EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



OATS — TEST OF VARIETIES — Concluded. 





49 

 50 

 61 

 52 

 63 

 64 

 56 

 56 

 57 

 58 

 59 

 60 

 61 

 62 

 63 

 64 

 65 



Name of Variety. 



Imported Irish. .... 



Oderbruch , 



Cream Ep^ptian. . . , 



Winter Grey 



Early Archangel . . . 

 Golden Tartarian . . 

 California Prolific Black 



Black Beauty 



Newmarket 



Flying Scotchman . 



Coulommiers 



White Monarch... . 

 Mortgage Lifter ... 

 Prolific Black Tartarian 

 Doncaster Prize.. . . 



Poland 



Sootch Hopetonn. . . 



Kind of 

 Head. 



Branching 

 Half -sided 



Branching 



Sided. .... 



II .... 



Branching 



Sided..... 

 Branching 



Yield 



per 

 Acre. 



Bush. lbs. 



34 

 33 

 33 

 31 

 31 

 31 

 30 

 30 

 28 

 28 

 28 

 27 

 27 

 23 

 23 

 21 

 18 



4 



4 



3 

 26 

 26 



8 

 20 



7 

 32 

 23 

 13 

 32 

 17 

 11 



8 

 11 



3 



-^ 00 



^ 



39 



34, 



34 



3(> 



38 



24 



26| 



33 



30:' 



36, 



29; 



29m 



35 



22 



31 



36 



26i 



Proportion 

 Rusted. 



Badly. 



In the foregoing list are included eleven of the new cross-bred sorts which have 

 been produced at the experimental farms. The names and parentage of ten of these 

 were given in the Annual Report of the Experimental Farms for 1896, the 11th named 

 Holland, was produced at the experimental farm at Brandon in 1892. It is a cross 

 between Giant Cluster male and Prize Cluster female and was included in the test plots 

 of varieties for the first time this year. It stands at the head of the list this season 

 having exceeded in yield all the other sorts experimented with. 



Owing to the almost continued wet weather which prevailed at Ottawa for a short 

 time before and during harvest, aU the varieties of oats were much injured by rust, their 

 yield and weight was thus much reduced and some of the sorts which have for several 

 years past given the largest crops have on this account fallen behind and hence occupy 

 places lower down in the list. 



TESTS FOB THE PEEVEWTION OF BMUT IN OATS. 



Further experiments have been made during the past season in th& treatment of 

 seed grain to prevent this troublesome disease. In the Annual Report of the Experi- 

 mental Farms for 1896, page 12, details are given of tests made with three varieties of 

 oats which were soaked in a solution of potassium sulphide for 24 hours, and in every 

 instance where the grain was so treated, although the seed used was very smutty the 

 crop was practically free from smut. During the past season one variety only was used 

 the Doncaster Prize oats and this was the worst afiected with smut of any variety we 

 had. The seed used in this test was from the untreated crop of last year of which about 

 one-fourth of the heads were diseased. Dififerent portions of the seed were soaked for 

 varying periods in a solution of potassium sulphide made by dissolving 1^ pound in 25 

 gallons of cold water while others were treated with the Bordeaux Mixture made by dis- 

 solving 4 pounds of copper sulphate with 4 pounds of lime in 40 gallons imperial 

 measure of water. 



HOW TO MAKE BORDEAUX MIXTURE. 



This may be conveniently made by taking an ordinary coal oil barrel which holds 

 about 40 gallons imperial measure or 50 gallons wine measure. Fill this about two- 

 thirds full of cold water and suspend the 4 pounds of copper sulphate (blue stone) in a 



