time, has no covering attachment, but simply opens a small furrow and sows the seed. The result is the plants come up one and a half to two inches below the general surface, and the 'crown' of each plant is formed and established say two to two and a half inches below the general surface. The winter rains, light freezes and thaws gradually but only partly fill in the open furrow, and the more vital and sensitive parts of the plants are left at the original depth, below the reach of even very severe freezes."1

IV. WEEDS, FUNGOUS DISEASES AND INSECT ENEMIES.

Homemade spraying apparatus for killing wild mustard; also used for spraying potatoes.

414. WEEDS.-The oat, like all other spring sown cereals, is apt to be infested with any weeds whose seeds happen to be present in the soil. Weeds are frequently a hindrance to the proper curing of the crop. In the Northern States the most conspicuous weed in the oat crop is the wild mustard, which may be eradicated by spraying the oats with a three per cent solution of copper sulphate at the rate of fifty gallons of the solution per acre. (144)

Loose smut on oats. Glumes more fully destroyed in specimen on the right.

415. FUNGOUS DISEASES.-The oat plant is generally exceptionally free from insect enemies and fungous diseases. Besides the two species of rust occurring upon wheat (146) there occurs also on oats crown rust (Puccinia coronata Cda.), so called from the horn-like projections on the teleutospores. No remedy is known. There are two forms of smut, namely, loose smut (Ustilago avenae (Pers.) Jens.) and covered smut (Ustilago avenae laevis (Jens.) Kell. and Swing.). The first form, which is most common, converts the entire spikelet into smut spores, while in the second only the kernel is so affected. Both are successfully prevented by treating with hot water or formalin. (149) A bac

1 Ga. Bul. 44 (1889), p. 11.

terial disease sometimes causes the death of the lower leaves and more or less yellowing of the young plants. 1 No remedy has been discovered.

416. INSECT ENEMIES.-There is no insect which confines its attacks to the oat plant, and aside from the chinch bug (151), grasshoppers and fall army worm, there is none that causes extensive and serious damage to the growing plant. (153) The stored grain is less seriously attacked, doubtless on account of its hull.

Journal of Mycology, Vol. VI, p 72.

XX.

OATS.

I. HARVESTING AND USES.

417. Time and Method of Harvesting. The evidence appears to be that oats may be cut when one-half the leaves are still green and the grain in the early dough, without materially injuring the chemical composition or the yield of grain, and that the yield and quality of the straw may be increased provided the sheaves are immediately shocked and capped to permit slow curing and ripening.1.(161) Cutting in the hard dough stage and slow curing in round shocks is generally desirable, but when weeds abound or for other reasons rapid curing is necessary, long shocks are better. Oats may be cut for hay while the grain is in the milk stage with mowing machine and treated as any other hay crop, or may be cut with self-binding harvester and put in round shocks of six bundles each, with one bundle for a cap. The methods of harvesting, threshing and storing of oats are similar to those of wheat. (162, 167, 168, 169) The Ohio Station found the shrinkage of grain between September and March of fifty-five varieties to be less than one per cent, and of a sample of baled oat straw during the same period about six per cent. Michigan Station obtained similar results with the grain two years, and a loss of three per cent another year.3

418. Uses.-Oats are the chief grain food for horses, and are equally acceptable to and desirable for cattle and sheep, but

1 Ill. Bul. 31; Kan. Buls. 13, 29, 54.

2 Ohio Bul. 57 (1894), p. 111.

3 Mich. Bul. 191 (1901), p. 169.

are not as largely used for these classes of live stock because of the relatively high price as compared with other concentrates. They are not adapted to swine, because of their high percentage of crude fiber due to the hull." Oats are used largely in connection with and interchangeably with maize. If one is more plentiful, and, therefore, cheaper than the other, it is used more abundantly. Hence in considering the possibility of a rise or fall in price of either, the combined yield of the two cereals must be ascertained. In the Southern States, where it is diffi cult to grow our tame grasses for pasturage and hay, special varieties have been developed for this purpose. (387) When cut in the milk and properly cured they make a palatable and nutritious food for domestic animals. (383)

Oat straw is preferred to wheat and rye straw as food for cattle and sheep, and by some for bedding, although it will not last as long, hence is less generally purchased for this purpose. It is less valuable than either for the manufacture of paper.

419. Oats for Human Food.-As prepared for human food, they are the most nutritious of our cereals. The consumption of oatmeal has increased enormously in recent years, and has led to the introduction of many other forms of so-called breakfast foods. Oatmeal is especially adapted to people living in northern climates or those having plenty of outdoor exercise. It is said that in eastern Scotland the unmarried plowmen lived solely on oatmeal and milk, except in the winter, when they sometimes got potatoes. They were allowed seventeen and one-half pounds of oatmeal weekly, and three to four pints of milk daily. This formed their sole diet, with no other cooking than boiling water stirred into the meal. These men were strong and healthy. The witty Dr. Johnson sarcastically remarked: "Oats is a grain fed to horses in England, but eaten by men in Scotland." "Yes," said a Scotchman, "and I have noticed that they grow the best of horses in England and the Dest of men in Scotland

420. By-Products.-About the only manufacturing industry based upon the oat grain is the oatmeal industry, and about the only by-product is the hull. Oat hulls are largely used to adul terate maize meal, when it frequently passes for maize and oatmeal under the name of corn and oat feed. These oat hulls

have but little food value. (383)

421. Oat Crop of the World.-The production of oats in the world has varied during the five years 1898 to 1902 inclusive from 2,806 millions (1901) to 3,561 millions (1902) per annum, the average annual production being 3,131 million bushels. The following table shows the average annual production for five years by continents in million bushels:

The production exceeds wheat and about equals maize in bushels but is less than either in pounds. The production in bushels of oats in Canada is about twice that of wheat. Ontario produces more oats than any State of the United States except Illinois and Iowa. Oats are only sparingly cultivated in South America.

422. Oat Crop of the United States.-Oats stand third in acreage and value of product and second in number of bushels of the cereals of the United States. The annual production for the three decades, 1870-79, 1880-89 and 1890-99, is given as follows: