DAIRY AND SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETINGS. 283 



ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT MEETINGS OF 

 MAINE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION AND 

 MAINE SEED IMPROVEMENT 

 ASSOCIATION 



OAT BREEDING AT HIGHMOOR FARM. 

 By Dr. Frank M. Surface, Orono. 



The State of Maine grows annually about 140,000 acres of 

 oats. The average yield per acre according to the United 

 States Department of Agriculture is about 40 bushels, making 

 in all a total production of nearly 6 million bushels. The 

 annual value of such a crop is about three and one-half millions 

 of dollars. As a wealth producer oats rank third among the 

 crops, grown in the state. It is of further interest to note that 

 Maine produces more bushels of oats than the states of New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Con- 

 necticut put together. These considerations have led the Ex- 

 periment Station to undertake some work looking towards 

 the improvement of this important crop. 



An average yield of 40 bushels per acre is some ten bushels 

 above the average of the country as a whole. This indicates 

 that our climatic and soil conditions are well adapted to this 

 cereal. However, 40 bushels is by no means the maximum 

 production that can be realized under our own conditions. We 

 have now conducted variety and field tests at Highmoor Farm 

 for five years and only in the very poorest year and with our 

 very poorest variety have we obtained a yield as low as 40 

 bushels. 



Now there are two general ways of increasing the yield of a 

 crop. One is by using better methods in growing it and the 

 other is to use better seed from better varieties. Our work 

 has been confined to the latter of these two methods. In this 

 work we are attempting to do two things. First, to determine 

 which of the more popular commercial varieties of oats are 



