528 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



aveiiif^e j^rnin and straw yields during the past 12 years of field peas and each 

 of a number of grains. 



In a test of 35 varieties of oats, potatoes, and the various types of barley 

 and wheat grown continuously on the same farm only one variety showed as 

 high a yield during the first year of the test as during the last, while only G 

 showed as high a yield during either of the first 2 years of the test as during 

 the last. The soil changed little in fertility and no plant selection was exer- 

 cised, but on the whole the average yield per acre during the latter part of 

 the period was greater than during a corresponding period at the beginning 

 of the experiment. 



Winter wheat, barley, and corn grown on both clover and timothy sod showed 

 average yield of 44.7 per cent greater in case of the grain grown on clover sod. 



Oats, barley, spring wheat, and peas were grown for 5 years separately and 

 in 11 different combinations of 2, 3, or 4 grains each. The average results show 

 greater yields from the mixtures in from 90 to 95 per cent of the different 

 tests. The highest yield of threshed grain per acre was obtained from a mix- 

 ture of oats and barley, which excelled the yield of either grain grown sepa- 

 rately by 200 lbs. Five years' tests indicate that greater yields were secured 

 after the sowing of 1 bu. of oats and l^ bu. of barley than when the mixture 

 was supplemented by 5 bu. of flax, emmer, spring wheat, or hulless barley, 

 the yield being actually decreased by the additional mixture of any one of 

 these 4. In a 4-years' test barley and oats sown together produced the greater 

 yield when seeded at the rate of 4 pk. of each per acre than when either was 

 mixed in at a higher or lower rate, and produced a crop composed of 38 per 

 cent of oats and G2 per cent of barley. The yields obtained from this mixture 

 also excelled those obtained by sowing barley with emmei', rye, wheat, peas, 

 or flax. Tables state some results obtained by sowing mixtures of 6 and 

 8 different grains made up in 2 ways, (1) by mixing equal weights of seed 

 of all the varieties sown, and (2) by sowing the same amount of each variety 

 that would be sown if it was being seeded separately. A very gi-eat influence 

 on the yield was exercised by the barley, oats, and rye, a moderate effect by 

 emmer, and a slighter effect by spring wheat, field peas, grass seed, vetches, 

 and flax. No marked advantage was obtained by growing together different 

 varieties of the same class of grains, as the yield obtained from the mixture 

 closely approximated the average of the same varieties when sown sepai-ately. 



In tests of various formalin, potassium sulphid, bluestone, and hot-water 

 treatments for oat and wheat smut the greatest yields of both grains were 

 secured from seed which had been immersed in a formalin solution for 20 

 minutes. Among the bluestone treatments the best results were obtained by 

 immersing the seed for 12 hours in a solution of 1 lb. of bluestone to 25 gal. 

 of water. 



The sowing of smut-infected seed of different ages indicated that the smut 

 spores retained their vitality longer than the grain and that the grain weak- 

 ened by age was more readily attacked by the smut. 



A progress report of selection and hybridization work with oats indicates 

 good results with some varieties and crosses, and the hope that certain new 

 varieties will soon be so constant as to justify confidence in their superior 

 resistance to the varieties now generally grown throughout the Province of 

 Ontario. 



In a test of the stooling properties of 12 varieties of oats, the average number 

 of stools per plant during 2 seasons ranged from 6 in case of Early White Jewel 

 to IS in case of Burt and 20 in case of Joanette. Joanette and Daubeney aver- 

 aged 23.8 and 25.1 per cent, respectively, in hull percentage as compared with 



