Money-Making Varieties of OATS and a Remarkable Forage Plant. 



This Page Should Bring in as Many Dollars as 
WHITE MAINE OATS.—My attention was called to these oats 
last Spring, and on investigation I find that, without exception, White 
Maineis oneof the most profitable oats for the farmer to raise, if not in- 
deed the very best of all varieties. ) 2 t 
cessful growers of seed oats, wheat and potatoes in New York State, 
writes me under date of Sept. 18th Jast as follows: ; 
“In regard to the White Maine oats, would say, that I have raised 
them largely for three years, and am more and more impressed with 
the fact that they are the best variety for horse feeding in existence. 
Now, I will tell you what they are not. They are not sideoats. They 
have not a thick hull. They grow a very short, stiff straw, not long and 
weak. They are not what are termed heavy oats, although the oats 
have weighed 34, 36 and 38 pounds per bushel, for the last three years. 
One striking peculiarity is that invariably there are two oats in each 
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| ured field of 13 acres yielded 9144 bushels of cleaned oats per acre. 
piece of land, that cleaned up 406 bushels, or 10114 bushels per acre for 
» the four acres. Last year, although the oat crop in this section was 
‘light, my field of 14 acres yielded 70 bushels per acre, and Sweden, White 
» Russian, White German, American Banner and several other of the 
new kinds, did not go over 45 bushels on land equally as good. 
turned over $500 in cash, as I was unable to fill orders.” 
and IS WORTH THE CAREFUL ATTENTION OF EVERY FARMER. 
The introducer, one of the most suc- | 
hullor chaff. Now as to yield, two years ago on my own farm,a nes | 
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same season my brother-in-law raised 4 acres for me, of course on a pet | 
Last | 
year [hada tremendous sale of them, sold some 2000 bushels and re- | 
This covers the ground fully, and I have only to add that TG) 
have not the slightest doubt that all my customers who decide to plant | 
White Maine the coming season will be delighted with this variety. 

Almost any Page in This Book 
| With ordinary cultivation, 75 bushels per acre can readily be grown, and 
with a favorable season, 100 bushels to the acre can reasonably be ex- 
pected. More for an oat could not well be asked. Anticipating a large 
demand, I have secured several carloads of extra choice seed, free from 
all foul seeds, that has been extra carefully cleaned, and will be sure to 
give satisfaction, which I offer at the following reasonable prices: Lb., 
40 cts.; 3 1bs., 75 cts., by mail, postpaid. By express or freight, peck, 50 
cts.; bu., $1.50; 10 bu., $12.50; 50 bu. or more, $1.00 per bu. Backs free. 
TAT I (LUS« 
New Black or Bronze Oats. TAN™OTH CLUS 
originated in Monroe county, N. Y., have never been catalogued by any 
seedsman, and were grown last year in a few townships there only; an 
average of 20 acres, grown by 20 different farmers, one acre each, is 77 
| bu. and 10 lbs. The highest three yields were 114, 105 and 104 bushels per 
| acre, respectively. These 20 acres were sown alongside of other com- 
mon varieties, and given in most cases the same culture, the average 
increase of yield over the other varieties mentioned was some 26 bush- 
els per acre. The Mammoth Cluster, in my opinion, is the best black 
oats ever put out. They are superior to Black Tartarian or any other 
Black Oat in existence; there are thousands of farmers who would pur- 
chase to-day new Black Oats at a fancy price in preference to any other, 
if they thought they would yield as well as the old Black Maine Oats, of 
30 or 40 years ago. This, I believe, the Mammoth Cluster will do. In 
growth they are side oats, short, stiff straw, very early and weighing 
from 34 to 42 lbs. per bushel. There is but a limited stock to offer, 
Pound, 40 cents; 3 pounds, 75 cents, by mail, postpaid. By express or 
freight, peck, 50 cents; bushel, $1.50; 10 bushels, $12.50. Sacks free. 
















































































































































































