TARTARIAN OAT 497 



It is liable to shed its seeds when too ripe, and is best suited 

 to good soils in a favourable climate. 



Early Hamilton appears to be an improved earlier form of the 

 potato oat with superior straw and said to be more productive. 



(ii.) Sandy Oat. — A tall, stifif-strawed early oat with small grain, 

 the colour of which is white with a reddish tinge. It is inferior 

 in quality of grain, but is much less liable to shed the latter in a 

 gale than the potato oat. It is suited to all classes of soils. 



(iii.) Hopetoiin. — An early variety with a large spreading 

 panicle and tall straw. The grain is large, and has a thickish 

 husk of pale yellowish brown colour. It is a variety suited to 

 moderately dry climates and light land. 



(iv.) Abundance. — A white, late variety, much grown at the 

 present time : the straw is tall and leaves broad with a bluish 

 green hue. Grain white, plump and large, with a thick husk. 

 It is very similar, if not the same, as Newmarket, Giant Eliza, 

 and Ligowo oats. 



(v.) Winter Dun or Grey Oat. — This variety is sown in the 

 southern parts of this country in autumn, and fed off green with 

 sheep in spring, after which it is sometimes left for seed. 



Though not unfrequently killed by severe frost it may be 

 considered hardy, and gives a fair yield of grain. The husk of 

 the grain is dark at the base, brown in the middle, and pale 

 brown at the tip, somewhat resembling that of a degenerate 

 black oat. 



Several varieties of common oat having longish thin grains, 

 with reddish, bluish, and black husks respectively are met with ; 

 some of them are prolific but of poor quality, and scarcely 

 deserving of cultivation even as food for stock. 



Race II. Tartarian Oat {Avena orientalis Schreb.) (Fig. 158). 

 — The varieties belonging to this race have one-sided panicles, 

 as explained previously, and spikelets, whose empty glumes are 

 slightly longer than those of the common oat. 



The grains are long, often of low bushel-weight, and wanting 



2 I 



