88 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



Nigger, Sandomir, Genesee Giant, Reliable Minnesota, also seven 

 varieties from Japan and five cross bred wheats from Australia, the 

 latter were the most promising of the ten cross bred wheats from the 

 same source grown at the College the preceding year. We have to report 

 that all of the Japanese wheat winter-killed as did also the Missoyen 

 and Volo. The cross bred wheats were badly injured by the same cause 

 und, as in the preceding year, ripened late and produced only shrunken 

 grains. 



The varieties grown in the field were sown between September 18 and 

 22, on an oat stubble without fertilizer of any kind. The yield per acre 

 was as follows: 



Bushels. 



White Clauson 24.7 



Dawson's Golden Chaff 23.0 



Sterling (Egyptian) 22.8 



Buda Pesth 22.0 



Diehl-Mediterranean 21.7 



Russian 20.0 



Pride of Genesee 17.5 



Currill 17.0 



Red Altkirehe 17.0 



Red Lorraine 14.3 



The Currill was not grown in the same field with the other wheats 

 which were sown side by side in Field 8 in plots ninety-two rods long 

 and wide enough to contain at least an acre. The soil was reasont^bly 

 uniform only and the results given above are fairly comparable. Obser- 

 vations on many of these varieties were published in Bulletin 141, issued 

 in February, 1897. The White Clauson still maintains itself as one of 

 the best varieties for conditions similar to those existing on the .College 

 farm. Dawson's Golden Chaff stands well along side it in yield. It was 

 iitii from smut, a fact due undoubtedly to the treatment which the seed 

 received before sowing. The Buda Pesth is objected to by many farmers 

 because of its awns. It is productive and is reported to be of good mill- 

 ing variety. The Russian has a very fine straw and a small head, is much 

 earlier than the other varieties and seems well adapted to the northern 

 counties of the southern peninsula. The Red Altkirehe and Red Lor- 

 raine are not yet acclimated and their qualities must remain for future 

 experiments. 



Millet — Two new varieties of Panicum miliaceum are offered to the 

 public for the first time this year, by a western seed firm. One of these, 

 the Siberian millet, was reported upon by us last year; the other, called 

 Early Fortune, is a medium early, medium growing, red seeded variety 

 obtained also from Siberia. By the same firm two lots of seed from 

 Armenia have been grown, the variety seeming a little more vigorous, but 

 otherwise similar to the yellow seeded variety of this country. The selec- 

 tion, of Hungarian grass has been continued on the line adopted four 

 years ago and a stock is now secured, which, when properly matured, is 

 practically free from light colored seed. 



Corn — The results of the experiments performed with corn confirm 

 the work of the preceding year reported on page 108, of the Report of 

 the Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1896, in a general way though 

 modifying in some important details the conclusions there reached. The 

 plot sowed with a grain drill, two bushels of seed per acre, did not in 



