BREEDING FARM CROPS IN IOWA 
H. D. HucuHes, Ames, Iowa 
HE Farm Crops Section of the 
Iowa Experiment Station has 
under way breeding projects with 
oats, winter wheat, barley, corn, 
timothy, and red clover. 
1. Oat Breeding. (In cooperation with 
Bureau of Plant Industry, United States 
Department of Agriculture.) 
The present projects in oat breeding 
were begun in 1906. The work consists 
primarily, first, of isolating and test- 
ing pure lines from commercial varieties, 
and second, breeding pure lines from 
crosses. 
Several hundred pure lines have been 
isolated annually from the various com- 
mercial varieties which have given 
greatest promise in our variety test 
plats. These pure lines have been tested 
in head and nursery rows for growth, 
vigor, and productivity. Those which 
appeared most promising have been in- 
creased and tested under field conditions. 
In all, something over 8,000 pure lines 
have been isolated and tested during 
the years 1906 to 1914. One hundred 
and twenty-five pedigreed varieties are 
now included in our variety tests. Two 
of the most promising have been dis- 
tributed to farmers in sufficient lots to 
plant one acre of each, the pedigreed 
oats being compared under field condi- 
tions with the best commercial varieties 
which the farmers have been able to 
secure. In 1913 the pedigreed oat, 
“Towa 103,” outyielded commercial 
varieties approximately five bushels per 
acre. In 1914 the pedigreed varieties, 
S105" and. “°105,"° each outyielded. the 
commercial varieties more than four 
and one-half bushels per acre. 
Prior to 1908, J. D. Norton, of the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, made a large 
number of crosses. The product of 
these crosses was transferred to the 
Iowa Experiment Station in 1909. 
Several thousand selections have been 
made and tested in the nursery. The 
most promising of those that have 
proved to be pure lines have been in- 
creased and are beirig tested in the 
variety test plats and comparisons made 
with commercial varieties and other 
pure lines. 
2. Winter Wheat Breeding. 
This project started from a foundation 
stock of eleven different varieties in 
1906. From these, several hundred pure 
lines have been selected and tested out 
annually in head and nursery rows. 
During the past four years at least 500 
heads have been secured annually from 
fields away from the station. During 
the years 1906 to 1914 approximately 
8,000 pure lines have been tested out 
and either multiplied or discarded. 
Some 150 pedigreed strains are under 
comparison in twentieth-acre plats and 
others are being compared in tenth-acre 
plats. Seed sufficient to plant one acre 
of the two most promising and_ best 
growing varieties, “Iowa Nos. 404 and 
327,” have been distributed to each of 
a number of farmers in various por- 
tions of the State, these to be compared 
with a plat of similar size planted under 
the same conditions, using the best 
commercial seed which they could get. 
In 1913 these pedigreed varieties out- 
yielded the commercial sorts an average 
of one and one-half bushels per acre. 
3. Barley Breeding. 
This project was begun in 1911, the 
object being to produce strains or varie- 
ties of barley suitable for brewing pur- 
poses and which could be successfully 
grown on the drift soils of lowa. After 
comparing various varieties in variety 
test plats for several years, pure lines 
were isolated from the most promising, 
these being tested out in head and 
nursery rows. 
4. Breeding Silver 
Northern Iowa. 
This work was begun in the spring of 
1910 when 300 of the best ears of Silver 
King corn which could be secured were 
planted in ear to row trials. During 
143 
King Corn for 
