758 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5 GEORGE v.. A. 1915 



anticipated. Harvesting this year was, in the ease and rapidity of its execution, a plea- 

 sant contrast to the same operation in 1912. All grain was saved in first-class con- 

 dition. 



The advantages of early sowing were strikingly evident last season, the early- 

 sown plots giving much better returns than those put in at later dates. 



CROSS-BREEDING AND SELECTING CEREALS. 



Not very much cross-breeding is now being done on account of the necessity for , 

 devoting much time and land to the study and testing of the selections which have 

 been made from the crosses of earlier y^ars, and from conmiercial material. 



The crosses made in 1912, between the Arlington Awnless barley and other varieties 

 produced some very interesting plants last season. The progeny of these will doubtless 

 give rise, in the coming summer, to a nirmber of unusual types, among which it is 

 hoped that there will be a few sorts of value. 



Some crosses effected between Prelude wheat and other varieties have 

 given rise to a quantity of very interesting and promising material for selection during 

 the next few years. 



PLOTS OF CEREALS, ETC., AT OTTAWA. 



During the piist season there were grown at Ottawa 283 small plots of cross-bred 

 varieties not yet fixed in character, and 308 small plots of new varieties and selections 

 which have beeji found to breed true to type and are now being propagated for test 

 on a larger scale. 



The regular test plots of grain, for the comparison of varieties, are one-sixtieth 

 of an acre each. The number of plots of this size, or larger, for the past season was 

 as follo^vs : Spring wheat 164, winter wheat 6, oats 85, six-i*ow barley 115, two-row 

 barley 54, winter rye 5, flax 30, maldng a total of 459 plots and representing about 

 350 varieties and selected strains. 



The total number of plots of all sizes grown last season was 1,050. 



Owing to the shortage of land for the Cereal Division, the variety tests of emmers, 

 spelts, peas, beans, spring i-ye, and most of the oats had to be omitted. 



EXPLANATION OF TABLES. 



In the following tables a discrepancy will be observed in some cases between the 

 figure given as the number of days maturing and that which is obtained by counting 

 the days bet:^veen the datie of sowing and the date of ripening. When any varieties 

 have been sown later or earlier than the majority, it has been found necessary to intro- 

 duce a correction, because, owing to the great difference between spring and mid-sum- 

 mer temperatures, a difference of a few days in sowing does not produce a corre- 

 sponding difference in time of rijiening. 



The character of the straw is indicated by marlvs on a scale of ton points, accord- 

 ing to the proportion of the plot standing erect at harvest time. A variety standing 

 quite erect receives a mark of 10. while one completely lodged is marked 0. 



As a rule, only named varieties are mentioned in the tables. Most of the varie- 

 ties under test are new cross-bred sorts produced by the Dominion Cerealist and 

 recorded for the present by means of numbers and letters. As soon as the value 

 of these new sorts has been determined, names will be given to such of them as possess 

 sufficient merit to warrant their introduction to the public. 



New varieties and selected strains produced at the Central Experimental Farm 

 are marked with an asterisk (*). 



Ottawa. 



