32 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



to be most desirable with respect to productivity and smoothness included 

 Netted Gem, American Wonder, Earliest of All, and Colorado Pearl. 



Based on relative values, Little Club, Marquis, and Sonora proved to be the 

 leading wheat varieties grown on the experiment farm in 1917, while for the 

 three years 1915 to 1917, inclusive, Little Club, Rieti. and Dicklow were highest, 

 based on corrected yields eliminating irregularities in the experimental field. 



Various treatments for the improvement of alkali land, including applications 

 of gypsum, manure, and sulphuric acid and tile drainage, begun in 1914 have 

 resulted in average yields of alfalfa for all treated plats of 3.292 lbs. per acre 

 and for all untreated plats of 2,292 lbs. It is stated, however, that the increased 

 yields have not yet reached the point of profitable production. 



Report of agronomy department, M. A. Beeson (Oklahoma Sta. Rpt. 1917, 

 pp. 9-19, fig. 1). — This notes the progress of work with field crops for the year 

 ended June 30, 1917, including data as to variety tests with wheat, oats, cow- 

 peas, grain and forage sorghums, and barley; continuous culture tests with 

 wheat; plant breeding work with Sudan grass: fertility experiments with 

 alfalfa; depth of plowing tests { cultural experiments with Kafir corn, alfalfa, 

 and Sudan grass ; a pasture experiment with sweet clover, Sudan grass, and 

 Bermuda grass ; and tests with delinted cotton seed. 



Root crop culture in South Dakota, M. Chami-i.in and G. YVinkight (South 

 Dakota Sta. Bui. 180 (1918), pp. 82J,-85S, figs. 21).— Cultural methods and field 

 practices deemed best for growing root crops in South Dakota are described. 

 Sugar beets, mangels, carrots, rutabagas, and turnips are considered. Mangels 

 are said to produce the highest tonnage per acre, while sugar beets produce the 

 greatest feed value per acre. Rather limited variety tests with the different 

 crops, conducted at Brookings, Eureka. Cottonwood, and Higlunore, are noted. 

 Diseases affecting suu'ar beets are indicated. Brief notes by J. H. Shepard on 

 sugar beets and other roots as stock feed are included. 



Grasses of the West Indies, A. S. Hitchcock and Agnks Chase (U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., Contrib. Nat. Herbarium, 18 (1911), pt. 7. pp. Wlll+261-471).— This 

 publication, previously noted (B. S. R.. 39, p. 44(M as dealing with the grasses 

 of Bermuda, the Bahamas, Trinidad, and Tobago, covers all of the West Indies. 



Victorian grasses, J. W. Arr>\s (Jour. I>> tpt. A<»: Victoria, 15 (1917). Xo. 12. 

 pp. 711-723. J'kjs. A). — The distribution throughout Australia of grasses in- 

 digenous to Victoria is indicated by States in tabular form showing the genera 

 with their relative strength in species. A further grouping of indigenous species 

 indicates those grasses deemed undesirable and those suitable for pasture, moist 

 soil, dry soil, and coast sand binders. Exotic grasses and forage plants other 

 than grasses found in Victoria are briefly mentioned. 



Variations in the development of secondary rootlets in cereals, E. H. Wal- 

 WOBTH and L. H. Smith (Jour. Amcr. 8oc Agron.. 10 (191S\. Xo. 1. pp. 82- 

 85). — This paper, a contribution from the plant breeding division of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, reports the results of experiments with certain miscellaneous 

 varieties of wheat, oats, and barley and with selected strains of wheat and 

 eats with respect to variations in the number of secondary rootlets. The term 

 "secondary rootlets" is here applied to temporary roots of the seedling other 

 than the radicle. Representative samples consisting of 100 or more kernels 

 from each lot were sown in pure quartz sand in the greenhouse, and the counts 

 made when the plumules had attained a length of from 1 to 2 in. The results 

 are tabulated. 



The number of secondary rootlets in the 21 oat varieties examined ranged 

 from to 5, in the 11 wheat varieties from 1 to 5, and in the 4 barley varieties 

 from 1 to 7. In the selected strains of both wheal and oats the number varied 

 from 1 to 4. The authors maintain that their observations in general confirm 



