On the Cultivation of Oats. 



Ill 



grown with tolerable success on such soils^ but the cultivation of 

 oats is a thankless and unprofitable task. In such cases the use of 

 caustic lime is not only admissible but highly useful when drain- 

 ing and subsoiling have preceded it, but even when all these 

 means have been brought to bear on a real moor-band soil, the 

 result as regards the oat crop is not by any means satisfactory. 



From these general remarks on the comparative capabilities of 

 different soils for producing oats, the following classification may 

 be adduced — proceeding in the descending scale of their fertihty. 



I^irst Group. — Rich, friable, reddish-coloured loams, of which 

 the Lothians and Berwickshire in Scotland, and Devon, Somerset, 

 Hereford, and Gloucestershires in England afford specimens. 

 These soils are generally easily drained, and are either of 

 alluvial origin or derived from the new or old red-sand-stones or 

 basalt as in Scotland, or as occurs in England from the green- 

 sand formation. 



Rich, black loams found at the base of trap hills. Where the 

 rock is porphyritic the soil is generally of a red colour, and leaves 

 a deep stain on cloth not easily removed. The northern part of 

 Fifeshire affords the best specimens of the various descriptions of 

 trap soils. The oats grown on these soils are always of excellent 

 quality and the produce abundant. 



Fen land that has been drained and clayed, as in Lincolnshire, 

 where the large quantity of grain yielded makes up for deficiency 

 in quality. 



Second Group. — Clay land that has been limed and furrow 

 drained. 



Medium trap, whinstone-soils. — These require to be folded and 

 pastured by sheep to improve their consistency. 



Light, loamy land, requiring also to be mechanically consoli- 

 dated either by treading with sheep or by the press-roller. 



Reclaimed peat or moss land that has not been clayed. Com- 

 mon in Scotland and Ireland and might be greatly improved, 

 where clay cannot be obtained, by a thick coating of sand or 

 gravel. 



Third Group. — Thin gravelly soils left by the infiltration of 

 water. 



Poor whinstone soils, situated on the higher acclivities of the 

 greenstone trap hills. 



Loose sandy land^ as in Norfolk, and vi'hat are termed links in 

 Scotland. 



Loose calcareous soils, as the upper chalk of the south of 

 England. 



Cold poor clays, as in Huntingdon and Cambridgeshires. 

 There are innumerable varieties of soils less or more adapted 

 to the growth of oats, which would occupy too much space to par- 



