Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1912 — SUPERIOR OAT SEED ESSENTIAL [ARTICLE]

SUPERIOR OAT SEED ESSENTIAL

Good, Plump Variety Will Germi* nate Rapidly and Get Vigorous Start—Best Land Needed. (By W. M. KELLY.) There is more light and inferior oat seed plpanted than any other causes a of small grain. Poor seed causes a low yield of oats every time. The actual cost of improved seed is very low compared with the increased yields that come from its use. By good seed I do not mean extremely high-priced seed that is advertised to produce 100 bushels of oats to the acre but good plump seed that will germinate rapidly and get a vigorous start early in the spring. We seldom see a large crop of oats threshed from a field that makes a poor start in the spring. I have found that it pays big returns to select one acre of the best land to grow seed oats on each year and to keep this crop for seed only and to buy new seed every two or three years to plant on this acre plot. Under ordinary conditions I believe that we should change oat seed every three or four years, for there is no farm crop that will thrive better when moved from one locality to another than oats, or that will deteriorate faster when, grown on the same farm year after year. Of course proper seed selection ■will help to overcome this tendency, but few farmers take that precaution. Closely linked with the good seed question comes that of selecting or planting healthy seed, and I have found it a good plan to treat all oat seed with formalin before sowing, to kill the smut spores and insure healthy seed.