Department of Plant-Breeding. 49 



First, a limited number of selections made with brome-grass, to de- 

 termine what variations occur in this forage plant, and also to determine 

 what advance can be made by the selection of improved strains. 



Second, cultivations made of different varieties of alfalfa in order to 

 test their comparative adaptability and value as foundation stocks, with 

 a view ultimately of taking up careful breeding investigations with those 

 which are found to be best suited to New York conditions. 



Third, believing that the State needed a greater variety of legumes, 

 this department has taken up the problem of developing some early 

 strains of cowpeas which may be suitable for growth under New York 

 conditions. The greatest difficulty with this legume at the present time 

 is that most of the varieties mature too late, in most localities of the 

 State, to make them profitable. By selecting seed from the earliest 

 plants we have obtained some strains which mature earlier than the 

 common varieties, and it is hoped that after more selection these will 

 be ready to test in comparison with the standard varieties. Should they 

 prove of value it is hoped to increase them in such a way that the seed 

 may be distributed over the State. 



Adams Act Research. 



The work conducted under the Adams Act is required by the text of 

 the law to be limited to investigations of a fundamental scientific nature. 

 The aim, therefore, in all of the investigations outlined under this head- 

 ing is to extend our knowledge of the fundamental laws of breeding 

 rather than to produce improved varieties. 



Studies on variation. — One of the problems of greatest importance to 

 plant-breeding at the present time is to determine the factors influencing 

 or causing variations, and the extent to which it is possible artificially 

 to produce or induce variations of value in breeding. Much of the 

 investigation thus far conducted by this department has been on this 

 problem, and the experiments may be grouped under the following heads : 



1. Experiments to test the so-called Knight's Law that high feeding 

 increases the range of variation. An extended series of experiments has 

 been conducted on this subject in the last two years by Dr. H. H. Love, 

 and the results are now in press. In general, the conclusion reached is 

 that high feeding does increase the range of variation, but the true value 

 of such variations in breeding yet remains to be fully determined. 



2. Test of unbalanced fertilizers on variations. 



3. Tests of various chemicals, not considered as foods, on variations 

 when fed to the plant as solutions applied to the soil. 



4. Effect of marked changes of soil. 



