The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-01-09

We have found oats for hay to be
an easy and profitable crop; but to be
n success, they should be planted in
the fall. The quality Of the soil must
determine largely the time of plant
Ing. We want to get the oats well
started; but we do not want too large
growth before real cold weather
sets In; for II they have begun to run
up. they are more liable to be killed
back badly. On the other hand, if
the cold comes before they are firmly
established, the freezing and thawing
is likely to throw the plants out Of the
ground, especially on clay land, for
such land expands and contracts very
much more than loamy or sandy soil
under the action of cold and moisture.
The Georgia Experiment Station has
adopted a system Of drilling their ont
seed In the bottom Of small furrows,
which places the bud Of the oats below
the general surface, thus making the
soil give 1t a partial protection. But
their method of planting only two rows
at time is rather laborious, and until
some better tool has been found for
putting in the seed than the drill they
USE the practice viii not be generally
adopted. If the oats are planted at the
ing is not great, and only In very
exceptionally cold time will your stand
be destroyed. Also, If the winter graz
ing or Turf Oats are sown instead Of
the Rust-Proof, the chances of success
will be still greater; while If your OBJ
ject is hay, these Turf Oats are de-
eldedly preferable, as the straw is more
tender and stock eat 1t up clean, where
they leave large part of the stiff
Rust-Proof straw.
We had one exceptionally fine acre
Of these Turf Oats last spring, from
which we gathered ten big two-horse
wagon loads of excellent hay. The
oats stood from four to six feet high
all over the field, and were cut just
as the top grains began to reach the
dough state, and while the straw was
green. We have been feeding our
nine head Of horses and mules on this
hay all summer, with the addition OF
small feed OF corn once a day, and
they have kept in fine condition doing
heavy work all the time.
The land Oh which these best oats
were grown was a stiff clay loan, and
had been manured the year before;
| the land was in tomatoes at the time
we broke it up for oats. Where land
| has been well broken in the spring
we do not usually rebreak for oats;
but in this case we had had some very
hard rains, and the land had run to-
| gether and become hard, making it's
| physical condition so poor that a re-
plowing seemed necessary. 1t was
rather dry at the time, and the land
broke up lumpy, necessitating consid-
cradle work to make it fine; but we
it down again before sowing two bush
els of seed to the acre.
If land is broken deeply for any win
ter grain crop, great care must be
taken to work it down until the seed
bed is fine and firm, otherwise the
grain roots cannot get good hold and
will be more liable to suffer from the
cold. The unusual success Of this acre
of oats was undoubtedly due to the
extra work put ON the seed-bed, FOR
we had other oats on equally good
land planted at the same time whose
| yield was not much over half as large.
Oats are strong feeders and very
| large users of potash and nitrogen; the
analysis of oats in bloom about the
| time they are cut for hay, show them
to contain ammonia, 1.19 per cent;
| phosphorlc acid, 81 per cent, and
potash, 2.54 per cent. If your land is
strong and you have a good pea-vine
stubble to sow your oats ON, your soil
will probably contain n sufficiency of
ammonia; If it does not, it will be
shown by the oats themselves by their
light green or yellowish appearance,
and this can be corrected in the spring
by an application of about 100 pounds
of nitrate of soda to the acre. The
main thing to concern ourselves about
now is the phosphorlc acid and potash.
Now. if we wish to obtain the best
results, the proportions of these in
gradients should vary according to
the texture Of our soil of course, no
iron-clad rules can be laid down, but
general experience has shown us that
light, sandy soils are more deficient
in potash than red clay soils; 1 would,
therefore, recommend for light soils a
fertilizer analyzlng ten per cent. phos-
phoric acid, and ten per cent. potash,
made by combining 1000 pounds acid
phosphate with 400 pounds muriate of
potash to make ton; for heavy clay
soils fertilizer analyzing about twelve
per cent. phosphoI1c acid and five per
cent potash, made by combining 1900
pounds acid phosphate with 200 pounds
muriate of potash. This fertilizer
applied at the rate of 300 or 400 pounds
to the acre should insure a fins crop
You can apply it broadcast after the
oats are plowed or worked in; or bet
ter still, harrow it In about two weeks
before planting.-Professor Il. j. Mer-
riam. Battle Hill, Ga.