150 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aphil. 
Raising Oats. 
Oats are one of the important staple crops 
of our country. The Census figures of 1880 
give the Wheat crop at 459,591,093 bushels, 
and the Oat crop at 407,970,712 bushels, or 
onlyabou 11 per cent less.—Oats require good 
soil well prepared. With favorable weather a 
fair crop may be grown on moderately good 
land, illy tilled, but under such conditions it 
is an uncertain, unsatisfactory crop. Smaller 
farmers at the East usually sow oats after 
potatoes. Then the stubble with a dressing 
of say six cords of manure is turned under 
for corn, to be followed with potatoes, hav¬ 
ing only ashes and plaster or other “hand 
manure.” The third year the land is “laid 
down ” to grass with an oat crop. If the 
soil is poor, sometimes a little fine manure is 
evenly spread over the lightest portions, or 
over the whole, the aim being to “ even off ” 
the field to secure a uniform stand and quick 
start' The amount of tillage usually given 
is very little—simply once plowing and har¬ 
rowing ; then harrowing in the seed. Some¬ 
times a rough soil needs more harrowing, and 
perhaps rolling, but it rarely gets it what¬ 
ever the necessity, and yet we see very fair 
crops gathered, and a good stand of timothy 
and clover follow. 
Every farmer wishes to sow oats that will 
stand up, fill good and yield well both in 
straw and grain. The hulless oats offer no 
advantage, for we want them for horse feed, 
aud for this the hulls are rather an advan¬ 
tage. Most farmers feed the straw either 
thrashed or unthrashed, hence a kind having 
strong, leafy straw is to be sought. New 
varieties are constantly being pressed upon 
our attention. Most successful farmers are 
content with good, bright, heavy American 
oats, if possible brought from a northern 
locality. These should be well winnowed 
and screened, so as to sow only the heaviest 
third or half of the sample. When oats are 
bought of the seedsmen at a high price, one 
can hardly afford to winnow out half. The 
result is that good home-raised oats, or those 
bought at the mill, cost less and are worth 
more than those bought at a high price. 
We have had good success with both the 
“ Surprise ” and the “Probstier” oats, both 
of which have been grown long enough to 
be reasonable in price, and a little inquiry 
among good farmers will enable even a nov¬ 
ice to purchase his seed oats at a moderate 
price, so that he can select one third for sow¬ 
ing and feed the rest. He may at the same 
time buy a few of the high-priced kinds of his 
favorite seedsman, give them each a fair 
chance on good soil and have seed of his own 
raising for next year. It is exceedingly im¬ 
portant to sow oats early, as soon after the 
frost is out, as the land is dry enough to be 
plowed. There is great advantage in thor¬ 
ough tillage if the land be dry, twice plowing 
and most thorough harrowing. Hence fall 
plowing is to be recommended on all stiff or 
clay land. If grass seed is not to be sown, 
harrowing with the “ smoothing harrow ” 
should be continued at frequent intervals 
until the oats are at least eight inches high, 
especially if the land is weedy. It is usually 
well worth while to do this, and to seed 
down with grass seed alone in August. It 
gives a better crop of oats, fewer weeds go to 
seed, and a better aud evener catch of grass will 
follow, with very little danger of burning out. 
The self-sowed oats which are almost sure to 
cover the ground protect the young grass, 
while the oats are killed by the frost, the 
dead plants forming a good mulch for the 
grass, during the winter following. 
Vegetable Marrow—Oar Squashes. 
English gardeners would regard their list 
of vegetables incomplete without the Vege¬ 
table Marrow. When they come here they 
are surprised to find this vegetable not culti¬ 
vated and scarcely known by name, and some 
have written expressing surprise that the 
seeds are not offered by our seedsmen. The 
seeds are catalogued by all our leading deal¬ 
ers, but are under “ Squash,” a name little 
known abroad, where gourd is the generic 
term for all the family known to us as pump¬ 
kins and squashes. The Vegetable Marrow 
is popular in England, as it is the only one of 
the Squashes that can be raised in that coun¬ 
try with any certainty. The common variety 
is about nine inches long, and of uniform 
diameter throughout. The Long White, 
shown in the engraving, is a variety of com¬ 
paratively recent introduction, which grows 
18 inches long, or more. The Marrows have a 
thick flesh, the seed cavity being small in pro¬ 
portion. When taken at the right time, the 
flesh is very tender and free from fibres, and 
VEGETABLE MARROW. 
