



the rows diagonally, even when extending north 

 and south. 



By harvest time, which is usually the first week 

 in June or the last week in May, the grain has 

 tillered to such an extent that the rows are barely 

 traceable across the field. Although planting one 

 or even four rows at a time appears to be rather 

 slow work, it is really more expeditious than it 

 seems, while the assurance of securing thereby an 

 otherwise fortuitous crop should more than recon- 

 cile the planter to the delay. 



With the " open furrow " method liberal fertili- 

 zation is advisable on planting and also an addi- 

 tional top-dressing of nitrate of soda in early 

 spring. 



Adaptation of the method. 



Besides oats the process is equally applicable to 

 other small grains, and permits wheat to be sown 

 successfully in the South as late as the middle of 

 December. It also opens up great possibilities for 

 the Northwest along the margin of the belt where 

 fall-sown wheat gives way to spring-sowing. It is 

 possible that the limit of fall-sown wheat may be 

 pushed northward some fifty or seventy-five miles, 

 perhaps one hundred. 



Literature. 



R. J. Redding, Bulletins Nos. 44 and 72, Georgia 

 Experiment Station and Press Bulletin No. 45 of 

 the same station. 



OII^BEARING PLANTS. Pigs. 723-726. 



By R. H. True. 



Under this heading are included two widely dif- 

 ferent classes of plant products, which will demand 

 separate treatment. The oils of one class are light, 

 readily volatilized, usually marked by a more or 

 less strongly developed odor, and taste frequently 

 pleasant, and are obtained from the plant by the 

 process of distillation with water vapors. The oils 

 of the other class are heavy, thickly fluid at usual 

 temperatures, relatively lacking in odor and taste, 

 and are usually obtained by the forcing out of the 

 oil under heavy pressure. Since these two classes 

 of products are obtained from different sources by 

 very different processes, and are made use of in 

 different ways, it will be expedient to discuss them 

 separately. 



Plants Producing Volatile Oils 

 Botanical source. 



The LaMatece (the mint family), the Umbelliferce 

 (the parsnip family), the Rosaeex (the rose family), 

 and the Compositm (the sunflower family), are all 

 rich in volatile oils and furnish a considerable part 

 of the world's supply. This class of products is 

 also widely developed throughout the flower-pro- 

 ducing section of the vegetable kingdom, and is 

 found in the Verbenacece (the verbena family), in 

 many of the evergreen trees, in the family which 

 includes the orange and the \em.OTi(Rutacece), and also 

 in that which includes the wintergreen {Ericaceae). 



