New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 
69 
Proof; 11, Virginia Winter; 12, Zonette; 13, Gray Houdon; 14, Long- 
fellow; 15, Pringle's Hybridized Hulless; 16, White Australian; 17, 
White Russian. 
Winter Sowing of Oats and Barley. 
Much has been written in the agricultural press during the past two 
years regarding sowing oats in winter on the snow where wheat had 
failed. This method was advocated as a means of securing a crop 
from ground that would otherwise rest idle. 
On February 10, 1887, when the ground was generally covered with 
snow, with here and there bare patches exposed, a plat one-twentieth 
of an acre in area was sown to White Russian oats, partly on snow, 
partly on the soil. The seeding was quite generous. Another plat of 
the same dimensions near by, was sown to common two-rowed barley, 
in about the same proportions as the oats. After this date (February 
10), snow fell to a more or less degree at intervals during sixteen 
days up to April 18, when the precipitation was steady all day from 10 
a. m. till night. During the period between February 10 and May 1 
the extremes of air temperature were 65° and 6.7° F. above zero. 
As vegetation began its growth in spring, these two seedings began 
to develop, but the progress was slow and no advance in earliness was 
made over the ordinary seeding of grain later in the spring; in fact the 
plants were more tardy than were the early seedings made in 1886, as 
recorded on pages 130, 131, 132, of the report of this station for 1886. 
It was noted that a large percentage of the seed sown did not vegetate. 
As the season advanced the plants made a poor showing, and it was 
thought that they would give a very meagre yield. The latter part of 
June, however, the oats began to develop rapidly and soon made a very 
good appearance, as compared with those in the field. On July 21st, 
the barley, and on the 29th the oats were cut, and the resulting harvest 
gave the returns, expressed in round numbers, in the following table: 
Yield 
Yield 
Rate per 
Rate per 
Sown. 
Harvested. 
grain, 
straw, 
acre grain, 
acre straw, 
lbs. 
lbs. 
bush. 
lbs. 
Barley 
Feb. 10 
Julv 21 
20 
31 
8 
620 
Feb. 10 
July 29 
72 
126 
45 
2,530 
While the barley yield is very inferior, it is better than no crop at 
all from land on which the crop first planted is lost. The oat yield is 
very good, and favorably compares with the average yields of most farms. 
This experiment was tried on a broader scale on the farm, several 
acres being sown after the manner described above. Although the 
