The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-05-09

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WHY THE oAT CROP FAILS.

A Explained by Massachusetts Farmer
In The New England Homestead.
There are several reasons why the oat
crop fails in New England, the chief
one being that the soil is no longer new
and rich.
Soil that has been cropped for many
years must suffer loss that nature can
not restore. Oat and barley crops are pc
culiar in that they are liable to rust;
still they are valuable when this atmos-
pherio feature does not interfere and are
worthy our attention. More care should
be given to the selection and proper
preparation of the soil Many can in
tuitively select soil for the various crops
with sagacity and many cannot, so for
this latter class it would be safe to SOW
oats ON first class corn ground every
time, and l think satisfactory crop
would be harvested oftener than to fol-
low any other course. Any strong loamy
soil with retentive subsoil that can be
worked early will raise good oats Old
fashioned farmers took much more care
in preparing thesoil by narrowing and
cultivation at sowing time than is at
present customary. Were crops sown
earlier they would in many cases escape
q severe summer drought. The oat does
not thrive in dry, hot weather.
The soil for oats should be plowed and
narrowed in the fall, and if light
dressing Of manure is worked in at that
time it will be found to pay large in
terest. Poor plowing of late years has
had as much to do with the production
of poor crops as any feature of New
England agriculture. believe if it were
possible to have every acre of ground
in this older part of the country plow-
ed with sulky plow for the next few
years crops would be increased one.third
from plowing alone. Plow oat ground
deep. Perhaps q little of the raw ma
terial that never saw the sunlight may
be turned up, but ready nature in the
shape of frost and air will put things
right for the ensuing crop.
In these times it is folly to grow the
oat crop without the application of some
first class fertilizer at sowing of the
seed. Harrow this and the seed in to.
gether, Apply from 300 to 500 pounds
to the acre of any first class superphos-
phate. Get an article where the source
of the phosphorio acid is bone instead
of phosphate rock. Use 80 bushels to
the acre of heavy seed that will weigh
40 pounds to the bushel. Good plump
seed of any variety, whatever the source,
generally brings a good crop. 1t pays
TO apply cheap salt, the sweepings of
fish houses and the like for improving
the quality of the straw. Harrow in the
seed with the disk harrow, then cross
harrow with the ordinary straight tooth
harrow until the surface is in fine tilth
then smooth down the field with we'll
made white birch bush. This will firm
the soil about She seed as we'll as the
roller, and at the same time the sur
face will be put in a fine, even condi-
tion which can be gotten in no other
way. 1t is old fashioned, but is one of
the finishing touches that was the means
of producing some of those fine crops of
bygone days, If you have not the bush,
use the smoothing harrow and roller.
think it pays to use hay caps to COW
or the shocks of grain while standing
in the field. Let the shocks stand in the
field until the straw and green stuff in
the butt end of the bundles are well
cured, so that when housed the sweat.
ing process which all such material
passes through will not be very notice
able. Pack closely in storing, so the
rats and mice cannot circulate easily
through the bundles Thrash and clean
mp at the soonest convenient time
Should rust unfortunately blight the
crop plow under without delay and put
on some other crop.