The average yield of oats per acre varies in the different oat-growing regions of the world, as will be seen by the following table, also taken from the 1904 Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture : ; North America second. The production is increas ing more rapidly in North America than in Europe, ; and as our agriculture becomes more intensive we will undoubtedly exceed the yields of Europe.
; Of the history of oats in the United States a writer in the International Encyclopedia says : "Oats have been cultivated in America ever since the advent of the first white settlers. They were sown with other cereals by Gosnold on the Eliza 1 beth islands in 1602; were introduced into Massa : chusetts bay, 1629, and their cultivation has since extended to every state in the Union." While this statement is literally true and oats are raised in every state in the Union, the greater bulk of the crop is raised in the north central states. Eleven states now produce four-fifths of the oats grown in the United States, and all except New York and Penn sylvania are in the group. These states in order of produc tion in 1905 were Iowa, Illinois, Wis consin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, - New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and r Michigan.
The average yield in 1905 was thirty-four i bushels per acre. Of the great oat-producing , states, Wisconsin leads in yield per acre with 39 bushels, and North Dakota is second with 38.9 bushels. Iowa showed an average of 35 bushels and Illinois 35.5 bushels per acre, the states with While the yields here given are not strictly com parable, part of them being given in Winchestex bushels and part in bushels of thirty-two pounds, t is still evident that the yields are greater in Germany and the United Kingdom, with their moist climates and intensive farming methods, than in this country. Europe produces the greatest quan tity of grain in proportion to the area covered, with the largest total yield not giving the largest yield per acre.
The total acreage for the United States in 1905 was 28,046,746, with a production of 953,216,197 bushels, worth at farm values$277,047,537. Of the vast quantities of oats produced in the United States nearly all are used for home con sumption. Oats to the amount of 41,369,415 bushels, worth $12, 504,564, were exported in 1900, and 41,523 bushels, valued at $18, 360, were imported.
Since that time the ex ports have constantly decreased and the im ports increased, so that in 1904 only 1,153,714 bushels, valued at $475,362, were ex ported, while 170,882 bushels. valued at $57, 802, were imported. [Yearbookof the United States Department of Agriculture, 1904.] This increase is un doubtedly due, as will be mentioned later, to the increasing popularity of oats as an arti cle of human diet in the United States.
The yields of oats in Canada for forty% years have been as follows : 1871 the yield • was 42,489,453 bushels ; in 1881 it was 70,493,131 bushels ; in 1891 it was 83,428, 202 bushels, and in 1901 it had risen to 151,497,407 bushels. The yield was distrib uted approximately as follows in 1901: On tario, more than 88,000,000 bushels ; Que bec, 33,500,000; Manitoba, 10,500,000 ; New Brunswick, nearly 5,000,000; Prince Edward Island, 4,500,000; Nova Scotia, 2,300,000 ; Brit ish Columbia, 1,500,000; The Territories, 6,000,000 bushels.
Classification.
Oats may be divided into two great classes. These are spreading oats, and sided, mane or ban ner oats. (1) In the spreading oats the branches of the panicle extend in all directions from the rachis. This class comprises the largest number and the most popular of the varieties of oats. (Figs. 716, 717, 718.) (2) In the second class, known as sided or "mane" oats, the branches all hang to one side of the rachis, thus producing the appearance that has caused the name of " banner " oats occa sionally to be affixed to them. The terms " open " and "closed" panicles are sometimes applied to the two flower arrangements. (Fig. 716.) A third class, or hullers oats, while classed by themselves, may in fact belong to either of the preceding classes, although sometimes called by a distinct name, Avena nuda. The principal agricultural dif ference is in the hull, which is so loosely attached as to be completely removed by the threshing process, leaving the grain only. There is also difference in the structure of the parts. Because of low yields and other considerations these oats have never become popular and are not extensively grown.