OATS.
“This grain prefers a cold climate, and is one of the hardiest of the cereal plants. It cannot be cultivated in the southern parts of Europe, and is scarcely seen south of Paris. Even in England its produce in the southern districts is inferior to that of the northern, and still more to that of Scotland. It has this advantage, that it will grow where neither wheat nor barley will flourish, and, indeed, on any land, from the stiffest clay to crude mossy soils, if sufficiently dry: it is also the most easily cultivated. Indeed, if it can be ripened before the frost sets in, the meal is superior when the climate is rather bleak and the soil not very rich.