The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-07-09

FIG. v1I-GooD AND POOR STACKS
ly considerably lower. Most farmers
raise oats more because they have to
than because they think there is any
money in it. If handled rightly, how
ever, oats can be made a money crop.
One of the most important points in
oat growing is the selection Of seed
that is adapted to the locality. Oats
are a cool weather crop. The hot
midsummer weather of the corn belt
is one Of the chief factors causing low
oat yields. When the hot weather
strikes the oats they blight and rust
badly. Many times they crinkle down
and do not I'll wsll.
Advantage of Early Varieties.
The only way this can be avoided in
the corn belt is to SOW early varieties.
These ripen before the hottest weather
comes and escape many of the trou-
bleS that affect later oats. Early va
rieties are much less susceptible to
rust than late ones are. The selection
Of rust proof varieties is the only way
of combating this disease, since, I'M
like smut, it cannot be prevented by
treating the seed.
Experiments at the Iowa experiment
station show nine bushels more to the
acre in favor Of early varieties. The
average Of twelve years experiments
at the Nebraska station gave the early
oats fourteen bushels to the acre ad-
vantage. In good oat years-that is,
those with a cool summertime differ
ence Is not so marked. In such sea-
sons the late oats yielded seven BUSH
els to the acre less than the early,
while the medium oats yielded little
more. In bad oat years-and in the
corn belt four years out Of five are bad
from the oats standpoint-the early va
rieties yielded twenty-one bushels to
the acre more than the late and thlr-
teen bushels more than the medium.
The medium varieties are more con-
venient, as they do not crowd in on
haying and corn blowing like the early
ones do. The use Of improved haying
machinery is shortening the time re-
quired for putting up the hay crop,
however. The advantage Of early oats
In yield will in most cases more than
make up for the disadvantage of hav-
ing the work crowded during the first
half Of July.
Early oats have another advantage
in that they give the clover a bet
ter chance. Where the oats are not
got off the ground until the last Of
July and dry weather follows, as 1t
so often does, the clover makes little
growth and is often killed out entire
ly. With the adoption Of a systematic
rotation clover will nearly always be
seeded with oats, so that this is q point
that cannot be ignored.
1t is not advisable to ship In oats
from a distance to seed the entire
field. Often you can get good early
seed from a neighbor at little more
than market price. If there are no
early oats in your community you can
send away for few bushels of new
variety and plant them in a corner Of
the field by themselves. If they give
good satisfaction enough seed can be
saved from them to seed the entire
field the next season. In the northern
part of the United States and in Can
ada, where the summers are cool. late
varieties can be prof1tably grown. In
such localities they give greater
yield and a larger, plumper oat
Preparing the Seed.
After the seed has been procured the
next step is to get 1t into shape to
SOW. This means liberal use Of the
tanning mill. A large per cent of the
oats sown are shoveled from the bin
directly into the seeder. Most farm
ers who do fan their oats simply run
them through once to blow out the
sticks and dirt and sieve out the weed
seed. II pays well to run the oats
through the mill two or three times
70 blow out all the light seed. The
work can be done In winter when
there is little else to do. The light
oats that are blown out are just as
good for feed as the others, and the
heavy ones that are left are worth sew
eral times as much for seed. In ex-
periments carried on to show the COM
parative value of light and heavy oats
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