114 



On the Cultivation of Oats, 



is seldom sown. The ordinary rotation on well cultivated soils 

 is grass, oats, green-crop, wheat with seeds. In Scotland the 

 rotation on soft, mossy soils is grass pastured two years, oats, 

 turnips, oats with seeds. Were the former of these rotations to 

 be tried in Norfolk the result would be greatly inferior to the 

 common and well known " four-course shift " of that county, 

 because there both the soil and climate are inimical to the growth 

 of oats. We see, therefore, that the long established rotations of 

 different districts are not originated by mere empiricism, but are 

 the results of well-tried experience. Custom too often decides 

 erroneously on the succession in which crops should follow each 

 other, but natural causes, if rightly interpreted, determine those 

 best adapted to a locality. If oats are ever to be regularly cul- 

 tivated in Norfolk, the present four-course shift must be aban- 

 doned for one of a longer duration, as neither wheat nor barley 

 can be dispensed with in a climate so well adapted to their 

 growth. But this point will be more particularly discussed in 

 another section of this article, meantime we will endeavour shortly 

 to notice the more important varieties of oats at present culti- 

 vated in the United Kingdom. 



Varieties of Oats cultivated in Great Britain. — There are 

 three well-defined groups of oats easily distinguishable by their 

 colour — white, black, and grey or dun. The greatest number 

 of varieties belong to the first class, and these are also the most 

 valuable in an agricultural point of view. White oats are sepa- 

 rable into two principal varieties — the early and late — and these 

 again into several sub-varieties characterised by certain pecu- 

 liarities of growth. 



Potato Oat. — This is one of the finest of the early varieties of 

 oats both for quality and quantity of produce. It is probably 

 also the oldest early white variety at present in cultivation. It 

 was introduced into Scotland towards the end of last century, but 

 the accounts of its origin are somewhat contradictory. Accord- 

 ing to a writer in the ' Farmer's Magazine' for February, 1803, 

 potato oats were first imported from South America in a small 

 parcel containing a quantity not greater than would fill an ordinary- 

 sized snuff-box. They were inclosed in a larger package con- 

 taining potatoes, and hence the origin of their name. Another 

 account states that they were first discovered growing in a field 

 among potatoes in Cumberland in 1788. The latter is Lawson's 

 account ; the other that of an anonymous writer. The authority 

 of Lawson is, no doubt, most to be trusted, both from his long 

 experience and his many opportunities of becoming acquainted 

 with facts relating to the origin and introduction of agricultural 

 plants. The grain of the potato oat is white, short, and plump. 



