No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 387 



liable, for example; it yielded 32.1 bushels to the acre, while se- 

 lections which have been developed at the college have run 37 

 and 38 bushels to the acre. Notice Golden Sheaf; the normal yield 

 of the variety as we started it was 37 bushels to the acre; our 

 selections run 44 and 45; and down here with the Pulcaster the 

 difference is even greater; the normal variety ran 30 bushels to 

 the acre and our selections ran 35 and 40. We think that work is 

 going to be valuable to the wheat growers of Pennsylvania and 

 will soon be in shape to put the results before the people in a form 

 that will be worth while. Now you will note that each of these 

 ears of corn are numbered. Will someone from the audience tell 

 me which is the best ear? Can you see the numbers. 



(Some of the audience selected No. 82 and others No. 80.) 



PKOF. WATTS: Now the point I want to bring out is that 

 these ears of corn represent an ear to the row test; the figures 

 below are not the numbers but represent the yields which have been 

 produced by these different ears on the average basis. How about 

 this ear? Does that look good? You don't like the looks of that, 

 do you? That ear produced 81 bushels to the acre yet you would 

 not think of selecting that for the corn show. Whoever picked No. 

 82 made a good selection, because it produced 82 bushels of corn 

 to the acre, yet it is not a very good ear for the corn show. Over 

 here is an ear that does not look so bad, in fact it is a much 

 better looking ear than some of the others, and yet that produced 

 only 55 bushels of corn to the acre. The lesson is this, that you 

 cannot tell from the looks of an ear of corn what it is going to 

 do when it is planted; the only way to find out is to make an ear 

 to the row test. Corn is just like people, you cannot always tell 

 by the looks of a person what there is in them, and so it is with 

 corn. 



THE RELATION OF BIRDS TO AGRICULTURE 



By DR. WELLS W. COOKE, t7. 8. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 



D. C. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: The question of the re- 

 lation of birds to agriculture is something which has taken up 

 a good deal of attention in the last few years and has at last, after 

 many years of agitation, finally been taken up by the United States 

 Government; and it was in connection with my work under the 

 Federal Migratory Game Bird Bill, the bill for protecting migratory 

 game birds and migratory insectivorous birds, that the material was 

 obtained which I want to talk to you about this morning. 



Now we will start right out with the slides. I wish I could say 

 that all birds were beneficial. If I could, why that of course would 



22—6—1915 



