REPORT OF MR. 8. A. BEDFORD 

 SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Average Results of a Five Years' Test of Eight Varieties of Oats. 



407 



Field Plots of Oats. 



These were all sown on summer-fallow, with a drill, in the proportion of two 

 bushels of seed per acre. 



Variety. 



Ligowo Oats 



American Beauty 



Tartar King 



Waverley 



Banner 



Abundance 



Goldfinder 



Character 



of 



Soil. 



Sandy loam 



Clay loam. 



it 

 Sandy loam 



ii 

 Clay loam . 



Yield 

 per acre. 



Bush. Lbs. 



59 

 49 

 59 

 69 

 68 

 75 

 63 



9 



2 



18 

 9 



18 

 9 



10 



EXPERIMENTS WITH BARLEY. 



Fifty-two varieties of barley were tested this year. The yield of nearly all the 

 varieties was greatly lessened by rust, which attacked the plants very early this year. 

 It was particularly bad in two-rowed sorts, discolouring the straw and shrivelling 

 up the head. 



Mensury, the leading variety for productiveness, has proved itself one of the best 

 for this district. The plant is vigorous, the straw stiff and usually free from rust. 



The Hulless varieties, both black and white, are just now being recommended 

 highly, by interested parties, but these sorts have not proved satisfactory here. The 

 straw is very weak and the yield of grain below many other kinds. 



The two beardless varieties, Excelsior and Success, are also unsuitable for this 

 province. The straw is very brittle, and owing to excessive and late stooling, the crop 

 of grain ripens unevenly, and is light in weight. 



The size of plots used for this test of varieties was one-twentieth acre. The soil 

 was a sandy loam which had been summer-fallowed. All were sown on May 17 and 18, 

 in the proportion of two bushels of seed per acre. 



