The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-12
stIn Tlms to Sow Grain.

Oats sown in the fall, even in Nc- vember, yield 30 much more than those sown after Christmas. that every eff Fort should be made to SOW at once any acreage of this crop that Is not already sown. It is self evident that every farmer needs an oat field. On many farms having little or no bottom land corn costs almost as much 70 make it as 1t is worth. This argues not for dropping corn but for increas- ing the yield per acre by use of bet ter seed, more appropriate fertilizer or manure, and such a rotation sys- tenn as will improve land through the frequent recurrence of cowpeas or oth- CT soil improving crop. The expen- siveness of corn grown at the rate of ten to fifteen bushels per acre is the strongest plea for increasing very greatly the acreage in oats as a partial Substitute for corn in feeding the work teams.
 While it usually costs more to feed mules on purchased oats than on bought corn, yet on many farms home raised oats constitute a cheaper food than corn. This is because oats sown m the fall, fertiIized with phosphate in the fall and withnitrate of soda in March, will usually yield about twice as many bushels as could be O. 1ained from corn grown on the same land It is not far wrong to regard two bushels of oats fsixty-four pounds) A& &Q0&2 m IGG0lNK s@lU@ NO one 0NaASA xxif1y-six poundsl of corn, the greater weight of oats being required OF ac~ count Of the large proportion of hull. This comparison Is only approximate For fin certain rations and for driving horses. etc, the figures would be more favorable to oats
 Now the economy of oats consists in the smaller amount 0: labor required to grow an acre of this crop$ averag- ing let us say, thirty bushels per acre. than to raise fifteen bushels of corn on the same land Another advantage Of oats or of any other small grain consists in the diversification of crops thus brought about, so that faN-re of the corn crop from a drought In June or July or from too much rain and grass in May or June, does not entirely cut off the supply of home grown grain. The farmer who grows both corn and oats takes two chances of success to the one chance taken by tho man who relies entirely on corn for his grain food.
 If it has been impracticable to sow oats heretofore, or fx sufficient have not been sown, the work should be done at once. Even up to Thanksgiv- ing there Is every probability of se- curing a greater yield than from Jan uary. sowing. If oats cannot be sown before December 1, would advise postponement of sowing for either two or ten months, according to circum-
 It is true that the lack of public threshers discourages the sowing of oats. But oats can be fed in the sheaf, though there is some taste. Who will give exact directions for constructing nanEer or rock from which sheaf oats can be fed with least waste2 A affli more general obstacle to the growing of fall sown oats is the un- wise custom of permitting cattle to oA Inr winter. whether there be stock law or no stock law. The damage thus done to the land through the formation of clods, the hllfnx of dItches st crossings, the cut ting of terraces by the cattle paths, the spreading of Johnson grass, nut grass. wild onion ana ali other weeds and in other ways, usually outweighs fife value of the food picked up on somebody else's land. The general sowing of small grain. hy giving all farmers an interest in keeping cattle uyffhin bounds, would do much to rems edy this condition, so opposed to diver mifled and progressive agriculture. Un- der present conditions each must choose between fencing his grain fields or taking up trespassing stock, or en- 1sfrIng for the winter months the dep- relations of cattle, which are fortu- nately not always fatal to crop or
 In regard to the scarcity of thresh- ing machines, lt IS tine AVl A-L Bo a.l Lsnu owners and some others to consider whether it will pay better to buy an exfra pair of mules for tenants or fer a11 uncertain supply of share or waGe lahorerg. or to invest the four or i've hundred dollars in small thresher s,,d in a self binder. These will cer- sasnly have to be bought after the boil weevl reaches us Rr after the scarcity of labor becomes little more acslte. while the extra mules may soon atand idle for want of enough blow men. Shall we plan so that our in- vestmenets are for one year or for
 have said little this fall about sowing wheat, simply because the sow