When eau are sown on light land after turnips, which have been eaten by sheep folded on them, it may be ploughed with as shallow a furrow as will turn in the surface: the preparation for turnip, will have sufficiently moved the soil ; and the manure of the sheep should not be buried too deep. On poor moist land oats are more profitable than barley. Clover and gram seeds may be sown among them with equal advantage, as they will seldom grow so high as to be laid and smother the young clover; and barley is very apt to fail on land subject to retain the water.
In sowing oats more seed is often used than of any other grain, because, although the plants tiller where they have room, the straw of the second shoots b weaker, and the grain Is not ripe so soon as that of the iwincipal stem ; but when the plants rise close and thick, there are no tillers, the main stem is stronger, and the corn is more plump and equaL Six bushels of oats sre often sown in Scotland and Ireland on an acre ; but if they are drilled, three or four bushels are sufficient, and when dibbled, which Is sometimes the case in Norfolk and Suffolk, much less seed is used. A good preparation of the land is of more consequence than a superabundance of seed.
In a field where oats are sown broadcast, and covered by the harrows, many seeds remain exposed to the depredation of birds, which soon find them out at a time of the year when food is scarce; but when they are drilled or dibbled, all the seed is buried and germinates, without any loss. When the need is sown and ploughed in, the same object is attained ; but as the furrow must be shallow in order that the seed may not be buried too deep, the land must have been ploughed before to a considerable depth, unless it be after turnips fed off by sheep, in which case ploughing the seed in is often considered a good practice : in either case four bushels of seed per acre is an ample allowance.
When the ground has been well prepared, there is no necessity for weeding or hoeing the crop as it advances; but if large weeds appear, such as charlock, May-weed, docks, or thistles, they must be carefully weeded out, or else the ground will be so infected with their seeds or roots that it will be difficult to eradicate them afterwards. Oats, when fully ripe, are very apt to abed, and many are lost for want of attention.
As soon as the straw turns yellow under the panicle, the oats ahould be reaped, however green the lower part of the straw may be ; the straw will be better fodder for cattle, and all the corn will be saved. Oats are generally mown with a scythe, and raked into heaps to dry like hay ; but this is a wasteful and slovenly practice. A good crop of oats should be reaped, like wheat, close to the ground, and tied in sheaves.
This may now be done perfectly by machine; but if by hand, the scythe, or the heavy hook, or the Hainauit scythe, does the work well in the hands of an expert mower, who should be followed by binders, who gather the straw with their hands and lay it regularly on the ground if it be not fit to tie up immediately : the straw should after wards be tied up into sheaves, and set with the corn uppermost in shocks of ten or twelve sheaves, leaning against each other, and open at bottom, in order to allow the air to pass through. Thus, in a short time the oats become sufficiently dry to be stacked, or carried immedi ately Into the barn. The produce of an acre of oats varies according to the soil and preparation, from four to eight and even ten or twelve quarters.
Of the many varieties of oat now In cultivation, the "Poland " may be named for its early habit and good quality ; the " Potato " oat for quality and productiveness ; the " Hopetoun" and " Sandy" oats for their bulky growth, abundant yield, and quality : and the " Tar tarian " (black and white) for a great quantity of comparatively coarse quality.
Oats ground Into a coarse meal form a considerable portion of the food of labourers and many men in the middle ranks of life in Scot land, Ireland, and the north of England. The meal is simply stirred into boiling water with a little salt, until it becomes of the consistency of a haety-pudding ; it is then called porridge; and when eaten with milk or treacle makes a wholesome and palatable food. It is some times mixed with the thin liquor of boiled moat, or the water in which cabbages or kale have been boiled, and acquires the denomination of beef-brom or kale-bro.,. When made into a dough with water, and baked on an iron plate in thin cakes, it makes a bread which is very palatable to those who are accustomed to it, and who often prefer it to wheaten bread. Its use was once almost universal In Scotland, which has in consequence been called the Land of Cake.. In Germany and Switzer. land the coarsely bruised oatmeal is put into an oven till it becomes of a brown colour ; it is then called haber-meel, and is used in broths and pottages, as the semolina, made from wheat, is used in France and Italy. The coeusely-broken grains, after the husk has been removed, form grits, which are extensively used to make gruel for children rind invalids. The quality of oats as food is proved by experience, and has been amply illustrated by scientific research. Its grain contains 46 per cent, of starch, nearly 14 of nitrogen compounds, 6 of oil, 6 of sugar, nearly 4 of gum, besides 21 of husk, &c. And its straw contains P8 of nitrogen compounds, besides 66 of woody fibre and other organic matters. These figures were ascertained by Bounsingault. The chaff of oats put into a canvas bag forma a good substitute for feather-beda for the poor, and Is far more wholesome than feathers, from the ease with which it may be renewed at little or no coat.
In some countries the oats are given to horses in the straw, without threshing them ; and where the quantity can be regulated, the practice is good. The horses masticate the corn better in the chaff, and the straw is wholesome ; but where horses do hard work, they would be too long in eating a sufficient quantity, and it is better to give them oath threshed and cleaned, with clover hay cut into chaff. When bay is dear, it is often cheaper to increase the quantity of oath, and to give It with wheat-straw cut fine. In this way very little hay is required. The calculation is easily made when we consider that a pound of good oats gives as much nourishment to a horse as two pounds of the best clover, or sainfoin hay.i A trues of hay of 56 pounds is therefore equal to 2S pounds of oats; or a bushel of the best oats will go as far as one truss and n half of hay; and if this quantity is worth 4s., which is at the rate of 4/. 16s. per load of thirty-six trusses, the equivalent price of oats is 32s. per quarter.
Farmers who have hay-ricks from which they often allow their men to take as much as they please for their horses, will carefully measure out the oats, which probably are much cheaper. Those who keep many horses should cut all the hay into chaff by a machine, and mixing this with a proper proportion of oath, feed all their horses in mangers with a certain allowance of the mixture, a practice much more economical than that usually adopted. In France and Oennany the practice of baking oats, as well as rye, into loaves for horse-food, is gaining ground, and is said to be attended by an evident saving'of food.