The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1888-03-09
THE Farm.
Farmers, Gardners, Horticuiturfsts,
Dairy and Stockmen are requested to
tUSite for this Department.
Sowing Oats Early.

b
letter Of inquiry through the Countr,
! Gentlensdn: my ground was plowed
last fall. Shall / harrow and SOW the
oats now or wait for while? We had
IS bushels last year drilled in. and 100
the year before, on the same field, olG
bottom Honeoye fats, equal, or super
Tor, to Genesee fats. The field now to
be sown is old meadow, ditched, and
has grown corn two years, with mannre,
and capable Of the best CROP
If the land is uneven on the surface,
and not in good order, because Of this
roughness for cutting at harvest time,
it should be narrowed to make it
smoother. If the ground is fairly
smooth, the oats may be sown broad.
cast without any narrowing or tillage
before or after sowing. The oats should
be sown dry, and at the time the frost
is coming out. At this time the earth
is more or less lifted mp at the surface,
or disturbed, so that many of the oats
will be covered, and those which are
not will become more or less embedded
in the soft earth. The oats which re-
main on the surface, entirely uncover.
ed, will germinate as soon as the wealth.
er gets warm enough, just as clover and
timothy seed do when sown on the
frozen ground and on the snow.
The oats are just as hardy as these
seeds, and I have never known them to
germinate SO early that the cold wealth
er killed the tender sprouts. When
sowed oats March 22d, in the snow
following thaw and a very muddy
SPELL. there was q cold snap week
afterwards, and the ground froze as
hard as rock. The oats, ON the top
of the ground, which were swollen and
ready to grow, except for the cold, all
grew as soon as it was warm enough.
They started at the same time that the
sugar maple seeds did. which had lain
on top Of the ground all winter. The
oats on the surface send out a strong
root which easily penetrates the soft !.
wet earth, aud this root fastens the oat
to the ground witha firm hold. A few
days after this root has pushed its way
from the germ, the plant puts forth
aud the green tips Of the oats are read.
lily seen. The ground frcze nights, two
or three times after my oats, on top Of
the ground, had started the roots, but
they were not killed, as they were in
the ground and thus protected. No
doubt If the plant or stem had started
and the ground frozen afterwards they
would have been killed.
There is, then, knack about the
time Of SO wing, and it is when the frost
is coming out when the ground is wet,
and the indications are plain that spring
has come. There is no risk then, and
IT the grain had been sown too soon
aud were killed, it would be no great
loss, as the oats are worth half thei,
cost for manure. Ii it is observed that
the seeds have sprouted and the sprouts
have been killed, then SOW again, and
next time be wiser. The chances are
no greater for oats to be lost, by sowing
when the frost is coming out Of the
ground, as l have indicated and prac-
tice ), than in the sowing of clover and
grass seed, which any farmer does not
hesitate to SOW the last of March or the
first of April. any morning when the
ground is frozen, so that the sower does
not hsve to owallow in mud.
The oats may always be sown with
the same faith aud hope Of reward, as
the crop will be usually a month ahead
OF the common mode Of cultivation
On wet land there may be gain of nix
weeks in time. 6nd, in going over
the S ate, that q large area of oats was
sown ION top of the ground" last
spring, and NO one has yet reported a
failure. The oats may be sown on top
Of snowbanks, as we'll as in water,
which will not remain long on the
ground, and they will grow when the
growing time comes.
10 all my experiments / used the
Common white oats. No doubt the so
,alled winter oats would be more hardy,
or rather, stand more exposure before
termination, but l do not understand
mat even the 80 called winter oats will
not kill 10 the leaves and stems with
our northern freezings. They are soy6
xtensively in Kansas in FEBRUARY.
shen the ground is frozen undern cath
ne surface, with enough surface soil
liable to admit of shallow plowiug and
lowering. When soyh in this way.
'the grain remains in ssatS quo until the