11 



that it will improve in hardiness as time advances, and that possibly we 

 may secure a variety which will withstand our winter seasons without 

 much risk of loss through winter killing. 



Oats. 



Oats have been cultivated for such a long time without any definite 

 record in regard to their origin that their native country is still un- 

 known. The wide range of soils on which oats can be grown success- 

 fully, and the comparatively low temperature in which they come to 

 their maturity, have rendered them well adapted for cultivation in many 

 countries. In some countries of the world, the cultivation of oats ex- 

 tends very far north, even to the 65th degree of latitude. In Ontario, 

 the area devoted to oats each year is greater than that used for the 

 cultivation of any other kind of grain. The number of acres used for 

 oats in Ontario was 2,654,936 in 1904, and 2,058,487 acres in the aver- 

 age of the past twenty-three years. The average yield of oats per acre 

 throughout the Province has been gradually increasing in recent years, 

 probably due to the general introduction and cultivation of larger yield- 

 ing varieties, such as the Siberian, American Banner, Ligowa, and 

 Newmarket ; and the adoption of better methods of farming. Accord- 

 ing to the reports of the Ontario Department of Agriculture, the aver- 

 age yield of oats per acre for the last ten years (1895- 1904) is fully eleven 

 per cent., or 3.8 bushels, higher than for the ten years previous (1885- 



1894). 



Varieties of Oats. No less than two hundred and seventy-five 

 different varieties of oats have been grown in our experimental grounds 

 within the past sixteen years. The object in testing such a large num- 

 ber is to ascertain the few very best varieties which are most suitable 

 for the different soils and localities throughout the Province. Eight 

 of these varieties have now been grown under exactly similar condi- 

 tions, without change of seed, for fifteen years in succession. The 

 average results for the fifteen years in weight per measured bushel, 

 yield of straw per acre, and yield of grain per acre are as follows : 



During the last five years in which these eight varieties have been 

 grown side by side, we find the yield of grain per acre to be in the 



