228 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



gave an average yield of 38.6 bii. per acre, or 6.7 bu. more than other varieties 

 on trial. 



Of 18 varieties of oats, Swedish Select, White Bedford, American Banner, and 

 Wisconsin Wonder showed the most desirable characteristics. Sixty-day oats, 

 one of the newer varieties, ranked first this season, with a yield of 66.8 bu. per 

 acre. The Swedish Select oats are well adapted for uplands and seem to do 

 better on poorer grades of land than other varieties tried. Their great root 

 development renders them resistant to droughts. When grown on low rich soils 

 they are likely to lodge and to fail to fill out. 



Two varieties of winter wheat, Minnesota No. .550 and Beleglona, yielded 31.5 

 and 33.6 bu. of grain and 3.05 and 2.27 tons of straw per acre, respectively. 



Through a series of 5 years, early varieties of soy beans gave yields varying 

 from 20 to 40 Ini. of beans per acre. Planted and cut with corn soy beans made 

 an excellent silage, but were unsatisfactory when used alone. The plants were 

 observed to develop nodules on their roots without inoculation when grown con- 

 tinuously upon the same ground for 3 years. With inoculation nodules were de- 

 veloped the first year. On rich land the effect of inoculation was not apparent, 

 but It was very noticeable on the poorer grades of soil. 



Four acres of sandy and clay loam soil were spring-plowed and sown with 

 alfalfa at the rate of 20 lbs. per acre April 27. 1904. Barley sown at the i-ate 

 of 1 bu. per acre was used as a nurse crop. A top dressing of well-rotted manure 

 was applied in the fall of 1904 and in 1905 crops were cut June 12, July 13, and 

 September 1. from which a total yield of 3f tons per acre was secured. In 

 cooperative tests in 1904, 87 of 120 experimenters secured good stands of alfalfa, 

 the common American variety doing as well as the Turkestan. From the results 

 thus far secured it is concluded that under proper conditions alfalfa may be 

 grown in ijractically all counties of the State. 



Cooperative experiments with medium red clover have been in progress with 

 this Department. Twenty-four, including 2 foreign varieties, were under test. 

 Russian U. S. No. 12169 was exceptionally fine and yielded at the rate of 16.32 

 tons per acre of green forage and 3.64 tons per acre of well-cured hay. Four 

 li-acre plats of Russian and American red clover were compared with a 3-acre 

 plat of common medium red clover in 1905. The yields from these different 

 plats varied from 1.7 tons for the common medium red to 2.2 tons for Russian 

 No. 2. 



The corn-breeding work of the station is carried on for establishing earlier 

 maturing qualities in some of the later heavy-yielding varieties of yellow dent 

 corn. In the breeding experiments Wisconsin No. 8, originally the Minnesota 

 No. 13, was used as the male parent, with 8 other varieties for the female par- 

 ent. These varieties were planted in 1904 and the progeny was tested in 1905. 

 The result secui^ed with each selected ear is shown in a table. Striking varia- 

 tions in the manner of growth and bearing qualities of the different ears mani- 

 fested themselves. In a cooperative test of growing Silver King corn, for the 

 purpose of selecting progeny of high-yielding ears for further trial, the I'ows, 

 each representing a single ear. showed a variation in total yield of from 14 to 97 

 bu. per acre of shelled corn and an, average yield of 58^ bu. 



Fertilizer experiments were conducted with barley, sugar beets, oats, soy 

 beans, and clover. Different combinations of commercial fertilizers were used. 

 The beneficial effects were detected on the grain plats as soon as the plants 

 appeared above ground. The clover showed no apparent difference between 

 fertilized and unfertilized plats. 



In treating barley with formaldehyde solutions for the eradication of smut, 

 the general results indicated that solutions stronger than 1 pt. of formaldehyde 

 to 20 gal. of water are likely to injure the germinating power of the grain, 



