FIKLl) CROPS. 



241 



bullt'tiii (liscusK's the iin{x>rtanc'e and value of oats as jjrain and fodder and reports 

 the results of analyses of oats grown in different parts of the State. Samples collected 

 from 11 diffen-nt ri'gions. representing nearly all the oat growing sections of the 

 State, were analyzed and the results are given in the following table: 



Composition of the grain of oats grown in different parts of Maine. 



The results show that there is not so great a difference in the composition of light 

 and heavy oats as is usually supposed, and the author concludes that the food value 

 is about the same. Previously reported analyses of oat hay cut at different stages of 

 growth, of different parts of the oat plant, of oat and pea and oat and vetch hays, 

 and oats and oat products, and digestion coefficients of these substances obtained in 

 experiments with sheep are tabulated (E. S. R., 11, pp. 964, 965, and 971). 



Old and new varieties of oats and the composition of the straw and the 

 grain, A. P. Aitkex ( Trans. Highland a)id Agr. Soc. Scoflatid, 5. ser., 13 [1901), pp. 

 276-295). — This paper discusses the strength, quality and quantity of the straw, the 

 weight, color and quality of the grain, and the tillering power of Waverly, Tartar 

 King, Potato, Pioneer, Abundance, Goldtinder and American Beauty oats. The 

 advantage of changing seed is shown by tabulated results of experiments in this line. 

 The straw and grain of the different varieties were analyzed and the results are 

 shown in tables and discussed at some length. The report on the test of varieties 

 ujion which this article is based has been previously noted. (E. S. R., 13, p. 131.) 



Variety tests with oats, H. Biedenkopf {Sachs. Landw. Ztschr., 49 {1901), 

 No. 4, pp. 65-70). 



Ramie congress in Paris, A. Schulte {Beihrfte Tropenpflanzer, 5 {1901), No. 2, 

 pp. .53-58). — An article discussing the ramie decorticating machines tested in connec- 

 tion with the congress held at the Paris Exposition of 1900. 



Correlative variation in rye, C. Debruyker { Ilandelingcn van het derde Vlaamsch 

 Natuur—en Geneeskundig Congress. Antwerp, 1899, pp. 76-88).— Jn a previous jiaper 

 the author has shown that correlation exists between the length of the culm and 

 the head, and the upper internode and the head of the rye plant. The deviation 

 from the average length was greater in the head than in the first internode. This 

 l)aper is the second contribution on the subject, and the purpose of the experimett 

 here described was to determine whether desc-endants of plants showing such corre- 

 lation would also show similar correlation. In one bed (No. 3) seeds were planted 

 from plants of which both the spikes and the ujiper internodes were as near the 

 average as possible. In l)eds 1 and 2 the seeds were taken from plants having the 

 shortest heads, those in No. 1 being from plants with the shortest internodes and 

 tliose in No. 2 from plants with the longest internodes. In beds 4 and 5, seeds from 



