146 



EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Calico, 87.7 per cent; Nebraska White Prize, 87. 1 percent; Sander Improved, 85.7 

 percent; Funk Ninety Day, 85 percent. Heavily manured land yielded from 18 to 

 25 l>u. more per acre than adjacent land which had received no manure. Of 29 

 varieties planted June 16, the following gave the best yields and matured sufficiently 

 to make good corn: Early Mastodon, 54.4 bu.; Pride of the North, 51.95 bu.; Early 

 Cotton King, 50 bu.; Golden Row, 49.2 bu.; Farmers' Reliance, 48.8 bu.; and Reid 

 Yellow I »ent, r>o.s bu. It was found that the numberof barren stalkson the different 

 plats varied from to 40 per cent. 



Experiments were made in the late planting of forage crops to compare the yields 

 and the relative value of the fodder. The crops were sown broadcast June 24 and 

 the best results were obtained with saccharine sorghum, Kafir corn, and corn, the 

 yields being 7.7, 6.12, and 3.93 tons per acre, respectively. Moisture determinations 

 from samples of the fodder taken December 25 showed 39.4 per cent of moisture in 

 the sorghum, 3(5.2 per cent in the Kafir corn, and 27.01 per cent in the corn. Corn 

 and soy beans and corn and cowpeas sown broadcast were more satisfactory as late 

 pasture crops than either the saccharine or the nonsaccharine sorghums. Soy beans 

 and cowpeas were eaten better by stock when grown in combination with corn than 

 when planted alone. 



Corn, corn and cowpeas, Kafir corn, saccharine sorghum, and alfalfa were tested as 

 silage crops, and the data showed that alfalfa can he put into the silo at a less cost 

 than any of the other crops. Saccharine sorghum and Kafir corn gave the largest 

 yields and were handled at a less cost than corn for silage. Corn ranked second in 

 yield of silage and cowpeas third. Experiments in baling alfalfa from the field indi- 

 cated that this should be done when it is well cured and ready to be stacked. Baled 

 in this way the hay is more likely to retain its leaves than when haled from the 

 stack. 



Report on field crops, J. H. Shepperd and E. G. Schollander (A r orlIt Dakota 

 Sta. Rpt. 1903, ])]>. 59-101). — A general description of the work of the agricultural 

 department of the college and station in 1903 is given and the results of different 

 experiments are reported at greater length. 



Plant breeding is carried on in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry of 

 this Department, and during the year over 50,000 plants of wheat, oats, barley, tlax, 

 buckwheat, millet, alfalfa, red clover, corn, potatoes, brome grass, slender wdieat 

 grass, and timothy matured in the plant-breeding nursery. The station distributed 

 35.75 bu. of corn, 68 bu. of wheat, and 300 lbs. of slender wheat grass to 28, 11, and 

 4 growers, respectively. 



Forty-eight varieties of fife, blue stem, and macaroni wheat were grown in 1903. 

 The varieties giving the largest yields in each class were as follows: Selected McKen- 

 dry Minnesota No. 181 fife, 44.5 bu. ; Selected Haynes blue stem, 47.3 bu., and Nica- 

 ragua macaroni, 48.8 bu. per acre. The average yield of the best 6 varieties of fife 

 was 43.17 bu., of blue stem 41.49 bu., and of macaroni wheat 46.65 bu. per acre. The 

 tabulated results show that in general the macaroni wheat gave larger yields than 

 either the fife or the blue-stem varieties. Manyof the leading varieties of fife and 

 blue stem were bred at the North Dakota and Minnesota experiment stations. 



The results of a fertilizer experiment with wheat are shown in the following table: 



Fertilizer experiment with ivheat in 1903. 



