BUKEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. ^ 169 



tical with the so-called " wild wheat " of Palestine, which, however, 

 is not a true wheat but a primitive type of emmer. Breeding for 

 adapted varieties suitable for use in different sections of the country 

 has continued as usual. Among recent results are selections isolated 

 in cooperative experiments in Georgia and now advanced to the point 

 of being distributed for commercial growing in that State. Similar 

 work previously reported in New York is being continued there. 

 New hybrids are made annually to obtain certain desired results, and 

 selection of their progeny continues. 



OATS. 



Oat hreeding. — Oat-breeding experiments have been continued in 

 cooperation with the New York, Iowa, and Idaho Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Stations, respectively ; also with winter oats at the Arling- 

 ton Experimental Farm. The chief problem is the production of 

 higher yielding strains than the varieties now grown commercially. 

 This is accomplished through the intensive study of numerous pure- 

 line selections from commercial varieties and through hybrids made 

 to combine the good qualities of different parents. This investiga- 

 tion ah-eadv has resulted in the production of valuable pure lines 

 from the "\Velcome and other varieties in New York, from the Kher- 

 son and Sixty-Day varieties in Iowa, and from the Silvermine va- 

 riety in Idaho. Already the acreage of these well-bred selections 

 runs into the thousands in some States and into millions of acres in 

 others. There is an urgent need for the extension of this line of 

 breeding ; also for a vigorous attack on the problem of breeding oats 

 for resistance to both stem rust and crown rust. 



In New York the value of selections from Welcome and other com- 

 mercial varieties has been demonstrated, and the best of these have 

 been distributed through cooperators. The demand for seed of these 

 improved strains has been much greater than the supply, and every 

 effort was made in 1920 to increase the supply and make it available. 

 In Iowa and adjoining States, Iowa No. 103 (Albion), an early white 

 selection from the Kherson, continued to be the most popular oat. 

 The lowar, another white selection from Kherson, which is slightly 

 later and taller than Iowa No. ,103 and averages 3 bushels more to 

 the acre since it was placed in the field trials, was distributed to 

 farmers for the first time in 1919. Present indications are that it 

 will become as popular as the earlier selection (No. 103). At Aber- 

 deen, Idalio, lack of land has made it impossible to grow new selec- 

 tions in sufficient quantity for distribution, but this lack has now been 

 remedied, and a pure-line selection of Silvermine will be available 

 in limited quantities next spring. 



A very complete collection of American oat varieties was obtained 

 from dealers and experiment stations in the fall of 1919 and the spring 

 of 1920, with the intention of reviving and completing the classifica- 

 tion of varieties, which had been held in abeyance during the war 

 period. The study of fall-sown varieties could not be completed, be- 

 cause of the almost complete winterkilling of all oats sown on the 

 Arlington Farm, but good progress is being made on the classifica- 

 tion of spring varieties in the extensive nurseries at Ames, Iowa, and 

 Aberdeen, Idaho. 



24435— AGB 1920 12 



