310 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



increased diiring tJie summer of 1921, and will be available to pedigreed 



growers in 1922. 



THE 1917-1920 VARIETAL SERIES. 



In 1916, increased effort was made to obtain the better varieties of 

 beans being grown in the bean sections of Michigan. Plant selections 

 were made from several farmers' fieldis that fall, and other lots were 

 obtained during the following winter from members of the Michigan 

 Crop Improvement Association, seedsmen and others. 



Thus in 1917, a new series of varieties was planted in a newly planned 

 five year rotation, the rotation being a spring grain, clover (clover plowed 

 under during the second season for wheat), wheat (clover is seeded in 

 wheat and plowed under early in May of next season), beans, and €oru. 

 The plantings of any one jear will include all of these crops. 



The varieties of beans were drilled in rows 420 feet long, two rows 

 being devoted to variety. Inside the edges, Robust No. 40511 was used 

 to plant dhecks (each fourth plat) of the varietal series. The object was 

 to determine the yielding power of the No. 40511 strain on each and 

 every plat of the series, and to calculate the yield of each variety as a 

 percent of the yielding power of Robust No, 40511, 



TABLE III-BEAN VARIETAL SERIES 1917-1920— PERCENTAGE YIELD OF ROBUST NO. 40511. 



Table III shows the yields of the 1917-1920 varietal series expressed 

 as percents of No, 40511, An average is taken of the results on each 

 variety', obtained in the different years. The next column shows these 

 rasults based on the average yield of the No. 40511 strain during these 

 years. These results are low because of a poor crop in 1918, in spite of 

 the fact that the No. 40511 strain yielded 31.48 bushels per acre in 1920. 



Another column shows the average number of days that these beans 

 require, between planting and harvest. The varieties fall into two classes, 

 viz., late and early varieties. There are three varieties that are as late 

 as Robust, but yield much less, and therefore are not woiith considering. 



