Department of Plant-Breeding Ixiii 



cent of the ears were fully ripe when husked, while in rows grown from 

 the original seed only 13 per cent of the ears were graded as ripe and, in 

 fact, these few were not so ripe as the ripe ears of the improved strain. 

 This degree in ripeness, so far as could be judged by observation, repre- 

 sents a gain of at least two weeks in earliness or time of maturing. Dur- 

 ing the selection careful attention has also been given to productivity and 

 the early strain remains fully as productive as the original variety. 



Fully as striking results in the decrease of the season recjuired to 

 reach maturity have been obtained with the Reid's Yellow Dent, but this 

 variety as yet remains rather late for New York conditions. 



In connection with this corn-breeding work it is thought well to deter- 

 mine whether these new strains of dent corn that will mature seed would 

 be of as great value for silage purposes as strains that are later and do 

 not mature seed under New York conditions. With this in mind an 

 experiment was started in 191 1 to compare the silage value of these 

 selected sorts with some of the common silage corn. This experiment 

 is to be continued in two places during 19 12. It is thought that such a 

 study, for two or three years, will show whether it is possible to obtain 

 an all-purpose variety — in other words, a variety that will be desirable 

 for both silage and grain. 



While these breeding experiments have been under way, many notes 

 have been taken on the parent ears to learn, if possible, whether there 

 are any visible seed-ear characters that may indicate high yield or earli- 

 ness. These experiments have not been completed as yet. Some of the 

 new sorts have reached a stage where it seems that the Department is 

 justified in distributing seed in certain parts of the State, and such a 

 distribution has been planned for 1913. 



Cereal-breeding experiments 



The cereal-breeding experiments are being conducted in cooperation 

 with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, and include at present the breeding of oats and wheat. 



Oat-breeding experiments. — The testing of the hybrids and selections 

 made by Professor J. B. Norton, of the Department of Agriculture, has 

 been continued during the past year. The test has now run through six 

 seasons, having been begun in 1907 and continued to date. The yields 

 of grain from the different varieties have been carefully determined 

 each year and it is now possible to draw some conclusions from the 

 results. 



For the seasons of 191 1 and 1912 the yield of straw has also been 

 obtained, since it seems desirable to have strains that yield large amounts 

 of both grain and straw. 