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The Sensational New Forage Plant. 
LATHYRUS SYLVESTRIS, or Flat Pea. 
Sold Last Season in London at as High as $2.00 per ounce pack- 
et. As its Nutritive Value is Nearly Double Clover 
and Alfalfa, its Value for Permanent Pas- 
ture can Readily be Estimated. 
This new forage plant has created quite a sensation at home and 
abroad for the last year or two, and has attracted the attention of dis- 
tinguished agriculturists the world over. If the claims made for it are 

only half true, it is the most valuable acquisition to forage plants ever | 
discovered. Some of its points of excellence may be mentioned as fol- 
lows: Its roots penetrate the soil 30 feet, which enables it to withstand 
great extremes of coldand drought. It has double the feeding value of 
alfalfa, a cropricher than red clover. Its feeding ratio is 1 to 4.5, which 
is richer than oats, with a ratio of 1 to 6.5. It is richer than the bal- 
anced ratios for fattening cattle, and is rich enough for fattening either 
hogs or sheep without any grain. It will last 60 years without manure 
and without re-seeding. It will draw double the nitrogen from the air 
that alfalfa or clover does, hence it is the most valuable plant known 
for renovating worn-out soils. It will cut 8 tons of hay peracre ina 
Season. When established, a field of it will fatten hogs without any 
corn. Its growth is slow the first two years. The plants grow very 
little above ground the first year, but the roots make rapid growth. The 
second year the top thickens up, and the third year the plant is ma- 
tured. The seed requires several weeks to germinate. 
CULTURE.—Prepare a piece of clean ground by deep plowing and 
thoroughly working. Plant the seed any time during the first Summer 
months. LHither drillor scatter by the hand in drills 12 to 15 inches 
apart. One plant to the square foot is sufficient when established, 
)hence the seeding fs light. Keep the weeds down the first year, 
Packet, 20 cents; 3 packets, 50 cts.; V4 Ib., $1.50, 


| Report of the Director Michigan Experiment Station as published in the 
October, ’93, American Agriculturist. 
From the last of March untilthe middle of May we had much cold weather, 
and all vegetation started slowly, but by May 20th, the plants of Flat Pea nearly 
covered the ground with a fresh, crisp mass of forage, having much the taste of or- 
dinary pea pods. Through June there was good weather with enough rain. The 
Flat Pea grew with great luxuriance. It covered the ground with a dense tangled 
growth. At present, July 20th, the plant has crowded itself into billows of verdure, 
It stands fully three feet high, but if it were possible to disentangle a single shoot 
from the mass, it would be much longer than three feet; probably not less than 6 
feet, It began blooming about July Ist, and kept sending out blooms in profusion, 
until now there is a great quantity of flowers and partly grown pods. On the 10th 
of July, one square rod of the 2-year-old plant was cut, which yielded at the rate of 
16 8-10 tons of green forage per acre. This was carefully cured, and gave at the 
rate of four tons of cured hay peracre. The hay is very bright in color, and has a 
most agreeable odor. Cattle in the stalls, and horses eat it with avidity. The half 
tone engraving, made from a photograph, shows in a degree how the plant appears, 
but no picture can give a good idea of its luxuriant vigor, nor the mass of forage 
with which the ground is covered to a depth of more than three feet. This lux- 
uriant growth, combined with the habit of the Pea family to send out numerous 
tendrils that twine around every thing they reach, threatens to he a serious obsta- 
cle in making hay from the plant. The sprouts are so inter-twined that they cover 
the whole surface as with a felted garment. A team of horses can walk through 
the field with difficulty. Ifa mower were put in at the edge to cut the forage, hay- 

| ing gone once across, the cut portion would be closely joined to the adjacent uncut 
part by the numerous inter-twining sprouts and tendrils. It is difficult to mow it 
with a scythe, for the cut part will not roll over into a swath, but hangs attached to 
the uncut part. Some kind of a cutter will have to be attached to the mc 
wer, 
which will sever the mown strip from the adjacent part. Of course this trouble 
would not appear if the fields were pastured. The root development is remarkable. 
If it had been possible to secure the finer extremities of the roots, they would } 
shown a wonderful and beautiful net work. The number of nitrogen-secretir 
bercles is very great. The tubercles are larger and more numerous than 
other plant I have seen. As one sees them on the freshly dug root, they 
ishing. In digging a plant that has such long and delicately formed sho 




necessarily becomes injured; hence the top as shown, does not give a good id 
the beauty of the plant. But one can see an important characteristic in the very 
| merous sprouts which grow from each crown. Twenty, thirty, even forty spr 
from each plant are by no means uncommon with this promising forage legu 
65 
