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About one-tenth the area in field and garden crops, not count. ing pasture, is in oats, thirty-seven per cent of the farms reporting this crop. The value per acre is less than any other important cereal crop and like other cereals is decreasing in value. Ten States produced eighty per cent of the oat crop in 1900, all but New York and Pennsylvania being North Central States. Probably three-fourths of the oats of the United States are produced north of the fortieth parallel and east of the 100th meridian.

423. Yield per Acre.-The average annual yield per acre of oats during the decade 1893-1902 was 27.8 bushels. The areas of maximum production per acre in 1899 embraced the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, the yield being more than thirty-six bushels per acre. The yield per acre in the South Atlantic division was less than ten bushels over nearly one-half the area, and with a few exceptions did not exceed twenty bushels. Sixty to seventy-five bushels of oats is considered a good yield and forty to fifty bushels a fairly satisfactory yield in the Northern States. In Canada the yield per acre is considerably higher than in the United States, 100 bushels per acre being frequently reported.

424. Progress of Oat Production. The production of oats has about doubled in proportion to population during the last half of the century. The production rose between 1880 and

1890 from about 400 million to 800 million, the most phenom

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Relative increase in the population and in the production has shifted westward of oats in the United States during a half century.

and northward, as is

shown by the fact that while New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio were the center of the crop in 1850, now (1900) the concentration is in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. This represents a movement in the last half century of a little less than 120 miles northward (to 41° 39′ 15′′ N. Lat.) and about 575 miles westward (to 91° 8' 11" W. Long.). This shows a northward movement of oat production twenty-one miles more than of wheat and 115 miles more than of maize, while the westward movement has been ninety-five miles more than of maize and 105 miles less than of wheat.

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MILLION BUSHELS

OF OATS

MORE THAN 100
SO TO 00
25 TO 50

WW10 TO 25
BELOW 10

Map showing the production of oats in the United
States in 1900.

The increasing use to which maize is being put as feed for milch cows is largely responsible for the relatively decreased area devoted to oat production in some States, as is shown by the fact that the majority of the States which reported decreased acreages in oats reported increased acreages in maize. These States were principally in the dairy sections.

426. Export of Oats.-The quantity of oats exported is small compared with wheat or maize, although increasing relatively

more rapidly than either. The export of both grain and oatmeal has about trebled during five years, while wheat and maize have about doubled. (189, 364) The principal importers of grain are Great Britain and South Africa; and of oatmeal, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands and South Africa.

427. Commercial Grades.-The Illinois Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners recognizes the following classes and grades of oats:

White oats, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

White clipped oats, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
Oats, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

In the Chicago market much the larger proportion of oats dealt in are white oats, and usually more of No. 3 than No. 4, more of No. 4 than No. 2, while seldom does a car grade No. 1. The following are the rules for grading white oats:

"No. I white oats shall be white, sound, clean, and reasonably free from other grain.

"No. 2 white oats shall be seven-eighths white, sweet, reasonably clean and reasonably free from other grain.

"No. 3 white oats shall be seven-eighths white, but not sufficiently sound and clean for No. 2.

"No. 4 white oats shall be seven-eighths white, damp, badly damaged, musty, or for any other cause unfit for No. 3."

Ι

The rules for white clipped oats are identical for similar grades, except No. I white clipped oats must weigh thirty-six pounds; No. 2, thirty-four pounds, and No. 3, twenty-eight pounds to the measured bushel, while white oats are not graded by weight. The rules for grading oats are identical with those for white oats, except where color is indicated it reads "mixed oats."

III. HISTORY.

428. History.-While the origin of the cultivation of wheat can be traced with some probability to a warm climate, and that of rye tc a cold climate, oats we find occupying an intermediate position. They were not cultivated by the ancient Egyptians

or the Hebrews, as was wheat. Neither the ancient Greeks nor the ancient Romans cultivated them. They were likewise unknown to the ancient Chinese or the people of India.

All evidence points to eastern temperate Europe, and possibly Tartary, in western Asia, as the probable place of their first cultivation. They were cultivated by the prehistoric inhabitants of central Europe, but did not appear, it is believed, until long after wheat and barley. Hence they were less important in the early history of our race than either of the last named crops or rye. When central and northern Europe became civilized the cultivation of oats became vastly more important, becoming in some of the cool, moist climates north the most important cereal used for man's food. In Scotland it occupies one-third the land in cultivated crops, excluding land in pastures and meadows. In Ireland it constitutes one-half of all the grain and green crops.

Practicums.

429. METHOD OF CROSS-FERTILIZATION.-Cross-fertilization in oats may be effected in a manner similar to that of wheat. (196) Remove all spikelets of the panicle which are not to be crossed and remove the upper flower of the remaining spikelet and cross the lower one.

432. PLANT IN THE FIELD.-Each student should be given a printed or typewritten sheet, as indicated below, and requested to describe two or more varieties of oats growing in the field by underscoring the adjective which most nearly applies to the condition found.

1. Height of culm: average of ten culms to tip of outer glume on upper spikelet

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2. Vigor of plant: strong; medium; weak.

3

Diameter below panicle: average of ten culms

4. Depth of furrow below panicle: furrowed; medium; smooth.

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13. Beards: long; medium short; straight; twisted.

14. Color of leaves: light green; medium green; dark green.

15. Leaf blade: average length of ten blades

16. Leaf blade: average width of maximum dimensions of ten blades

17. Leaf blade: erect; ascending; drooping.

18. Leaf blade: smooth; rough; downy.

19. Ligule: large; medium; small.

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431. MATURE Dried· Plant in LABORATORY.—Proceed as in paragraph above. If opportunity to study varieties in the field is lacking, some of the items above may be included here. If only a field practicum is desired, some of the items below may be included above.

1. Length of panicle: average of five panicles from base of lower whorl to tip of flowering glume of upper spikelet

2. Number of whorls: average of five panicles

3. Number of main branches: average of five panicles

4. Number of spikelets: average of five panicles

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9. Relative size of lower and upper grains of spikelet: weight of twenty-five

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Per cent of kernel: weight of 100 grains
•; per cent

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.; weight of 100 kernels

11. Plumpness: plump; medium; inflated.

12. Flowering glume: thick; medium; thin.

13. Length: twenty-five grains from base to tip of flowering glume twenty-five kernels

14. Density: weight per bushel obtained by weighing one pint

15. Color of grain: light yellow; yellow; gray; reddish brown; black.

432. SOIL FERtility in RelATION TO OATS.-Provide each student with ten three-gallon earthen jars, which each may fill with earth

secured from home farm or elsewhere. Make application

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