DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. 



289 



nature a pure line which possesses the qualities we desire. By 

 means of hybridization, however, it is possible to combine the 

 desirable qualities of one strain with the good ones of another. 

 We are doing a great deal of this hybridization work at High- 

 moor. Some 8000 hybrid oat plants were grown this year. 

 But results from this work come sjowly and it will still be sev- 

 eral years before we can be certain of the qualities in our hybrid 

 strains. 



In 1 9 10 some 350 individual plants were selected from the 

 variety plots of that year. The next year the seed from each 

 of these plants w^as grown in a separate row in the oat garden. 

 Each row was harvested and threshed separately. The next 

 year about 80 of these pure lines were tested in small plots 

 (1-2000 of an acre) in the oat garden. Finally in 1913, 30 of 

 the pure lines were judged good enough to be tested under 

 field conditions. These 30 pure lines were tested again in 

 1914. On the basis of these two year tests half of them have 

 been discarded as showing no quality essentially different from 

 the commercial varieties. Thus out of 350 original selections 

 15 have been judged good enough to offer to the public. The 

 yields of these pure lines for the tv/o years and for 1914 are 

 given in the chart (Table 3). It will be remembered that each 

 of these "pure lines" (essentially new varieties) are the de- 

 scendants of a single grain planted in 1910. 



Table 3. 



Yiejld of Pure Lines of Oats Bred at Highmoor Farm. 



Pure Line 



1914 

 yield 



Maine No. 340 



Maine No. 337 



Maine No. 336 



Maine No. 230 



Maine No. 351 . . . . 

 Maine No. 286.. . . 



Maine No. 281 



Maine No. 247.. . . 

 Maine No. 355. . . . 

 Maine No. 357. . . . 



Maine No. 307 



Maine No. 346 



Maine No. 264. . . . 



Maine No. 128 



Maine No. 334 



Average 



19 



108.7 



120.0 



101.7 



104.2 



100.2 



96.7 



93.3 



103.7 



92.7 



81.5 



95.9 



90.6 



95.7 



89.5 



98.9 



98.2 



