734 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



than the average. Rye yields below the average and wheat yields above fol- 

 lowed warm winters. 



An abundance of snow was followed by somewhat lower yields of rye and 

 considerably lower yields of wheat than the average. Every winter with 

 little snow the contrary was the case for both rye and wheat. 



Severe cold :iud lack of snow during the first half of the winter did not 

 cause winterliilling, but the coldest March weather (1905) was followed by 

 the lowest wheat yield. The 8-year average wheat yields on sheltered fields 

 was less than two-thirds as great as the 6-year average on open fields. 



Laying' down land to grass on the Clifton Park system, J. Hunter (Irish 

 Farming World, 24 (1911), Nos. 1242, p. 1265; j). 1243, pp. 1288, 1289; 25 (1912), 

 Nos. 1244, P' 13; 1245, p. 36; 1246, p. 57; 1247, pp. 82, S3).— This is an address 

 given before the agricultural society of the University of Wales. The author 

 presents data which he regards as demonstrating that roots are the cheapest, 

 deepest, and best tillers, drainers, and warmers of the soil, and that the 

 cheapest manure for soil is a turf composed largely of deep rooting plants. 



Experiments on permanent grass land, 1911 (Agr. Students' Gaz., n. ser., 

 15 (1911), islo. 4, PP- 113-117). — In a test of 19 different amounts and mixtures 

 of natural and artificial fertilizers, the greatest hay yield followed an applica- 

 tion of kainit and ammonium sulphate. Notes state the results of a botanical 

 examination of the growth following these applications. 



Establishing a breed of alfalfa for the irrigated lands of Colorado, W. H. 

 Olin (Amer. Breeders Mag., 2 (1911), No. 4, pp. 284-287).— The author out- 

 lines the methods followed in the origination and establishment of a new 

 breed of alfalfa based upon a single plant selected from among several 

 thousand. 



Among the important criteria in the selection of plants for further use were 

 the percentage of leaf to stem, the character of stem and root growth, and 

 the stooling power of the unit plants. The green weight of the leaves from 

 the plants studied varied from 14J to 90 oz. per plant, while the weight of 

 air-dried leaves ranged from 5| to 28 oz., and the percentage of leaf to stem 

 from 23 to 58. A strain designated as No. 19, which was preserved as espe- 

 cially promising, had leaves from f to f in. wide, and from 1 to Ig in. long as 

 compared with a normal width ranging from i to | in. and a length from 

 I to 11 in. 



During this work a difference in vitality of alfalfa plants was observed, to 

 which the author attached importance. In seeking the cause of this difference 

 T. K. Blinn, who subsequently continued the work, observed a similar dif- 

 ference in the plants in alfalfa nurseries throughout the country, and as a 

 result of his observations was enabled to divide all alfalfa plants into 2 

 classes on the basis of root growth. "All plants, seed for which came from warm 

 climates, have a pronounced tap root, with but few if any side or lateral 

 roots; all plants from northern or cooler climates have a dominant tap root 

 but carry pronounced and important side or lateral I'oots. For this reason if 

 any accident occurs to this tap root, cutting or rotting it off, there remains 

 enough strength in the lateral roots to enable the plant to reestablish itself. 

 In case of the southern type the plant dies." 



Growing alfalfa, M. Nelson (Arkansas Sta. Circ. 14, PP- -'/). — Directions 

 for growing and curing alfalfa in Arkansas are given. 



The personal equation in breeding experiments involving certain char- 

 acters of maize, R. Pearl (Biot. Bui. Mar. Biol. Lab. Woods Hole, 21 (1911), 

 No. 6, pp. 339-366, figs. 5).— These pages state the results of classifications of 

 the kernels from 4 ears of corn by 15 competent, and, with one exception, speci- 

 ally trained observers. The observers worked independently and classified the 



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