When cut at this stage and set in round shocks, covered with cap sheaves, the best quality of grain will be obtained. Weather conditions and the envi ronment must always be taken into consideration, and if the season is unfavorable and weeds are abundant in the grain it may be more profitable to set the grain in long uncovered shocks, thus giving the bundles a better exposure to wind and sun. Circumstances and the judgment of the farmer must indicate the best treatment for the grain in the interval between cutting and stacking or threshing, as the case may be.
Many of our farmers still hold to the old regime of stacking all the grain. Oats may be stacked a trifle greener than they may be threshed, as they will stand a pretty severe heating in the stack without injury. If stacked while in proper con dition there is no question that grain will be of the very finest quality, other things considered. This method has the advantage that the oats can be taken care of at the proper time, and are not in danger of storms and other injurious influences.
It is rapidly becoming the custom in many parts of the United States to thresh the oats from the field. If the weather is favorable so that the grain becomes thoroughly dried before threshing, this is undoubtedly the more economical method of hand ling the crop, as it saves time and labor when both are at a premium on the farm. No especial loss in appearance or quality will be suffered unless storms occur during the time while the oats are standing in the shock. In this case there will be a change in color which, while not detrimental so far as feeding is concerned, will injure the market value of the grain. If the storms are severe and the bundles fail to dry out, the grain is liable also to start growing, which will injure it from every standpoint.
There are drawbacks to this system of threshing. Often, to secure the services of machine and crew, the farmer must thresh before his grain is fully dry, or he has to wait too long. In one case, the grain will have to be stirred in the bin or it will heat. In the other, the shocks are exposed to the autumn storms, and the quality of the grain is impaired.
Precaution should always be taken to see that the threshing machine is cleaned thoroughly, so that there may be no mixture of grain. Especially is this true when barley has been the last grain threshed, as we have not yet been able to find a machine which will make a close separation of oats from barley.
Oats should yield on an average fifty to seventy bushels per acre in the northern states. In many of the southern states the yields are as low as ten bushels per acre.
Enemies.
Diseases.—The principal diseases which affect oats are rust and smut. The smuts of oats are of two forms,—the closed smut (Ustilago hrvis, Jens.), and the loose smut (Ustilago arena', Jens.). Both forms do serious damage when allowed to develop. The loose smut attacks the entire head of oats and turns it into spores. The closed smut ffects only the kernels and is less apparent. Both forms c.in he compbdely prevented by either the formalde hyde or the hot-water treatment. The formaldehyde treatment e..nsists in submerging the seed grain for ten minutes in a solution made by using one pint of formaldehyde to thirty-six gallons of water. This amount ?4 solution will treat forty bushels of oats. The hot-water treatment consists in submerging the seed in water at 1:13' Fahr. for ten minutes. [See under Barley.] In either case the seed may be put in baskets, gunny sacks or any vessel which will allow the water to penetrate readily. After removing from the solution or water, as the case may be, pour the grain on the threshing floor and allow it partially to dry. Then by opening the drill or seeder sufficiently to allow for the swelled condition of the grain, it may be sown at the usual rate.
There are two kinds of rust [See Wheat] which attack the growing oats. One of these is the "crown" or "orange leaf" rust. It affects only the leaves of the plant. The other is known as the "black stem" rust, and this is the one which does serious damage to the growing grain. The rust spores obtain lodgment on the tender stems of the young plants, penetrate to the interior and there produce new spores in quantities so great as to burst the stem-walls and appear in black lines on the surface. It is often very difficult to distinguish between these two varieties of rust, for each has a red and a black stage. Neither in the red or black stage does the "orange leaf" rust do serious damage, nor does the red stage of the "black stem" rust. It is the later or black stage of the "black stem" rust that does especial harm by sapping the life from the stem and preventing the "filling" of the grains. The damage may extend only to a partial prevention of the filling, or a total failure of the crop may result.