604

ON THE ARABLE: LAND

that district by Sir William Montgomery of Magbiehill, henceit is also called the Magbiehill oat. Though small grained,the husks are thin, and of course it yields abundance of meal.It prospers well on high and cold situations, ripening early,and withstanding the force of the wind, better than any otherkind # .

Early-brown oat .—This is an early and hardy kind, ha-ving a brown husk or skin, and has been lately cultivated inFife with success on high and cold situations f.

Potatoe oat .—This new and valuable variety, introducedinto Scotland about the commencement of the present cen-tury, has acquired great and well merited reputation, andhas almost banished the other varieties from good and wellmanaged soils. An account of its origin and name is givenin a periodical publication, from information procured inthe neighbourhood of the district in which it made itsfirst appearance J. On all deep and tender loams, especi-ally when taken up from grass, no kind of oat will makeso abundant a return to the husbandmrtn, whether the num-ber of bolls per acre, or the quantity of meal from these bollsbe considered: But it is not a favourite with some people onshallow soils; as it yields less straw or fodder than severalother varieties §. In Marklane, 16th October 1811, the ave-rage prices of oats were, for the ordinary or common kinds32s.Polands 40s. and potatoe oats 42s. the quarter, sufficient-ly indicating their superior estimation in the first grain mar-ket of Europe . Potatoe oats thrive better, and are better fo-ragers, or tiller more abundantly than polands, and succeedwell on soils in which the poland variety would hardly beworth cutting down. Indeed, so obviously superior are po-

* Roxburghshire Report, p. 85, and Peebles Report, p. 144.| Fife Report, p. 162.

} Sec the Fanner’s Magazine for May 1813, p. 167,

§ Brown’s Treatise on Rural,Affairs.