EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



623 



varieties, would in many instances rapidly become mixed with inferior strains 

 were it not for the careful field, and threshed grain inspection system, which 

 the association maintains. The rapid spread of Rosen rye, Red Rock wheat, 

 Robust beans and other varieties, has been made possible largely through 

 the Michigan Crop Improvement Association. 



Close co-operation exists between the Crop Improvement Association 

 and the Farm Crops Department of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. Improved strains, developed at the Experiment Station, are made 

 available to members of the association for rapid increase under field con- 

 ditions. The secretary of the association keeps a careful record of the origin 

 and transfer of strains of improved crops. The association maintains a 

 system of field and threshed grain inspection for members who are interested 

 in commercial production of high quality grain for seed. Seed which passes 

 the certification rules of the Board of Directors of the Association must be 

 of very high standard and successfully passed upon in the field by inspectors, 

 working under the direction of the Farm Crops Department, and must again 

 pass careful inspection after threshing. The cost of certification is borne 

 by the Crop Improvement Association. 



Arrangements have lately been made which insure the co-operation of the 

 newly created Michigan State Farm Bureau Seed Department in the dis- 

 tribution of seed guaranteed by the Crop Improvement Association. 



IMPROVEMENT BY HEAD SELECTION IN THE FIELD. 



Several of the most careful Rosen rye growers have been following the 

 practice of selecting enough of the best heads in the field to plant a seed plat 

 of one-half an acre or more in size. This seed plat is carefully isolated and, 

 after further head selections for another year's planting are made, it is har- 



Figure No. 6. A Jackson County Farmer's Increase Plat of "Head Selected" Rosen Rye. 



vested separately and the seed used to plant a general field the following 

 year. In 1921 three growers in lower Michigan have approximately 40 

 acres of such head selection stock for distribution. It is markedly superior 

 to ordinary certified rye. 



