FALL-SOWN OATS IN THE SOUTH 17 
AGRONOMIC DATA FOR IMPORTANT VARIETAL TYPES 
Agronomic data other than yield also must be considered in choos- 
ing a cereal variety. Average data for date of heading, date of 
ripening, plant height, straw yield, and test weight of grain of the 
leading strains for nine of the most important fall-sown oat types 
grown in plot experiments at the Arlington Experiment Farm during 
the four years from 1922 to 1925, inclusive, are shown in Table 5. 
When grown from fall seeding at the Arlington Experiment Farm, 
Kanota and Hatchett may be classed as early; Bicknell, Culberson, 
Custis, Dwarf Culberson, Lee, and Red Rustproof as midseason; and 
Winter Turf as late. Red Rustproof produced the least and Custis 
the most straw. In the test weight of grain Lee and Custis are 
superior to all other sorts. Custis is the tallest variety. 
RESULTS AT EXPERIMENT STATIONS IN GEORGIA 
During the last 10 years varietal experiments with fall-sown oats 
have been conducted at Athens, Ashburn, Quitman, and Tifton, Ga. 
The experiments at Athens were conducted on the experiment station 
farm of the Georgia State College of Agriculture, located in Clark 
County, in the Piedmont section of northeastern Georgia. These 
experiments were conducted cooperatively by the Office of Cereal 
Crops and Diseases of the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Georgia 
State College of Agriculture. Childs (1) reported on these experi- 
ments in 1916. Climatic conditions at Athens probably are less 
favorable to fall-sown oats than on the Coastal Plain or in southern 
Georgia primarily because of lower winter temperatures. Soil condi- 
tions probably are about equal. At Tifton, Tift County, experiments 
were conducted on the farms of both the Georgia Coastal Plain 
Experiment Station and the Agricultural and Mechanical School. 
At Ashburn, Turner County, and at Quitman, Brooks County, both 
in southern Georgia, the soils are very sandy, and the harvest is 
usually early. Fall-sown oats as a rule ripen in early May, and when 
rust is not too prevalent and the spring season is not too dry, excellent 
crops are frequently harvested. For this latter section rapid growth 
and early maturity are essential for the production of high yields of 
fall-sown oats. 
During the eight years 1915, 1916, 1919, 1920, and 1922 to 1925, 
inclusive, 15 varieties and selections of fall-sown oats were grown in 
the experiments conducted at Athens. At the Coastal Plain Exper- 
iment Station, Tifton, 14 varieties and selections were grown for two 
or more years during the period from 1920 to 1925, inclusive. At the 
Agricultural and Mechanical School, Tifton, 10 varieties and selec- 
tions were grown during the years 1917 to 1919, inclusive.# On the 
farm of J. S. Shingler, at Ashburn, 11 varieties were grown in 1915 
and 1916. On the county farm at Quitman the same 11 varieties 
were grown during the years 1915 to 1917, inclusive. At Athens the 
varieties usually were sown after corn and in duplicated hundredth- 
acre plots. At Ashburn, Tifton, and Quitman, duplicated fiftieth- 
acre plots were used, one plot after corn and one plot after cotton. 
The annual and average yields obtained from the varieties grown in 
these experiments are given in Tables 6 to 9, inclusive. 
