Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-08-05
agricultural department.
THE VALUE OF RED RUST.PROOF OATS.

THE VALUE OF RED RUST.PROOF OATS.
In the Rural for August, 1874, I published
an experiment with red oats, that several
friends asserted was an exception, because "it
was growing oats too cheap. Another year
has come and gone. have repeated the ex-
pertinent, succeeded equally as we'll, and am
pleased to say, have witnessed better sue
cess with more than one of my neighbors. Red
oats can be grown at an expense Of twenty
FIVE cents per bushel upon any ordinary farm
in the South every such bushel will weigh
thirty pounds, and pound of oats will pro-
duce Just as much muscle and fat as pound
of corn. have kept horse for two years
without every feeding him an ear of corn or a
blade of fodder, his daily diet being shelled
oats and straw, or cut oats from the sheaf; he
has been ploughed, wagoned, hacked about in
buggy, and ridden under the saddle, and there
never was time he was not ready and will.
ing to do full share of work. Any land
that ever I have seen in the South will pro-
duce two bushels of oats where it will grow
one bushel of corn; each farmer for himself
can calculate the cost of growing the two
crops.
Red oats will yield more grain to the straw
than any oats have ever grown. Sown in
the fall, they will produce remunerative
crop on good land, even if frozen out during
the winter to single stool to every square
foot They are heavier than any other and
have never been known to take the rust A
few years ago, selected eight adjoining acres,
and on them sowed bushel to each acre of
eight varieties of OATS Some were entirely
destroyed by the winter, some were ruined by
rust, and all but the red oats were more or
less damaged by this parasite. Not even a
blade of the red oats was touched, though the
acre was in the midst ofthose most thoroughly
ruined. The time is upon us when they
should again be sown, though they are remu.
nerative if sown at any time between this and
the 1st ofnext March.
prefer to SOW in cotton-land broadcast,
and plough in with three or four sweep.fur-
rows This lays by cotton crop as we'll as
sows small grain crop, hence saving of
half the labor 1t is cheaper to SOW in the
cotton field even if postponed till September
or October because cotton requiring clean
culture the land is in better tilth, and fewer
burrows are necessary. The hands while pick
ing cotton during the winter will trample upon
the young sprigs, and make them stool out
better therefor. Sheep will winter on oats in
cotton field and never modest the cotton till
they have eaten up the oats.
Where cotton is the exclusive crop, there is
no little vexation and harassing doubts at
harvest time to him who ventures to SOW
small grain. In June the cotton and corn
need the attention of the laborer constantly.
Hence, the policy, almost necessity, of inter
esting the laborer in the ownership at least Of
the oat CROP fair contract, in this regard,
is for the employer to furnish the seed, fertili-
zer, and land, and require the employee to
supply the labor of seeding and harvesting,
and at harvest time divide the crop, one.fourth
to the laborer and three-fourths to the en-
ployer. An acre of land, producing twenty
bushels of oats, would thus give the laborer
| FIVE bushels of oats for about two days work,
| (ploughng, scattering manure, knocking
down stalks, and harvesting) and fifteen
bushels to the owner, one and half bushels
of seed, three and half bushels to pay for
fertilizer, and ten bushels rent. have never
known red oats to sell for less than seventy
five cents per bushel, and even at fifty cents
per bushel ten bushels are very fair rent
for land that will not produce more than
twenty bushels Of oats per acre. Fair up
lands in middle South Carolina will average
twenty bushels without manure and | have
seen it stated that the Mississippi bottoms have
yielded one hundred bushels per acre during
favorable seasons.-CoL. D. WYATT AIKEN,
IN Rurai Carolinian for August.