Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1918-08-28
Growing Oats: Five Rules for
Success,

The oat crop may be made q pro
ftable one in the Cotton Belt, but
like every other crop, there are Ger
tain essentials that must be looked
to if success is to be made fairly
certain. Among the most. important
of these are the following:
1. Don't expect oats to do well or
poor land. Too many farmers plant
oats on the poorest land on the
place, fail to fertilize them, anc
then announce that the oat crop car
not be made to pay. No wonder II
can't. under such circumstances. The
truth is that a goodly percentage OF
III ordinary uplands will not, with
out the use of legumes or fertlllz'
ers, grow any crop profitably eX'
cept cotton, and there is little mon
ey in cotton on such lands, except
in years of good seasons and good
prices. If oats are planted on such
lands, we would prefer that a sum-
mer crop of cowpeas or velvet beans
precede the oats. If the whole pea
or bean crop is plowed under, prob,
ably no nitrogen will be needed IN
the fertilizer, and an application OF
80 pounds per acre of acid phos'
phate made about the time the oats
are planted will be sufficient. Where
no legume crop precedes the oats
on average land, we would recon-
mend a mixture of about Jul
pounds of cottonseed meal and $eC
pounds of acid phosphate per acre
applied at planting time, to be fol,
lowed by a broadcast application OF
IS to 100 pounds of nitrate OF SO,
da per acre in March.
2. Plant early. Despite two very
severe winters in succession, we are
still certain that for at least the
lower two-thirds of the Cotton Belt
fall-planted oats will on an average
far out-yield spring oats. The big
mistake many ~oat-growers have
made has been to plant too late, CIV
ing the oats insufficient time to get
well rooted before hard freezing
weather. The best time to plant will
of course vary with the location but,
roughly, we suggest the following
dates as being about right: Upper
third of the Cotton Belt, September
1 to September 20; middle third OF
Cotton Belt, September 20 to Oct
ober 10; and lower third, from DC,
tober l to October 80.
3. Use the o~pen-furrow method to
winter-killing. Where winter
killing may occur even when oats
are sowed at the proper time, SOW
ing by the open-furrow method Is
the best preventive we know OF.
This method consists in putting the
oats in a furrow and leaving the fur
row open, just enough soil falling
on the seed to insure termination.
There are now open-furrow drills
that plant three rows of oats at a
through. These are adjustments to
fit rows of different widths. With
one of these drills n man and a
good horse can put in six to eight
acres of oats a day. We know OF
oats put in by this method in Septem-
Der last year that stood the winter
almost perfectly as far north as Mem
phis, Tenn, and Little Rock, Ark
4. Plant good seed and treat for
smut. Rust and smut are two of the
most serious enemies of the oat crop,
and both of these are largely pre-
ventable. Oats Of one Of the Red
Rust-proof strains, such as Appler,
Hundred-bushel, Culberson, ETC., are
very rust-resistant, though in a sea-
son very ldNOIoDIS w AOSS
ment they are not ~"rust-proof." 1t
will be well to use homegrown seed
where they can be had.
S. Growing a second crop after
the oats. One great advantage OF
oats is that they are off the land in
time to grow a second crop of some
kind. This double cropping possible,
ity must be taken advantage of II
maximum returns are to be had. On
moist land, lespedeza or Japan clo-
yer is an ideal hay crop to follow
oats; on drier soils, cowpeas or soy
beans, or a combination of corn with
peas or beans may be used. But by
all means plan to grow second crop
after every acre of oats.-Progres-
sive Farmer.
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