A V' E 
thofe of the common fort, but are ftftaller. it Sowers I 
mjuly and Auguft, but feldom ripens its fruit in | 
' Engiancl. It is propagated by parting the roots in 
the fpring, and the plants muft be kept in the bark- 
ftove to. have them thrive well in this country. 
A Y E N A.. Lin. Gen. Plant. 85. Tourn. IrifLR, H. 
514. Oats. 
The Characters are, 
‘ The flowers are collected in a loofe panicle, without beards ; 
thefe have a bivahular ernpalement, /welling in the mid- 
dle, and pointed at both ends. 'The petal of the flower is 
bivalve , the lower valve being of the fame fixe with the 
ernpalement,. but harder , putting out from the back a fpiral 
heard , twifting , jointed, and reflexed. There are two 
oval neBarii fitting upon the upper fide of the. germen, 
which is obiufe , fupporting two reflexed hairy ftyles , 
crowned by tzvo plain ftigma ; thefe are attended by three 
jl nder ftamina, crozvned by oblong forked fumtnits. The 
germen afterward becomes an oblong /welling feed , pointed 
at l oth ends , having a longitudinal furrow , and clofely 
f ait up in the cover or cbafl. 
T h genus of plants is ranged in the fecond leftion 
.01 Linnaeus's third clafs, entitled T riandna. Digynia, 
fr m the flowers having three ftamina and two 
ftyles. 
Avek a ( Bifpermis) calycibus dilpermibus feminibus lae- 
vibus. Hort. Cliff. 25. Oats with two fmooth feeds in each 
ernpalement. There are three forts of thefe Oats culti- 
vated in England, viz. the white, the black, and the 
brown or reel Gat, which are fuppoied to be only acci- 
dental varieties ; but where they have been many years 
feparately cultivated, I have never obferved them to 
alter. However, as their principal difference is in 
the colour of their grain, I iliall not enumerate them 
as diftindt fpecies. There is alfo a naked Oat, which 
is fometimes cultivated in the diftant parts of England, 
but is -rarely feen near London. 
The white fort is the moil common about London •, 
the black is more cultivated in the northern parts of 
England, and is efteemed a very hearty food for 
horfes ; but the firft makes the whiteft meal, and is 
chiefly cultivated where the inhabitants live much 
upon Oat-cakes. 
The naked Oat gs lefs common than either of the 
others, efpecially in the fouthern parts of England; 
but in. the north of England, Scotland, and Wales, 
it is cultivated in plenty. This fort is efteemed, be- 
capfe the grain thrdh.es clean out of the hulk, and 
need not be carried to the mill to be made into oat- 
meal or grift. An acre of ground doth not yield fo 
many bulhels of thefe, as of the common Oats, by 
feaihn the grain is (mail and naked, and goes near in 
meafure ; but what is wanting in the meaiure, is fup- 
plied in value. 
The red Oats are much cultivated in Derbylhire, 
Staffordfliire, and Chdhire, but are rarely feen in any 
of the counties near London ; though, as they are a 
very hardy fort, and give a good increafe, they would 
be well worth propagating, efpecially for all icrong 
lands. 
The ftraw of thefe Oats is of a brownifli red colour, 
as is alfo the grain, which is very full and heavy, and' 
efteemed better food for horfes than either of the 
- former forts. 
Oats are a very profitable grain, and abfolutely ne- 
cefiary, being the principal grain which horfes love ; 
- . an d are efteemed the moil wholfome food for thole 
cattle, being fweet, and of an opening nature ; other 
forts of grain being apt to bind, which is injurious 
to labouring horfes : but if you feed them with this 
grain foon 'after they are houfed, before they have 
iweat in the mow, or are otherwife dried, it is as bad 
on the other hand, for they are then too laxative. 
