624 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4 GEORGE V., A. 1914 



superior quality, forty-two samples of seed were selected in 1913. Each of the 

 samples thus selected was collected from one single plant. When selecting the 

 samples, not only was the possibility of producing varieties superior as to yield kept 

 in mind, but also the possibility of producing strains of a certain seed type. For 

 this reason samples were selected, which on account of the vegetative characters of 

 the mother plants could be expected to originate new strains of a superior quality. A 

 lew samples having certain striking seed characters were also used. The advantage 

 of having a timothy strain, flowering at the same time as red clover was also borne in 

 mind, and therefore, seed from early- and late-flowering mother plants was also 

 selected. 



From each of the forty-two samples a lot of seed was sown in flower pots and 

 kept in cold frames. When the seedlings were firmly rooted, thirty young plants 

 were picked out at random from each sample, transplanted into individual pots and 

 later into the field three feet apart each side, making a total of 1,260 -.individual 

 plants. At the close of the season these plants were doing very well. 



ORCHARD GRASS. 



Of this grass, which is comparatively little known in Canada, six seed samples 

 were secured from the Plant Breeding Station at Svalof, Sweden. The seeds from 

 these samples were sown in flower pots, and later transplanted into the field in the 

 same way as stated above for timothy. The individual orchard grass plants thus 

 growing in the field in 1912 entered the winter in very fine condition. 



COLLECTION OF GRASSES AND GRASS SEEDS. 



When visiting the Experimental Farms in the different provinces, a great number 

 of wild grasses and grass seeds were collected. At present the wild grasses of Canada 

 are comparatively but little known and many genera and species are what is 

 technically termed ' critical.' With a view of gradually coming to a clear under- 

 standing of the systematic value of such critical genera and species, seed was 

 collected from a great number of ' forms ' of a doubtful systematic rank. Special 

 attention was paid to species belonging to the genera Agropyrum and Bromus. 



BROOM CORN. 



During recent years quite an interest has been taken by farmers in different 

 provinces of Eastern Canada in the growing of broom corn. The experiments with 

 broom corn which were started at the Central Experimental Farm in 1911 by the 

 Division of Botany have therefore been continued. 



A total of twenty-three so-called varieties were sown on June 15 and 17 in rows 

 three feet apart, but during the summer, on account of the unfavourable weather 

 conditions, the plants made a slow growth and only a comparatively very small 

 number of individuals reached the proper stage for harvesting, when the first late- 

 summer frost set in. 



The results obtained from the different varieties are hardly worth recording. 



