The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-12-03
WINTER OATS.
By c. w. Warburton, Agronomist,
Bureau of Plant Industry.

The value of winter crop in the
South was never more apparent than
now. With cotton low in price, far
mers are looking for crops that can
be sold for cash or which will lessen
their expenses by supplying feed for
work stock. Wheat, oats. barley are
all readily salable locally and in the
Northern markets, while at present
there is also a considerable demand
for export. All these grains may De
fed to live stock, though both the
grain and straw of oats are to be
preferred to similar products of
wheat or barley for this latter pur-
pose. The oat crop also succeeds
rather better than either of the other
grains in the South Atlantic and Gulf
States, except perhaps on the heavy
clay soils of the Piedmont area
(western North and South Carolina
and northern Georgia and Alabama).
Besides furnishing grazing and for
age for feeding, the fall-sown cereals
provide cover crop for the soil, thus
preventing washing and teaching,
and furnish pasture during the late
fall and early spring months. While
it is now too late to SOW oats to sup
ply pasture this fall, the crop may
be sown safely for grain in Novem-
Der in eastern or southern North and
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida.
Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and
southern Texas. Many experiments
have shown that October or Novem-
Der seeding will produce far better
yields of oats in the South Atlantic
and Gulf States than sowing during
the winter or early spring.
The Best Soils for Oats.
Oats succeed best on clay or clay
iaam soils which are we'll filed with
decSying vegetable matter. The crop
grows well on such soils because
they do not dry out readily, for the
oat plant requires plenty of water
for it's best growth. On the other
hand, the land should be we'll drain
ed, as no cereal will grow on water
logged soil. While clay-loam soils
are best, good crops of oats may be
grown on fertile sandy loan or san
dy soil. The yield of grain on such
soils, however, is usually less than
on the clays and clay loans.
Preparation of the Land.
Oats can best be sown on land on
which a cultivated crop, such as
corn, cotton, or cowpeas, was grown
during the preceding summer. AS
immediate seeding is essential, it is
better not to plow the land, but to
prepare the seed bed with the disk
harrow, spring-tooth harrow, or any
other tool with which the land can
be gone over rapidly and the sur
face to 8 inches worked into a.
loose and mellow condition. Oats
grow best on a soil which, while fair
ly loose on the surface, is firm be-
meath, so that seed bed prepared
in the manner indicated is much
more likely to produce successful
crop than one which has been fresh
ly plowed and has had time to settle.
If there is much trash on the land,
such as weeds or heavy growth OF
cotton or cornstalks, it may be
necessary to remove at least por-
ton of this material in order to
make a good seed bed. If possible,
however, it is better to work the
trash into the soil with a stalk cut
ter anG disk harrow if these tools
are available.
The Fertilizers to Use.
The kind and amount of fertilizer
to use of course depend on the fer
tility of the land and the fertilizer
which was applied to the preceding
crop Of corn or cotton. If the land
is fertile enough to produce good
yields of either of these crops, or If
it was heavily fertilized the preced-
ing spring, the use of more fertilizer
just before sowing the oats is not
absolutely necessary. On the poorer
soils applications of 200 to 800
pounds of acid phosphate and 80 to
SO pounds of muriate of potash per
acre may usually be made with
profit. If nitrogen is added, is
should be applied in the form of a
top-dressing of nitrate of soda about
the time growth starts in the spring.
Getting the Seed Ready to Sow.
Good, plump, well-cleaned seed Of
a rustproof variety should be used.
1t is better to use that which was
grown in the immediate locality, or
at least within 100 or 20) miles,
than seed shipped from a greater
distance This iS Darticularly true