26 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



from the one plant just mentioned. The color present in the 

 Old Fashioned Yellow Eye bean is generally a hue of yellow. 

 However, we have found this same pattern also carrying red, 

 black or brown pigment. In what way each of these is pro- 

 duced is another interesting phase of the work yet to be studied. 

 In addition to these strains of beans there are many others 

 that have been propagated from single plants. Some produce 

 black beans, others all yellow, brown or mottled beans. Some 

 of these may prove to be superior strains for snap beans if not 

 for marketing as dried beans. All in all the bean breeding 

 work at Highmoor is developing many interesting types of 

 beans, some of which promise to be of superior value as a crop, 



Oats. 



Two lines of work with oats have been carried on at High- 

 moor for several years. These are (a) variety tests and (b) 

 breeding work. 



(a) Variety Tests. 



The object of the variety tests of oats is first to find o".t 

 which varieties already on the market are best suited to Maine 

 conditions and second to furnish material for the breeding 

 work. These variety tests were begun at Highmoor in 19 lO and 

 have been carried on for four seasons. In all from 20 to ^o 

 varieties have been tested each year. The more promising 

 varieties have been continued in the test from year to year. 

 Those varieties which failed to do as well as expected have 

 been discarded and new varieties substituted in their place. 



Seed for these tests was obtained from dealers and growers 

 in the United States and from members of the Canadian Seed 

 Growers Association in Canada. These varieties represented 

 the most productive strains grown in the regions from which 

 they were obtained. All varieties were sown in drills 6 inches 

 apart and at the rate of two bushels by weight of seed per acre. 

 In the earlier tests each variety was grown in a i-io acre plot. 

 During the past season a new method has been adopted which 

 is very satisfactory. Instead of having one i-io acre plot 

 there were four 1-40 acre plots for eadh variety. These four 

 plots were scattered over the field so that each variety was 



