Department of Plant-Breedixg Ixxi 



seemed necessary to conduct a campaign of education by means of 

 cooperative and demonstrative experiments. A comparatively large 

 number of these are well under way. 



Among the experiments now started are seven corn-breeding plats and 

 as many potato-breeding plats, distributed in Saratoga, Cayuga, Jefferson, 

 Westchester, Wyoming, Dutchess, Erie, and Orange counties. These 

 plats are being conducted under the personal supervision of this Depart- 

 ment. In every instance careful outlines of method have been furnished 

 and these directions have been supplemented by personal visits at im- 

 portant stages of the work. 



Other cooperative work is with wheat and oats. This might be con- 

 sidered partly under the distribution of seed, but at the present stage it 

 may be well to consider it here. In the work of the Experiment Station 

 many new sorts or varieties of wheat and oats are obtained. Some of 

 these are superior to the old sorts, so far as their growth on the college 

 farm is considered. The conditions on this farm, however, are not uni- 

 form throughout the State. Therefore it is advisable to test these new 

 varieties in other localities. Incidentally, in testing these, the seed is in- 

 creased so that a beginning may be made in the distribution of the better 

 strains. The experiments also have their value in illustrating the method 

 of the improvement of cereals. There were, during the past season, ten 

 such plats of oats and five plats of wheat planted for the coming year's 

 crop. In all these instances the Department directs the manner in which 

 the plat shall be handled, and also reserves the right to buy the larger 

 part of the seed produced — leaving the cooperator enough, however, to 

 enable him to get a good start in that variety or those varieties which 

 best suit his conditions. These fifteen experiments in oats and wheat 

 are located in Onondaga, Orange, Chemung, Tompkins, Allegany, Madi- 

 son, Chautauqua, Westchester, Livingston, and Cayuga counties. In 

 addition to the above-mentioned work with wheat, two other special plats 

 are located in Niagara county. In these are being tested, by the head-to- 

 row method, a large number of types of wheat from various sources. 

 The purpose of these experiments is to improve the quality and quantity 

 of wheat grown in the Genesee Valley. The conditions in this region 

 are favorable to the production of the crop, and there is a ready market 

 for wheat of the proper quality at the Shredded Wheat Factory, Niagara 

 Falls. This factory would probably be able to use all the wheat produced 

 in this region, and should not have to bring in grain from other sources. 

 Since the quality of wheat that the company requires — a soft white 

 - — is one easily produced in New York State, it would seem that the 

 New York farmer should be able to compete successfully along that line 

 with all others. The number of these experimental plats should be in- 