while without any marked flavor of its own, 
is, if well cooked, an acceptable vegetable 
when served with drawn butter or other 
sauce. To those familiar with our much bet¬ 
ter varieties of squashes, it seems insipid and 
watery. Unless with those who have acquired 
a taste for the Vegetable Marrow in Europe, 
there is no reason why it should be culti¬ 
vated in our gardens, for among our early 
varieties the “ Summer Crook-neck ” is much 
to be preferred to it, -while among the later 
kinds, the “ Boston Marrow,” “ Hubbard,” 
“Butman,” and others, are so greatly superior 
in any stage of their growth, that we have real¬ 
ly no use for the ‘‘Marrows.” That our choice 
varieties of winter squashes “ in any stage of 
their growth,” are superior to the “Marrows,” 
is not generally known, however. These 
winter varieties are seldom eaten except when 
quite ripe, and in a condition to keep through 
the winter, at which time the shell becomes 
very hard. But few seem to know that these 
squashes are edible at almost any stage of 
their growth ; we have used them when they 
were no larger than a goose’s egg, and found 
them greatly superior to any of the early 
varieties in their best condition. It is true 
that they have not the full sweetness or the 
dryness of the variety when thoroughly ma¬ 
tured, but nevertheless are excellent. We 
were induced to make a trial of these unripe 
winter squashes, from an experience in 
Mexico. In that country a popular dish is 
puchero, which corresponds to our old-fash¬ 
ioned “boiled dinner,” or, as it is called in 
some localities, “boiled pot,” in which vari¬ 
ous vegetables are cooked in the same pot 
with a piece of meat, and where the ingredi¬ 
ents all flavor one another. One of the prin¬ 
cipal vegetables in the “puchero” is calaba- 
citos, the very young fruit of the common 
pumpkin of the country—somewhat like our 
field pumpkins. All of our Summer Squashes 
are eaten in the unripe state, and the winter 
varieties are very acceptable in the same 
condition. Besides, it will be an advantage 
to those which remain to remove and use 
some of the late-set fruits. 
Test All Seeds Now—Important. 
No one can, by merely looking at them, posi¬ 
tively tell whether any particular lots of field, 
garden, or flower seeds have or have not suffi¬ 
cient vitality of germ to start into vigorous 
growth. Yet it is a severe loss, often a dis¬ 
astrous one, to go through with all the labor 
and expense of preparation and plantingor 
sowing, and find too late that the crop is lost 
because the seeds are defective. All this risk 
can be saved by a few minutes time all told, 
in making a preliminary test, and it should 
be done now, before the seed is wanted, and 
in time to get other seed if necessary. While 
there are always circumstances affecting the 
vitality of seeds (often unobserved), the re¬ 
markable season of 1881, and the unusual 
past winter weather have been likely to some¬ 
what affect almost all kinds of seeds. They 
may not have matured the germ; it may 
have been destroyed by heat or moisture; 
minute insects may have, unobserved, punc¬ 
tured or eaten out the vital part of a con¬ 
siderable percentage. 
Simple Test. —Select from the whole mass 
of the seed, 100, or 50, or even 10 seeds, that 
will be a fair sample of all. For larger seeds, 
as wheat, corn, oats, peas etc., take a thin, 
tough sod, and scatter the counted seeds upon 
the earth side. Put upon the seeds another 
similar sod, earth side down. Set this double 
sod by the warm side of the house or other 
building, or of a tight fence, moistening it oc¬ 
casionally as needed. If very cold, cover, or 
remove to the kitchen or cellar at night. 
The upper sod can be lifted for observation 
when desirable. The swelling and starting of 
the seeds will in a few days, according to the 
kind, tell what percentage of them will grow. 
—A box of earth will answer instead of sods, 
both for large and small seeds.—Small seeds 
of vegetables or flowers, and even larger ones, 
may be put into moist cotton, to be kept 
slightly moist and placed in the sun or in a 
light warm room. For small quantities of 
valuable flower seeds and the like, half a 
dozen will suffice for a trial test.—With any 
seed, for field or garden, however good, it is 
always very desirable and useful to know ex¬ 
actly how many or few are defective, and 
thus be able to decide how much seed to use 
on an acre, or other plot. 
