The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-23
The Dat Crop.

The native country of the common oat,
(arena satina. him. is a matter of conjec-
ture, but it is probably Mesopoiama. 1t
has been cultivated from very early date.
AS it natures in higher latitude than grain,
it is used for bread corn in Scotland, Nor
way, Sweden, and many other countries,
where it is found to be their most profit
able crop, and under proper cultivation has
given as high as eighty-seven per cent of
meal to twenty-five per cent of husks. Sir
Humphrey Davy stated that oat bread fur
nished great amount Of nourishment, and
that miners preferred it to other kinds.
Many of our physicians recommend oat-
meal cruel and greats or grits, as heaithful
and nutritious food for people in sickness
or health. 1t is hardly probable however,
that Americans will adopt diet of oats,
as long as wheat flour and beetsteak are SO
cheap and plentiful.
We raise oats for feeding stock, and
horses consume the larger part of them.
Among the soiling crops the oat also holds
conspicuous place.
In the New England States the oat is
very valuable agricultural crop. Many far
mers find it the only grain which they can
sell from their farms at profit. There is
always a demand for them from livery
keepers and village gentlemen, who prefer
to feed oats to their horses in warm wealth.
er, rather than corn at less price per
pound.
They are more cheaply raised than other
grains. In rotation they usually follow
corn and root crops. Many SOW grass seed
with the oats, fine crop may be raised by
blowing sward land in the fall, or early
spring, and manuring broad cast as for
corn. If the land is seeded to grass at the
time of sowing the oats, large crops of hay
will usually follow.
The oat repays good culture but deterior-
ates, or 'runs out, if poorly cared for. 1t
is important to SOW them early in spring,
for although it requires only about ninety
days for them to mature in, they grow heav-
Ter grain, and are less liable to rust, lodge,
or sweat, If sowed early. The seed ger
inmates at lower temperature than other
grains and is not injured by spring frosts.
There are many varieties more or less
cultivated but of the fifteen or twenty
which l have thoroughly tested, in the last
twenty years, but one kind only has given
me better satisfaction than the old common
oat. That variety is the "White Solomon
oat," which received via the agricultural
department. This has yielded me from
fifty to eighty bushels of nice, heavy oats
per acre, without extra culture.
Much larger yields are reported of this
variety. N. s. Clark, esq, of Randolph
Center Vt, reports a yield of sixty-six
bushels from two bushels of seed sown on
three-fourths of an acre, on his hill farm.
The Hon. Levi Bartlett of New Hampshire
who experimental with many kinds, re-
ported to the New England farmer yield
ut the rate of ninety.six bushels per acre,
according to my recollection
The Vermont farmer says of them, "the
testimony in their favor is unanimous The
oat crop of the country stands fifth in val
uation, corn, hay, wheat, and cotton, being
greater. An average crop is about 800
millions bushels, estimated at $3.50, 900, 600,
in round numbers.
In 1875 the New England States produc-
ed 10, $4,000, at the rate of 1913 bushels
per acre.
If by better cultivation, judicious &C.
lection and exchange Of seed, the average
product could be raised but five bushels per
acre, the net income would be nearly doub-
led, as the cost Of tillage would not be much
enhanced.
There is no profit in crop that only pays
for cultivation. Net income Is derived
from excess of produce above cost of pro-
duction, and the larger the crop, with a
given outlay, the greater will be the profit.
JAMES r. WALKER.
Weathersfeld, VT, Feb. 1877.