OATS.

Oats are principally in demand for horses, and the extraordinary increase of the latter has occasioned a proportional increase in the culture of oats.  They are grown more especially in the north and north-eastern counties; in the midland counties their culture is less extensive, but it is prevalent throughout most parts of Wales.

Nearly twice as much oats as wheat is raised in the United Kingdom, but the proportion grown in Scotland is not so large as is supposed.  The following is a fair estimate of the comparative production:—­

Acres.            Produce. 
England          2,500,000         12,500,000
Ireland          2,300,000         11,600,000
Scotland         1,300,000          6,500,000
---------          ---------
Total            6,100,000         30,500,000

We import annually about l1/4 million quarters from foreign countries and nearly three-fourths of a million quarters from Ireland.  The average produce per acre throughout the kingdom is five quarters.  The price within the last 10 years has ranged from 28s. 7d. per quarter (the famine year) to 17s. 6d.

The oat, when considered in connection with the artificial grasses, and the nourishment and improvement it affords to live stock, may be regarded as one of the most important crops produced.  Its history is highly interesting, from the circumstance that in many portions of Europe it is formed into meal, and forms an important aliment for man; one sort, at least, has been cultivated from the days of Pliny, on account of its fitness as an article of diet for the sick.  The country of its origin is somewhat uncertain, though the most common variety is said to be indigenous to the Island of Juan Fernandez.  Another oat, resembling the cultivated variety, is also found growing wild in California.

This plant was introduced into the North American Colonies soon after their settlement by the English.  It was sown by Gosnold on the Elizabeth Islands in 1602; cultivated in Newfoundland in 1622, and in Virginia, by Berkley, prior to 1648.

The oat is a hardy grain, and is suited to climates too hot and too cold either for wheat or rye.  Indeed, its flexibility is so great, that it is cultivated with success in Bengal as low as latitude twenty-five degrees North, but refuses to yield profitable crops as we approach the equator.  It flourishes remarkably well, when due regard is paid to the selection of varieties, throughout the inhabited parts of Europe, the northern and central portions of Asia, Australia, Southern and Northern Africa, the cultivated regions of nearly all North America, and a large portion of South America.