SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETING. 195 



Association will be able to carry on experiments in improving 

 oats and otber grains by selecting individual heads and cross- 

 ing different types. This work vi^ould require too much detail, 

 too much labor and often the recognition of strong characters 

 could be gained only by an expert. I wish that it were possible 

 for members of the Association to obtain from our Experiment 

 Station farm strains of the different kinds of grain that would 

 be certain of giving high yield. This is possible, or will be 

 within another year, and every member of the Association who 

 grows grain ought to endeavor to find out from the Experiment 

 Station people the quality of any grains they may have for seed 

 and if possible obtain some as a foundation for growing seeds. 

 If these improved strains of grains could be distributed through- 

 out the State, and grown by careful farmers, it would take but 

 a few years before we would be on the same plane as the Seed 

 Improvement Association of Wisconsin. Farmers must begin 

 to look for better types of grains and inasmuch as yield is the 

 great object in view they ought to encourage any one who is 

 capable of establishing such strains in Maine. 



The production of edible beans in the State of Maine is quite 

 an important industry. The census figures for the year 1909 

 give the production of beans in this State as 87,565 bushels, an 

 average of 24 bushels per acre. The cultivation of beans makes 

 a valuable crop in certain localities, especially in a rotation 

 system. To be sure it is a crop that requires a large amount of 

 fertility but if one is able to grow 24 to 30 bushels of seed per 

 acre it is comparatively easy to sell the same for seed purposes 

 at $2.50 to $5 per bushel. In this State we have one variety of 

 beans which is we might say typical or native to our State, that 

 is, the old-fashioned yellow-eyed bean. This type is highly 

 prized by many people, and it is difficult to obtain in many sec- 

 tions of the country, as a study of the seed catalogues reveals. 

 A few of our members are interested in the production of this 

 old fashioned yellow-eyed bean, and among these growers there 

 are possessed ideas of three different types of this bean. We 

 ought to determine what the Association shall recognize as the 

 old fashioned yellow-eyed bean, in order that all growers could 

 produce this type and market the same co-operatively in order 

 to obtain the highest prices. The Experiment Station is doing 

 some valuable work in the establishing of this yellow-eyed bean 



