1862.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
79 
placed in a liot-bed or under a glass in the house, 
and kept warm. Thoroughly mix it with half 
a pint of fine soil before sowing; sow the seed, 
and then roll the bed with a hand roller, or spat 
it down evenly with a shovel. The bed must 
be shielded against frost and beating rains by 
covering it with boards or cloths, (hay caps are 
good). When the young plants appear, occa¬ 
sional waterings with dilute liquid manure pro 
mote a more vigorous growth. They must be 
thinned out where crowded, and scrupulously 
weeded. They will grow unevenly and slowly; 
and the largest will be ready to transplant to 
the field about the tenth of June, in latitude 
41°—earlier at the South, and five to ten 
days later, if further North, at this time they 
may be transplanted 2i to 3 feet apart in rows 
3 feet apart. The period of transplanting con¬ 
tinues, according to the weather, for some days, 
or even weeks. The young plants root easily, 
and grow rapidly, particularly if we have warm, 
moist days and, when well rooted, luxuriate in 
our hottest Summer weather. 
[PRIZE ARTICLE.] 
Cultivation of the Oat. 
BY s. P. N.* 
The Oat is cultivated, perhaps, more widely than 
any other of our grain crops, having but few ene¬ 
mies, tolerant of great differences of soil and cli¬ 
mate, and producing remunerative crops on the 
poorest soils. Owing to its strong assimilative 
powers it seems one of the best means for the ex¬ 
traction of fertility from an almost exhausted soil. 
And although by some, and not a few, it is so used, 
yet when judiciously introduced into a rotation, 
it is not so greatly an exhausting crop. 
PREPARATION OP THE SOIL. 
It is a common custom to sow Oats following 
corn, although they require a rather heavier, closer 
soil, the desirable qualities being moistness, and a 
reasonable compactness ; a clayey loam is the best 
soil, as the plant is impatient of drouth. The 
ground should be broken as early in the Spring as 
it can be well worked, plowing deeply, Oats being 
better able to bear the bringing up of a portion of 
the subsoil than most other crops. The teams at that 
time are stronger, the ground loose from the effects 
of the winter frosts, and the absence of sward still 
further favoring, it seems the most suitable time 
for the deepening of the soil, an object which should 
be ever in view with the farmer. 
PUTTING IN THE SEED. 
As soon as practicable, after plowing, the seed 
should be sown. For several reasons I give pref¬ 
erence to drilling in the seed, for by so doing (1st,) 
the seed can be more evenly distributed than by 
hand sowing; (2d,) the covering is more perfect 
and uniform than either by the harrow or the plow; 
(3d,) the amount per acre can be more exactly 
regulated; (4th,) the grain comes up simultane¬ 
ously, and starting evenly it does not present the 
spotted appearance of many fields, and (5th,) the 
grain is much less apt to lodge. I have had, and 
also frequently seen, drilled oats stand well side by 
side with badly lodged hand sown grain where no 
other difference could be assigned than the mode 
of sowing. I allow the ground to dry sufficiently 
to bear rolling after plowing, then drill in the grain 
not more than two inches deep, one inch indeed on 
my heaviest lands, and then finish with the roller 
again. Large breadths of oats are well put in by 
sowing immediately on the fresh plowed lands, 
harrowing twice, first lengthwise of the furrows, 
then across, and finishing off by rolling the surface; 
the last an important matter in laying down afield 
of this grain. Should the soil be liable to have 
water stand upon it after a rain, it should be under- 
* The name and address of this writer (whose letter is 
post-marked New-Jersey). can not be found; will he 
please notify us that he may receive his prize.— Ed. 
drained, or at least, after sowing, water furrows 
should be opened with plow and shovel for its exit; 
no grain but rice can be expected to become aquatic 
in its habits, to accommodate careless farmers. The 
amount of seed sown varies from two and a half to 
four bushels per acre, my own heaviest crops have 
been from three and a half bushels of seed. As a 
general rule the better and the heavier the soil the 
more seed it will bear; three bushels is the average 
and is safe. The earliest sown crop, except in very 
rare instances, is the best, both in weight and yield, 
though the eye may not detect the difference. 
VARIETIES. 
With respect to the kind to be sown there is much 
difference of opinion, but it seems well established 
that the Black Poland Oat , is one of the best, if not 
the best variety, weighing sometimes fifty pounds 
to the bushel. The Imperial Oat, is also very heavy, 
and is preferred in the Northern and Middle States 
to most Other improved varieties. It has a clean 
bright, plump grain, almost equaling barley in solid¬ 
ity, and it is very prolific. The White Poland Oat, 
first distributed, I believe, through the Agricultur¬ 
ist Office, and now widely multiplied, is also 
a beautiful, prolific, and very heavy grain. The 
common White Oats are the most extensively culti¬ 
vated in the United States, and are hardy, yielding 
tolerably well, varying with the season more than 
most others in weight, a bushel weighing from fif¬ 
teen to thirty four pounds. Oats are found when 
long sown on the same farm to deteriorate both in 
the weight and yield, and great advantage results 
in obtaining seed from other localities, especially 
from cooler latitudes. I have twice imported Oats 
from England, the Potato Oat, and another variety 
of unknown name. When sowed they weighed 44 
pounds to the bushel, but year after year they be¬ 
came lighter until they were abandoned for a black 
Oat obtained from Prince Edward’s Island, N. B., 
which I have sown for a number of years without 
any perceptible diminution of weight or produce. 
Possibly under my present mode of selecting seed 
the English grain might have been kept up. 
SELECTION OF SEED. 
