1 6 . AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



Standards for these varieties of beans. The resuhs of these 

 investigations will be published by the Station during the com- 

 ing year. 



In addition to the work outlined above the Station is also 

 attempting to produce new and desirable types of beans by 

 means of controlled hybridization. This work naturally pro- 

 ceeds slowly and it will be several years before any of these new 

 varieties will have been sufficiently tested to be placed before 

 the public. 



Oats. 



The work with oats at Highmoor has been continued along 

 the same lines as in the past several years. Twenty-two com- 

 mercial varieties of oats were tested in 1914. In addition 31 

 new varieties originated in the breeding work of the vStation 

 were also tested under field conditions. The season of 1914 

 was very favorable for oats at Highmoor. The yields were 

 much higher than in any of the preceding years. Individual 

 varieties averaged to yield from 120 to 60 bushels per acre. 

 Seven of the varieties originated by the Station yielded above 

 100 bushels per acre. 



The work of developing new varieties by hybridization was 

 continued. About 8000 second generation hybrid plants were 

 grown this year. The most desirable of these have been selected 

 for further tests and purification next year. 



SELECTION EXPERIMENTS. 



Another line of investigation has dealt with the question 

 whether it is possible to improve pure lines of oats by continued 

 selection. It has been found that one of the most important 

 means of securing new and improved varieties of oats has been 

 the selection of new strains out of the existing varieties. In 

 doing this work it has been found that the only successful way 

 is to select individual plants and then to multiply the seed of 

 each plant separately. By this means there is obtained what is 

 known as a ''pure line." Each pure line is the descendant of a 

 single individual plant. Since the oat flower is always fertilized 

 by its own pollen it follows that each plant in any single pure 

 line has exactly the same hereditary constitution as every other 

 plant. 



