HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 23 
life. It is usually quite hot and dry at the 
time of cutting oats, and if the alfalfa plants 
are denied a fair portion of moisture at this 
time, they will not all survive the ordeal, with 
the result that only a portion of the stand 
will he obtained that could be had under the 
other system. Consequently, an increasingly 
number of farmers are following the method 
of cutting the oats green for hay, rather than 
allowing them to ripen, when alfalfa is sown 
at the same time as the oats. 
Oats are a crop that is used widely on our 
American farms. All horses relish oats as a 
feed, while cows, hogs and chickens thrive 
well on this feed, either as whole oats or 
ground. Oats are also used as food by people 
of some countries in the form of oat-meal or 
“porridge,” a breakfast cereal. One of the 
best products from the oat crop, besides the 
oat grain, is the straw. Oat straw is ideal 
for bedding the farm animals, and also con¬ 
tains some feeding value, but oat straw is 
not to be recommended as a farm animal feed, 
unless there is an acute shortage of hay. 
MISCELLANEOUS GRAIN CROPS 
One of the important grain crops grown in 
this country is rye, although this crop is large¬ 
ly grown as a catch or cover crop, as well 
as a grain crop. Rye is probably grown more 
as a grain crop in some of the European coun¬ 
tries than it is in our own country, as rye 
bread is used to a large extent in Europe. 
The rye grain is not very popular in this coun- 
