EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 219 



snow increased up to January 29th when it was 36 inches deep. From that time 

 it greatly diminished until March 2d when it was 20 inches in deptli. This was 

 increased up to March 21st when the depth averaged 44 inches. Thereafter the 

 snow steadily melted away, all traces disappearing on the cultivated ground by 

 April 24th. None of the late May frosts had apparent effect on the plants but 

 the cool night of June 8th blackened a great many leaves. The plants, however, 

 soon recovered. The wheat was sown September 24th; it headed out between the 

 13th and 16th of June, 1902, the Russian being slightly ahead of the other varieties. 

 The harvesting was done between July 30th and August 3d, thereafter the weather 

 was extremely wet, making the curing exceedingly difficult. The Russian and 

 Jones varieties sprouted badly; sparrows and squirrels visited the fields doing 

 considerable damage, especially with the Russian. All of these difficulties taken 

 together render it difficult to make any statement concerning the relative yields 

 of these varieties that will be of much consequence. 



In yield the Dawson led the list, giving approximately 41 bushels per acre. 

 The International came next with a yield of 33 23 bushels per acre. The berry 

 of the International was dark straw color, that of the Jones slightly darker, while 

 the berry of the Dawson was still darker with a slightly reddish cast. The straw 

 of the International is taller than that of the Dawson. The greatest difficulty 

 with the Russian variety was the weak straw, the plot lodged very badly. The 

 .Jones' Longberry has a long stiff straw, long heads and large kernels. Throughout 

 the season it was the most promising plot of them all, but for some unaccountable 

 reason it ripened unevenly and much of the grain shelled out before the entire 

 plot was ready to cut. The grain sprouted less than the Russian. The Russian 

 is a red wheat, the other three tested belong to the white class. The Dawson and 

 the International were smooth and the Russian bearded. 



SPRING WHEAT. 



/ 



In 1901 three varieties of spring wheat were tested and in 1902 five varieties. 

 Of those tested in 1901 the Canada Blue Democrat has proven a weak sort. 

 The spikes are tapering and pointed with a rather open head; the straw is 

 medium in quality, the grain dark red in color. The Preston, under normal con- 

 ditions, may prove a valuable variety. The heads are fairly even, though some- 

 what tapering toward the top and are compact. The bristles are less numerous 

 than those of the Canada Blue Democrat seldom exceeding 3 inches in length 

 while the heads are often entirely beardless from the base well up to the center. 

 The quality of the straw is fairly coarse, stiff and erect. The grain is light red, 

 kernels hard. 



Some "Wild Goose" wheat was sown yielding a heavily bearded head, square, 

 often without taper, compact, never separate, erect, with the bristle bunches form- 

 ing a head in appearance much like two-rowed barley. The yield of this variety 

 was from 6 to IOV2 bushels to the acre. 



In 1902 the varieties were Saskatchewan Fife, Velvet Chaff, Minnesota No. 163, 

 Stanley and Nicaragua. 



A disease attacked the Nicaragua wheat; fully 75% of the upper half of the 

 heads were dried up at blossoming time. The heads which ripened were perfect 

 with plump kernels, exceedingly hard with the transparency which is character- 

 istic of the Macaroni wheat. 



The size of the plots was, necessarily, small. The grain was sown May 14th. 

 except the Stanley and Nicaragua which were sown May 29th; the harvesting 

 occurred July 11th to 12th for the last named varieties and July 16th-19th for 

 the Fife, Velvet Chaff and No. 163. The yield of Nicaragua was very small, that 

 of the Fife 12 bushels per acre while the Velvet Chaff yielded slightly over 19 

 bushels per acre. Both the other varieties gave 11 y^ bushels As has been stated the 

 season was favorable for all cereal crops, except corn. High winds caused more 

 or less lodging but owing to the comparatively dry weather, rust did but little 

 damage. There was some smut present. The actual yield would have been higher 

 were it not that the wheat had to be threshed by hand and the bundles had to be 

 handled over several times, owing to the lack of storage room, shelling out quite 

 a per cent of the yield. The seed should have been sown earlier. 



BYE. 



In 1901, eight square rods of spiing rye were sown April 27th which yielde-d 

 at the rate of 28.75 bushels per acre. 



