A very moist season furnishes the best condi tion for the growth and development of the rust spores, and this is the reason why rust is more abundant in such seasons. It also explains why grain in low parts of the field is more seriously affected than is that on the more elevated parts of the same field.
Only by growing varieties of oats which are rust-resistant or which mature so early that the grain fills before the devastating stage of the rust arrives can the loss from the rust be avoided. Varieties of oats are now obtainable which are practically rust-proof, having shown their power to produce well under the very worst rust conditions. Of the varieties of oats which mature early enough to escape serious damage by rust are the Sixty-Day oat previously mentioned, the Early Burt and the Kherson oats. While none of these is as satis factory as some of the later varieties where the latter will mature, they will undoubtedly yield good crops every year. With the later-maturing varieties there will probably be an occasional failure to get a crop, due to attacks of rust.
Inseets.—The oat plant is seldom attacked by insects to any appreciable degree except in occa sional seasons when chinch-bugs, army-worms or grasshoppers are abundant. The ravages of the grasshoppers are hard to avoid, but are of so infre quent occurrence as to be a negligible quantity.
Both the chinch-bug and the army-worm when once well established do much damage. They start at one side of the field and more across it, leaving devastation behind. A plowed strip of several feet in width, with a deep furrow into which the bugs or worms will fall, will often prevent their reach ing a neighboring field. This may also be made more efficient by scattering tar or some insect destroyer in the furrow, the perpendicular side of which should be toward the field to be protected. In extreme cases it would be well to burn one field to save the remainder. [See page 42.] The threshed oats are probably less subject to attacks of insects or worms than any other of our grains. This is due to the rather thick, smooth and close-fitting hulls, which seem to ward off all attacks.
Uses.
Until recent years oats have been used mostly as a food for animals, horses especially being very fond of them. Large quantities are also fed to sheep and cattle in conjunction with corn. It has been asserted than there is a stimulating principle in the oat which gives to an animal life and energy, such as is produced by no other cereal. Be
that as it may, oats remain preeminent as a food for horses.
In Scotland for many years, and more recently in other parts of the world, including the United States, oats have been used as an article of human food. Their great growth in popularity as a human food undoubtedly explains in a large degree the immense increase in production in the years 1880 to 1890, which, according to Hunt, was from four hundred to eight hundred millions of bushels, an increase of 100 per cent. Certainly none of the breakfast foods on the market today is more nourishing or palatable than properly prepared oat products.
The best grade of oatmeal is made from single oats, with as small a percentage of hull as possible. The plumper and heavier the grain the better will the oatmeal manufacturer be suited, provided the hulls of the grain are thin. The manufacturer will undoubtedly he willing to pay an increased price for oats of this sort, and there is here an oppor tunity for the farmer who is properly situated, to make a financial gain by catering to the oatmeal trade.
Marketing and market grades.
Other things being equal, the best time to market oats is at threshing time. Then the grain may be hauled directly to the market, which saves the extra handling caused by placing oats in the bin. The market price and the condition of the grain when threshed will determine, in a large measure, whether grain is to be sold at that time.
The price received for the grain will depend on its condition and the use to which it is to be put. To command the best market price any grain must be sound and sweet, free from weed seeds and foul material, and have a good color. Oats of poor color, whether from exposure to storms, molding in the bundle, or overheating in stack or bin, will not command the best prices. Oats that have been overheated in the bin will be "bin-burned" and discolored. They will be injured not only from the marketing but from the feeding standpoint as well. When oats are badly discolored, elevator men often resort to treatment by sulfur to bleach the grain and improve the appearance. This leaves the grain in worse condition than before and is a reprehensible practice.