24 BULLETIN 1481, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DATE OF SEEDING 
Fall-sown oats may be sown in many districts of the South at any 
time from October 1 to January 1. The determination of the 
optimum date, therefore, is of considerable importance. Date-of- 
seeding experiments with fall-sown oats were conducted during the 
period from 1915 to 1925 at the Georgia State College of Agriculture, 
Athens; from 1921 to 1925 at the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment 
Station, Tifton; from 1917 to 1919 at the Agricultural and Mechan- 
ical School, Tifton; and from 1915 to 1917 at the county farm, 
Quitman. "The annual and average yields obtained from these 
experiments are given in Table 12. 
From the data in Table 12 it is apparent that late sowing is one 
of the factors most responsible for the low yield of fall-sown oats in 
Georgia. This is especially true for the northern part of the State. 
The 10-year average yields of two varieties of oats sown at Athens 
on October 15 and November 15, respectively, have been more than 
doubled by seeding at the earlier date. From October 10 to 18 
seems to be the best period for seeding at Athens, with somewhat 
earlier dates farther north. 
The data for the southern part of the State show that seeding in 
that section may be delayed to November 1 without affecting yield 
in most years, but that on the average it is advisable to sow earlier 
even there. 
In 1921 and 1923 at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, 
Ga., seedings were made on January 1 and February 1. Fair yields 
were obtained in 1921, but a total failure resulted in 1923. 
Oats grown from early seeding are plumper and usually have a 
test weight from 1 to 4 pounds greater than late-sown oats. 
A comparison of the yields from the two varieties, especially those 
from Ashburn, Tifton, and Quitman, indicates that Fulghum is a 
better variety for late seeding than Red Rustproof (Appler). This 
probably is explained in part by the earlier maturity of Fulghum. 
RATE OF SEEDING 
Experiments to determine the best rate to sow winter oats in 
Georgia have been conducted at Athens since 1916 and at Tifton 
since 1922. No rate-of-seeding experiments of winter oats were 
made at Tifton in 1924. At Athens two varieties were grown in 
these experiments, Red Rustproof (Appler) and Fulghum, although 
Fulghum was not included until 1918. At Tifton only the Fulghum 
‘ was grown. The annual and average yields and the deviations from 
the net yield at the 3-peck rate obtained from these experiments are 
shown in Table 13. 
The average yields obtained from plots of Red Rustproof (Appler) 
sown at the rate of 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 pecks per acre, respectively, 
showed little variation between the different net yields, that is, after 
deducting the quantity of seed sown. The seasonal variations show 
unmistakably, however, that the heavier rates were more consistent 
than the lighter seedings. The highest yielding rate was 6 pecks 
per acre, which gave a greater gross yield of 5.1 bushels, or a net 
yield of 4.37 bushels more than the 3-peck rate. The yields at the 
8-peck and 10-peck rates were 2.2 and 2.6 bushels, respectively, more 
than at the 3-peck rate, or considerably less than at the 6-peck rate. 
