The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-26
Bright for Oats Raising

Here is an interesting bit of farming logic that looks sound, but the con clusion reached is absolutely false: Oats" the argument runs, are raised principally as feed for horses and mules 'The enormous increase in the number of automobiles and trucks in the country is making the horse and mule back number.
 Therefore, with fewer horses there is need for less oats, why not plant less acreage to oats or stop planting this crop altogether?"
 The fallacy is twofold. The number of horses and mules on farms, if decreas- ing, is doing so at a rate so slow as to have little or no effect on the oat crop Furthermore, statistics show that American farmers are not cutting down the total oat acreage but are actually increasing it. This is not all. The proportion of oats to corn and wheat has increased steadily in the past generation. Half century ago in every 100 acres of improved farm land there was an average of less than I five acres sown t1 wheat. In each sue | ceeding decade of the last 70 years the average has been increasing. During the past 10 years it reached an average of l almost s acres of oats out of every 100 acers of improved farm land. In con- l trast to this increase in the last 50 years, the number of acres devoted to wheat in l each 100 acres of improved farm land has ! not varied much from II, anu oSrn mas
 not varied greatly from 20 years.
 l Let no farmer think that oats is be- coming an undesirable or unpopular crop. | Experts who have made special study of the oat crop advocate extensive sow | ngs, though, of course. it does not fol- | low that this grain will pay in all sec IA;- r-qir 1 profitable everywhere, Nevertheless, 2 1 great number of American farmers, par ticularly in the corn belt, are Justiiled | in making extensive sowings of oats each year. It must be borne in mind that the i man who is successful in growing oats, grows this crop one in q rotation series
 1t is not his principal farm product bst is one of several important enterprises 1 It is occasionally pointed out that the l oat crop actually gives less returns than corn, for instance, and so the wisdom or | growing oats when corn can be grown IS | questioned. The answer is that loeral taoreage of oats can be provided without material reducing the corn acreage, as oats do not compete seriously with the labor necessary to raising corn. The oat crop is sown early in the spring before lit is desirable to prepare me reics sor corn and when once sown does not call for further labor until harvest. On the
 
 which can be grown depends largely on lhow much land can be plowed any cult vated by the farmer
 Farmers in sections where corn natures too late to make the sowing of wheat tafter corn cutting a safe venture, nave learned that oats is the most importan,
 of the smal-grain crops. This appfes particularly to Iowa and adjoining terri tory namely, northern Illinois, southern
 Wisconsin, eastern Nebraska southeast
 ern South Dakota and southern Minne-
 scta Frequently rotation as practlced III
 the corn belt covers nve-year period
 lvith two crops of corn. one of small
 grain, and two of timothy and clover
 Where this practice prevails 1t IS loglcai
 that oats be used as the transition crop
 from corn to the grasses
 If oats is to be made the important crop which experts contend it should De. . Ithe question naturally arises as to how , inc hest returns can be secured. Or , dinarily the most profitable wayl is to
 SOW oats on disked corn land. If the , Hand was well plowed last year and IS fairly free from weeds it is unnecessary
 to blow it again for oats 1T corn stalks lare still standing in the field selected,
 they should be broken down and then
 cut into short lengths with disk harrow } so that they will not interfere with the Idrill or with harvesting machinery.
 Sowing should be done as soon as the land can be gotten into proper condilioh in the spring. Delay may seriously re- | duce the harvest returns The practice of seeding broadcast is much less satls- factory than sowing with drill, since by the former method uneven distribution results and many kernels are buried toe deep.
 It is of the utmost importance thai good seed be used. If last year croi | was of fair quality, it can be used iol u seed after being cleaned ana grasFd ElI. is decidedly preferable to buy new \ sed if inc latter is at all likely to prove | poorly adapted to local conditions. IT \ cleaning and grading the oats one-tnir' to one-haif of the total bulk should p' remoyed. leaving only the heaviest ans : tnInmpest kernels for sowing. Usually
 will be advisable to treat the seeS To
 smut This may be omitted. however. |
 Hast years crop was practically free Iron
 it and if the separator with which It wa . thrashed was also free from smut spores The formaldehyde treatment IS ~e' rnoun and if is only necessary to re mind the farmer that if the seed treated during cold weather it should no
 he allowed to freeze while 1t IS wet. 4 l.. the cost of the formalderyde treatmen
 is so small. many prefer to taKe II
 chances and so treat the seed every year
 If it is sown before it is dry, one mus
 make allowance for it's swelling in set l. ting the drill otherwise the stand will no , be sufficiently dense.
 I, Experts recommend that between W ,- and three bushels of seed be used to th .r acre A larger allotment than this Vi V Inc, often result in material increase l ' some cases on land free from weeds . Ii,tle as one and one-half bushels pc d acre has produced satisfactory results
 The yield of straw IS usually coarse is and greater from thin than from heavie - seeding and the danger from lodging d increased.
 ts Successful trial flights have bee