This grain is a great improvement to many effaces in 
' the north of England, Scotland, and Wales; for it 
. will thrive on cold barren foils, which will produce 
no other fort of grain ; it will alfo thrive on the hot- 
ted: land : in fhort, there is no foil too rich or too 
poor for it, too hot or too cold for it ; and in wet 
harvefts, when other grain is ipoilcd, this will receive 
A V E 
little or no damage ; the ftraw and huffs being of To 
dry a nature, that if they are houfed wet, they will 
not heat in the mow, or become mouldy, as other 
grain ufually do ; fo is of great advantage in the nor- 
thern parts of England, and in Scotland, where their 
harveit is generally late, and the autumns wet. ■ 
The meal of this grain makes tolerable good bread* 
and is the common food of the country people in the 
north. In the fouth it is efteemed for pottage, and 
other meffes, and in feme places they make beer with 
this grain. 
The hell time for fowling of Oats is in February or 
March, according as the'feafon is early or late; and, 
fometimes I have known it fown in April upon cold 
land, and has been early ripe. The black and red 
Oats may be fown a month earlier than the white, 
becaufe they are hardier. 
Oats are often fown on land which has the former 
years produced Wheat, Rye, or Barley. The com- 
mon method is to plough in the ftubble about the 
beginning of February, and fow the Oats, and har- 
row them in ; but then they muft be harrowed the 
fame way as the furrows lay, for if it be done croff- 
ways, the ftubble will be raifed on the furface ; but 
this ,is not a good method of hulbandry, for when 
people have time to plough the ftubble in autumn, 
it will rot in winter ; and then giving the land another 
ploughing and a good harrowing juft before the Oats 
are fown, it will make the ground finer and better 
to receive the grain. Moft people allow four bulhels 
of oats to an acre, but. I am convinced three bulhels 
are more than enough ; the ufual produce is about 
twenty-five' bulhels to an acre, though I have fome- 
times known more than thirty bulhels on an acre. 
Oats are alfo fown upon land when it is firft broken 
up, before the ground is brought to a tilth for other 
grain, and is frequently fown upon the fward with one 
ploughing ; but it is much better to give the fward 
time to rot before the Oats are fown, for the roots of 
the grafs will prevent thofe of the Corn from ftriking 
downward. 
AVENUES are walks of trees leading to a houfe, 
which are generally terminated by fome diftant ob~ 
jeft. 
Thefe were formely much more in requeft than at 
prelent, there being few old feats in the country but 
have one or more of thefe avenues ; and fome have 
as many of them as there are views from the houfe 
but of late thefe are, with good reafon, difufed ; for 
nothing can be more abfurd, than to have the fight 
contra&ed by two or more lines of trees, which £hut 
out the view of the adjacent grounds, whereby the 
verdure and natural beauties of the country are loft ; 
and where the avenues are of a conliderable length 
(even where their breadth is proportionable) they .ap- 
pear at each end to be only narrow cuts through a 
wood, which never can pleafe any perfon of real tafte ; 
and, when the road to the houfe is through the ave- 
nue, nothing can be more difagreeable ; for in ap- 
proaching to the houfe, it is like going through a 
narrow lane, where the objects on each fide are Ihut 
out from the view ; and when it is viewed from the 
houfe, it at bell has only the appearance of a road, 
which being extended to a length in a ftrait line, is 
not near fo beautiful as a common road, which is 
loft by the turnings, lb as feldom to be feen to a great 
extent : but as thefe avenues muft be made exactly 
ftrait, fo when the trees are grown to any fize, they 
entirely break the view, whatever way the light is 
directed through them ; and if this is in a park, the 
lawn of grafs through which the avenue is planted, 
is thereby entirely deprived of the beauty which it 
naturally would afford, if left open and well kept : 
therefore, whenever the filtration of a houfe will ad- 
mit of a large open lawn in front, the road to the 
houfe fhould be carried round at a proper diftance ; 
and, if it be carried fometimes through trees, and 
ferpented in an eafy natural way, it will be much 
more beautiful than any ftiff formal avenue, how large 
foever made. 