I adopt the following mode: taking a marketable 
article I place in the fan mill, instead of the usual 
screen, a board three or four inches shorter, and by 
a rapid turning blow over about one fourth of the 
grain. The portion which runs down its usual 
course will thus be the best and plumpest grain, 
and I find will keep the crop up to the standard 
weight apparently indefinitely, which is all we can 
expect in our latitude. I think farmers would find 
their account in this mode of obtaining most of 
their seeds. [This is certainly so—“ like produces 
like.”— Ed.] 
HARVESTING. 
In harvesting, which is generally done by the reap¬ 
ing machine, care should be taken to guard against 
cutting too green, for although the straw is better 
for fodder, the grain, unlike wheat or rye, is not so 
heavy, as I have found from trial; and the injury 
from binding too hastily is greater, for the Oats pack 
more closely in the sheaf, shock, and mow. Owing 
to this close packing many farmers have abandoned 
the reaping machine, and returned to the cradle in 
harvesting Oats, the “ gavels ” thrown off the ma¬ 
chine frequently receiving injury from wet, while 
the swa.h of the cradle will dry out after a shower, 
almost immediately, without even turning. It is the 
practice among some farmers to draw in their Oats 
without binding, the gavels being loaded on the 
wagon, with forks adapted thereto, in the manner 
of sheaves, buts outward, and then pitched indis¬ 
criminately into the mow like hay. If stacked, more 
care is used, the gavels being placed buts outward, 
at least on the outer course. But from repeated 
trials of both plans, I give the preference to bind¬ 
ing ; the difference in time is not noticeable, and the 
room required in the mow less; the thrashing, also, 
is much expedited. In the field they may be pro¬ 
tected for some weeks,, if necessary, by a mode of 
miniature stacking - ,, as follows : I place from fifty 
to one hundred sheaves in a shock, commencing in 
the center, by laying four 6heaves in the form of a 
cross, the heads together and over-lapping consider¬ 
ably, and in the angles others, for a center i 
then a ring with the buts out, the tops a little 
further in than the bauds of the center sheaves, and 
build up to a point, capping with a large sheaf, buts 
upward and the tops spread evenly on all sides to 
shed the rain around the shock. It is well, however, 
to get all grain under cover as soon as practicable. 
[That is, as soon as there is no danger of heating 
in the mow.— Ed.] 
THRASHING AND MARKETING. 
The thrashing is now almost entirely performed 
by horse power, machines being used and taking 
the place of the flail and of the old mode of treading 
out on the barn floor by horses. I find it most ex¬ 
peditious in cleaning up from the chaff to perform 
the operation twice ; first with a large-meshed 
riddle or screen, and then with a finer one of say 
four meshes to the inch. A nice clean sample of 
grain is always of readier sale and will command a 
better price than the same article mixed with dirt 
and trash, buying grain being a science as well un¬ 
derstood as selling it, and farmers can find little 
profit in paying freight and commissions on dirt in 
grain. The best market for Oats is probably New- 
York, if the producer is not so far off as to con¬ 
sume his profits in freights. The large grain 
dealers there, if applied to, will furnish bags to the 
grower at a small percentage, and sell the grain on 
moderate commission, often doing better for the 
farmer than he could for himself in that great Babel. 
There the Black Oat is preferred; in Philadelphia it 
is almost unknown, the white sorts taking its place. 
GENERAL REMARKS, ROTATION, ETC. 
On soils equally fertile, oats are uniformly heav- 
ier and more prolific in the cool latitudes and iu 
moist seasons. They are esteemed, though I think 
unjustly, an exhaustive crop. Their place in the 
rotation in this latitude, is usually after corn; the 
Oat stubble is then plowed up for wheat, thus inju¬ 
diciously, as it seems to me, bringing two straw 
crops close together. This course I have abandon¬ 
ed, and introduced clover between the two ; sowing 
it thickly with the Oats, pasturing it the next sum¬ 
mer, and plowing that sod up for wheat; the re¬ 
sults are eminently satisfactory. [The rotation 
would then be (1,) corn on sward ground with ma¬ 
nure ; (2,) oats without manure, seeding down to 
clover; (3,) pasture; (4,) clover turned under and 
wheat sowed, seeding down to grass ; (5,) wheat 
taken off and grass remaining; (6,7,8,) grass mowed 
two or three years—perhaps receiving top-dressing 
the second year—then wheat.— Ed.] Oats are ben- 
efitted by almost any of the usual fertilizers. Lime 
applied immediately to the crop, has the effect of 
retarding its ripening, and is thereby often of ques¬ 
tionable benefit, exposing the plant for a longer 
time to the accidents of the season, and also to iu- 
sects. Ashes have rather the contrary effect, and 
seem to be peculiarly efficacious in increasing the 
yield. Nitrogenous manures, such as Peruvian 
guano, are apt to cause luxuriant growth and con¬ 
sequent lodging if applied too freely. The best 
mode of manuring the Oat crop, is through the 
preceding crop, getting the land in good heart, 
and not by specially stimulating the growing plant. 
On sod they rarely do as well as the quality of the 
soil would lead one to expect. The chief enemies 
of the Oat are: rust, the army worm,, and the aphis. 
The army worm, if he comes, has it all his own way, 
though a deep furrow plowed round the field, the 
furrow slice thrown towards the fence, and pits dug 
at intervals, into which the worms fall, has proved 
measurably successful, many bucketsful of worms 
having been thus taken by single farmers. The 
aphis is a plant louse of a reddish color, that at¬ 
tacks the upper part of the stalk and the stems 
of the head, and sucks the juices, causing shriv¬ 
eling of the kernel, though the husk seems of 
full size. Very extensive damage was done to the 
crop by this insect during the past Summer. Rust 
has been extensively damaging in some seasons, 
particularly in the West. I believe no remedy is 
known. The above is the result of 15 years ex¬ 
perience in farming, during the last 10 of which, 
Oat growing has been rather a specialty. 
