328 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURZl. 



will yield Michigan in 1917 an increased income of |50,000 without 

 plowing or harvesting another acre. 



Figure 3 shows a held of Kosen rye, a crop that is producing twice as 

 much grain as the old time common rye. In Jackson and eastern Cal- 

 houn counties there are approximately 500 acres of this grain per town- 

 ship, averaging about thirty bushels per acre with much of it yielding- 

 much above this. There must be at least 15,000 acres of this grain in 

 11)17 producing about 200,000 bushels above what would have been pro- 

 duced by the old time common rye on the same acreage. At |2 per 

 bushel this is a saving of |100,000 for Michigan in 1917. 



The Worthy oats, Ked Kock wheat and Kosen rye are only examples 

 of what this work is doing and is capable of doing. The figures are for 

 1917 valued at market price. 



If only a quarter of this grain be used for seed for 1918, the added in- 

 come would be somewhat as folloAvs ; 



Worthy oats would plant .... 250,000 acres and save |1,500,000 

 Red Rock wheat would plant 16,000 acres and save 100,000 

 Rosen rye would plant 160,000 acres and save 4,000,000 



The policy has been to introduce the best at the time of introduction, 

 and then to introduce a better variety when it can be produced, tested 

 and increased. Thus, the Shepherd's Perfection wheat was introduced 

 about three years ahead of the Red Rock. In several districts which tlie 

 writer has recently visited, the Shepherd's Perfection constitutes fifty 

 to seventy-five per cent of all the wheat being grown for a distance of 

 at least five miles in any direction from the point of introduction. 

 The spread of these new grains is contagious. 



Respectfully submitted, 



F. A. SPRAGG, 



Plant Breeder. 

 East Lansing, Mich., June 30, 1917. 



ROTATION, MANURE AND FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS. 



BY PROP. V. M. SHOESMITH. 



These experiments are located in Field 9 of the College farm which 

 is the second field south of the river on the east side of the farm lane. 

 The soil is a miami sandy loam to a clay loam, with a few clay spots 

 which have a comparative!}^ low organic content. The previous crop- 

 ping of this field was the same as for other fields of the farm, viz., a ro- 

 tation of corn, oats, clover, hay and pasture. A fairly liberal applica- 

 tion of manure, ten to twelve tons per acre, has been made once during 

 the rotation at least on the higher portions of the field, and usually most 

 of the field has been covered. No commercial fertilizer or lime so far as 

 known has ever been applied to this field previous to the inauguration of 

 this experiment. The iield was in a fairly productive condition at the 

 beginning of the experiment. 



A portion of the field was tile drained previous to the beginning of 

 the experiment, which, with the natural drainage was considered to pro- 



