BREEDING DROUGHT-RESISTANT MILLETS. 27 



above the average in total weight of plant, except No. 1 and No. 4. 

 Selections 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, and 15 (not separately shown in the table) 

 yielded below the average of both mother plants and progeny. 



DATES OF RIPENING. 



The average dates of ripening and the average number of days from 

 date of planting to maturity for the selected varieties for the two 

 years were about as follows: 



Table VII. — Date of ripening and length of growing period of several selected varieties 



of millet at Bellefourche, S. Dak. 



It will be seen that the Common and Kursk varieties are earher by 

 ten days or more than the Hungarian and Siberian. Earliness in 

 ripening is an important factor in all dry-land crops, especially millet, 

 which is often used as a catch crop to replace a previously destroyed 

 crop. 



UNIFORMITY IN THE PROGENY ROWS. 



It was noted in the breeding plats that the progeny rows from the 

 different selections of Kursk resembled one another much more closely 

 than the progeny rows from any other variety. This may be accounted 

 for by the fact that the bulk seed from which these Kursk selections 

 were made was itself the product of two selections made at Highmore 

 only three or four generations back. There seems also to be great 

 uniformity among the plants in each progeny row. 



The selected plants have been remarkably true to seed from the 

 beginning, indicating that millet is probably a self-pollinated plant. 

 This belief is based on the general uniformity of the plants in the 

 progeny rows as observed by the writer in all his breeding work \vith 

 this crop. 



MILLET BREEDING AT THE AKRON DRY-LAND STATION. 



Seed of several selections of millet made at the Bellefourche Experi- 

 ment P'arm in 190S was used for beginning the breeding work at the 

 Akron Dry-Land Station in 1909. These selections were the same as 

 those planted at Bellefourche, sufficient seed being borne by each 

 plant for use at l)oth stations. 



196 



