THE SMALL GRAINS 215 



northward. By far the larger part of the oats grown by 

 the civiHzed world, however, are of the spring varieties. 



The variety of oats adapted to any given locality 

 depends not upon the length of the hot, growing season 

 as in the case of com, but upon the duration of the cool 

 weather in spring and early summer. Thus in Canada, 

 late maturing varieties of spring oats are successfully 

 grown. In the northern part of the United States, medium 

 varieties of spring oats thrive best, since late varieties can 

 not mature in time as a rule to escape the hot weather. 

 In the same way, early spring oats give the largest yields 

 in the Corn Belt generally, while in the South, where the 

 period of cool weather is short, spring varieties can not 

 be grown successfully, but it becomes necessary to use 

 instead those varieties which make a part of their growth 

 in the fall and hence are able to mature their crop before 

 the hot summer weather comes. 



148. Preparation of the Seed Bed. — Oats do not 

 require as deep a seed bed as does wheat. Land which 

 has been in corn the previous year may be thoroughly 

 disced in the spring and the seed planted preferably with 

 a drill ; but only in cases of extreme necessity, if ever, 

 may the growth of stalks be burned at this time. 



Among the advantages of drilling may be mentioned 

 the following : 



(1) The seed is planted at a uniform depth. 



(2) A more even distribution of seed is secured. 



(3) The crop germinates, grows and matures more 

 evenly. 



(4) The jnelds are larger. 



(5) Less seed is required. 



If the soil is naturally compact, as is often the case in 

 the eastern states and also in those soils lacking humus, the 



