16 () ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ments with the Iowa station, particularly Albion and Eichland, the 

 older selections, are grown more extensively each year in Iowa and 

 adjoining Corn Belt States. At the International Hay and Grain 

 Show in Chicago in 1921 three of these varieties — Albion (Iowa 

 No. 103), Richland (Iowa No. 105), and lowar — won 50 per cent of 

 the premiums offered for oats in the region to which they are 

 adapted. On the farms of 50 Iowa cooperators in 1921 the lowar 

 outyielded the home-grown variety by an average of 4.49 bushels. 

 Among 10 cooperators outside of Iowa an average yield of 2.86 

 bushels in favor of this new variety was obtained, though T of these 

 cooperators grew it in comparison with other selected strains. 



logren, the most recent addition to this already notable list, has 

 become a very popular oat in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. 

 Its value in this territory was shown in the unfavorable season of 

 1922. Because of its resistance to the rather severe rust epidemic 

 which prevailed and to the generally unfavorable weather conditions, 

 this oat apparently will make a record yield in 1922, It is a pure- 

 line selection from the Green Russian variety. It was isolated in 

 1911 and has been included in the cooperative varietal experiments 

 at the Iowa station since 1916. In these experiments it has made an 

 average yield of 64.85 bushels per acre, as compared with a yield 

 of 57.2 bushels from the Green Russian parent. A large distribution 

 of seed of the logren oat was made in the spring of 1922, and it is 

 believed that it will prove superior to any of the varieties previously 

 distributed. 



Idamine, a high-yielding pure-line selection from Silvermine, the 

 well-known midseason white oat, which was developed at the Aber- 

 deen (Idaho) substation and first distributed in 1921, has become 

 popular, particularly for irrigated lands. 



CORN. 

 / 



Investigations conducted in cooperation with the Indiana, Wis- 

 consin, Kansas, and Illinois agricultural experiment stations and 

 the Funk Bros. Seed Co., Bloomington, 111., continue to show that 

 the root, stalk, and ear rots of corn are of great importance in many 

 States. In certain of the experimental plats during the past season 

 the reductions in yield of marketable corn due to these diseases were 

 found to be more than 30 per cent. 



Closely related diseases of SAveet corn and of field corn are con- 

 cerned in this complex group of maladies. It has been found that 

 the wheat-scab fungus {frihhereUa sanhinefii) is one of the im- 

 portant parasites concerned, as is also the dry-rot fungus (Diplodia 

 zeae). The fungus Fusai'ium moniliforme also is commonly as- 

 sociated. These disease-producing fungi are seed borne and cause 

 the blighting and dwarfing of seedlings, irregular stands, w^eakened 

 and barren plants, and reduced yields. It has been found also that 

 another group of maladies which manifest themselves by the purpling 

 of stalks and leaves, browning of central fibrovascular bundles in 

 the stalk, and barrenness is caused in part by one or more species of 

 Cephalosporium. Previously, none of these fungi had been shown 

 to be pathogenic on corn. Certain bacteria also are associated with 

 these fungi, and their identity and respective roles are now being in- 

 vestigated. 



