xlviii Department of Experimental I'lant-BreedinG. 



in this State, either for silage or for seed purposes. The advance 

 made last year was very encouraging and the experimental fields 

 are this year in excellent condition, but the final results of the sea- 

 son's work have not been brought together. 



Cereal breeding work. — The cereal breeding work is being con- 

 ducted in co-operation with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, and includes work in the 

 breeding of oats and wheat. 



(a) Oat breeding. — In the spring of 1907, the first field work 

 in oat breeding was started by planting test plats of a nearly com- 

 plete set of various hybrid oats and selections made in Illinois by 

 Professor J. B. Norton, of the Department of Agriculture. These 

 tests have been continued through 1908 and 1909, the writer having 

 been aided in the work by Mr. E. P. Humbert. The comparative 

 yields of the diflferent varieties have been carefully determined each 

 year, and it is now possible to draw some conclusions from the 

 results. While in many cases there seems to be no indication of an 

 inherent tendency in the strains to yield high, in other cases such 

 a tendency seems to be clearly evident. Some of the families have 

 given high yields through the three seasons of trial, and it would 

 seem that these varieties would be promising for cultivation in New 

 York. It is necessary, however, that they be tested more fully in 

 comparison with standard varieties before their true value can be 

 determined. 



Another interesting factor brought out in connection with the 

 experiments is the greater yielding capacity of certain hybrids than 

 any of the selected strains of standard varieties under trial. In 

 1907, the ten highest yielding hybrids averaged 14.3 ounces per row, 

 while the ten highest yielding selections averaged only 12.2 ounces 

 per row. In 1908, the ten highest yielding hybrids gave an average 

 of 16.9 ounces per row and the ten highest yielding selections, 12.5 

 ounces per row. The results for 1909 have not yet been deter- 

 mined, but it would seem evident that certain hybrids give better 

 yields than any of the straight selections of standard varieties under 

 trial. It is also interesting to note that the difiference in yield is 

 very slight when the yields of all hybrids and all selections are 

 taken into consideration rather than simply the extremes or highest 

 yielding strains. In 1907, the tests of all hybrids gave an average 

 of only 9.8 ounces per row, equal to a yield of 49.19 bushels per 

 acre, while an average of all straight selections gave a yield of 10.5 

 ounces per row, equal to a yield of 52.64 bushels per acre. In 1908, 



