Ixii Department of Plant-Breeding 



be described mo"e fully under " Extension." It is planned to multiply 

 the seed of these varieties and make a general distribution as soon as 

 possible. 



W'henever promising sorts have been obtained they have been planted 

 in isolated beds surrounded by rye or other crops, and grown to produce 

 pure seed. Some of the isolated plats were increased in size during the 

 last year and several new plantings were made of the many different sorts. 

 The new plantings contained both the promising economic strains and 

 those that are kept purely from scientific interest. 



In the fall of 191 2 several hundred seedling timothy plants from some 

 of the very best strains were distributed to a few farmers in different 

 parts of the State. This had nothing to do with the seed distribution, but 

 was merely an attempt to get the farmers to take up the selection of 

 plants suited to their own farms and conditions. 



Corn-breeding experiments 



The corn-breeding experiments that are being conducted by this de- 

 partment have been continued as in preceding years. Selection plats of 

 Pride of the North at Aurora, and Funk's Ninety Day at Ballston Lake, 

 have been under observation for five years. A similar selection of 

 Reid's Yellow Dent was conducted for two years at Ithaca and then 

 transferred for two years to Utica. This variety has, in general, proved 

 so late that in 191 1 it was transferred to southeastern New York, at 

 Bedford Hills, where it will be further selected and thoroughly tested. 



At Bedford Hills an experiment in the selection of Funk's Ninety Day 

 is also being conducted, having been started in 19 10 from seed from the 

 plat at Ballston Lake. In fact, the seed from the ears that were used 

 for planting the Ballston Lake plat in 19 10 was divided, and part of 

 each ear was planted at Bedford Hills and part at Ballston Lake. 



The main object of these experiments is to obtain earlier varieties of 

 corn that will mature seed under New York conditions and will also 

 give a high yield of grain. These different sorts are responding very 

 markedly to the selection for earliness. The effect of selection w'as well 

 demonstrated in the following manner at the Ballston Lake plat in 191 1 : 

 A general lot of select seed was obtained by taking a small quantity of 

 seed from each of the ears selected for planting. This was used to com- 

 pare the gain in earliness by planting it in alternate rows with the original 

 seed with which the selection was started. The original seed used in the 

 test was obtained by mixing kernels from each of the ears planted in 

 starting the selection the first year, 1908. The crop from these alternate 

 rows was harvested and carefully compared with reference to earliness. 

 It was found that in the rows grown from the improved seed yz per 



