The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-04-21
The Dat Crop,

The Dat Crop.
It Is related that an Englishman OBJ
jected to Scotland g . country where
the men were fed. on oatmeal. which
was food only 1t for horseS a. Scotch
man replied with the remark, "But
whaur will We see sic men and sic
horses, monp'' He was right. The
brawny Clydesdale farmer and his
Clydesdale steed can rarely be matched
and nowhere excelled; and for ease of
digestion and its nutritive character no
other food will surpass oatmeal in its
bone and flesh making qualities. Oats
is q crop that delights in q cool, moist
climate, and cool, moist soil, but it
will grow anywhere where it can have
sufficient moisture in the soil and 10
sown early enough to get well rooted
before the hot weather begins to scorch
the ground. Being . leafy plant, 1t
soon shades the soil and protects it
from the excessive heat of our summer
climate. Mother small grain betterre-
pays or good and careful culture, and
none is more worthy of regard for home
consumption on the farm and in the
homestead. 1t is grain that should
be consumed on the farm, and not sold
from it; and a goodly share of it should
find its way into the hands of the
housekeeper. The oatmeal barrel may
we'll deserve place in the store room
by the side of the flour barrel. and may
be drawn upon with advantage for ev-
cry morning meal, and for occasional
lunches through the day. In the shape
of porridge it will both tempt and sat-
isfy the appetite of young and old, and
in the crisp and sweet-tiavored oat-
cake it will furnish an acceptable and
satisfying Wand to fill up gaps between
meals, which the farmer boy and the
farmer himself so often find to be too
long to pass without bridging over with
~out help. Oatmeal is in favor with the
medical profession. They know how
wholesome and nutritious it is, and it
is growing in favor with them. We are
only beginning to learn its value, as well
as that of its natura. accompaniment,
milk. .... -, : 800 g,xp.
Oats is considered as hard crop on
the land by most farmers. This, how
ever, will not bear the light of scientific
examination, nor even careful observa-
ton. For, if we come to look into the
composition of its inorganic elements,
its ash, in fact. which is all that it
takes from the soil, we find that it is
not half so exhaustive as wheat, and
where crop of twenty five bushels of
wheat may be grown at least eighty of
oats may be taken with no more draft
on the soil. Another favorable trait in
the behavior of oats is that it is better
forager for nitrogen than wheat. Its
leaf is broad and vigorous, and, like
corn and all the broad-leafed plants, it
is able to find its supply of nitrogen in
great part for itself, and so spares the
farmer the necessity of providing this
costly element for it in the shape of
fertilizers.
Now let us consider the relative profit
of oats as compared with wheat. II. we
give this crop an equal chance with
wheat we have seen that eighty bushels
can be grown as easily as twenty five
bushels of wheat. At the usual relative
prices four pounds of oats are worth
three of wheat. This would make
twenty FIVE bushels of wheat equal in
value TO about sixty bushels of oats. II
the farmer. then, can by good culture
produce eighty bushels of oats per acre
he is doing as well as if he produced
nearly thirty-five bushels of wheat.
These figures are not intended as an
inducement for farmers to grow oats in
place of wheat, but to show the profit
there may be in giving a crop of oats
as good culture as is usually given to
wheat or corn, or the most favored crops
Oats delight in cool moist soil. A
newly-plowed sod is especially grateful
to this crop. The seed terminates
quickly upon fresh land that has Just
been turned and narrowed and has not
lost its moisture, and when sOwn early,
tillers and spreads abundantly. 1t is
this that brings the heavy crops, for the
more straw there is on the ground the
more grain there will be, and, without
tillering, very thick sowing would be
required to get close stand. English
farmers who often produce eighty to
one hundred bushels per acre sow five
bushels of seed, and in Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and Northern Maine,
where heavy crops of oats weighing
forty-eight or fifty pounds to the bushel
are produced, the seeding is at least
three bushels per acre. With our long.
or seasons early sowing is more neces.
sary to full crop than with any other
spring grain. So the choice of seed il
important; the best and heaviest only
should be chosen. Seed from North.
ern climate, and weighing forty-five
pounds or more to the bushel, will re.
produce itself for several years if the
heaviest grain is selected for seed each
year; but if this is neglected, the grain
will soon deteri0rate in our dry, warm
climate. OF late years the demand fol
oatmeal has greatly increased. and has
made a corresponding demand fol
plump, heavy oats. A few years age
we had not an oatmeal mill in the
country, and q barrel of oatmeal at 9
country store was q rarity. Now We
have several mills, which are kept busy
and the trade in oatmeal increases ev'
cry year. The manufacture is simple
yet peculiar, as the grain is kiln-dried
hulled between soft stones, and ther
secured only or cracked cOarsely, as the
meal is desired coarse or fine.-Henra
Ste,Uart, in N. y. Times.
A Good Corn Ground.
Indian corn is the great cereal cror
of the northern United States, and it is
important to know what are the condi-
tiOns most favorable for its growth.