116 



On the Cultivation of Oats. 



grows very freely, tall, and stiff in the straw, not easily lodged, nor 

 liable when ripe to shed its seeds so readily as the first named 

 variety. The grain is smaller, and not quite so rich in meal as 

 the potato oat, but it weighs well in the bushel, and is liked by 

 millers. It is not well adapted for feeding horses with, unless 

 when bruised, as the smallness of the grains renders them liable 

 to be swallowed whole. Sandy oats are valuable for sowing on 

 soft mossy soils, where the crop is apt to be laid, and no doubt 

 they would answer well on the Fen lands of England. It is also 

 a better oat for clay land than the potato variety, as it is not apt 

 to become sedge-rooted. When sown alongside of each other on 

 good firm land the potato oat always surpasses the Sandy in 

 quality and produce of grain, but on softer soils the latter is to 

 be preferred on account of the greater stiffness of its straw, which 

 makes excellent fodder. The Sandy oat is also rather earlier 

 than the potato variety, but it assumes a deep yellow colour eight 

 days before it is ripe, while the other is quite ready for being 

 reaped a week before the green colour disappears. The former 

 should not be reaped until the whole crop has assumed a uniform 

 yellow colour ; the latter should be cut down when the green and 

 yellow are about equally mixed. 



Sherriff Oat. — This variety has only been a few years in cul- 

 tivation. It has some of the characteristics of the potato oat, a 

 very early maturity and moderate length of straw ; but the grain 

 is smaller and very considerably lighter in the bushel ; neither is 

 its habit of growth so robust. It is considerably earlier than the 

 two varieties already described, and new parcels of it appear in 

 the Edinburgh market a fortnight before any of the other kinds 

 are ready. Were it not for the lightness of the grain, and its 

 delicate habit of growth, the Sherriff oat would be a valuable kind 

 to sow in late districts. At present it is undergoing the ordeal 

 of experiment in many districts of Scotland, and a few years will 

 prove its merits or demerits. The writer saw a field of Sherriff 

 oats last year, the yield of which was computed by competent 

 judges to be above 76 bushels per imperial acre. But it must be 

 added that the soil was of first-rate q.uality, and the climate every- 

 thing that could be desired for the growing of oats. 



Hopetoun Oat. — The Hopetoun oat was greatly liked on its 

 first introduction, but now it has so much degenerated that it is 

 scarcely recognizable by Lawson's description. He says, It is 

 earlier than the potato oat, and not so liable to be shaken by high 

 winds ; its straw is longer and not so apt to lodge." The last of 

 these characteristics has entirely disappeared, for now, no variety 

 so easily bends over and becomes straw-broken as the Hopetoun 

 oat. The writer has cultivated Hopetoun oats for many years. 



