fii5 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



sylvania Station between seed from threshing machines and that 

 selected by hand.^ At the Tennessee Station, with two varieties, 

 while in general the yield was in favor of the larger seed, it was 

 not uniformly so. The evidence showed that the largest grains 

 usually came from the largest spikes, but the seed from the 

 largest spikes did not always give the largest yield.^ Middleton, 

 at the University College of Wales, obtained nearly double the 

 yield of wheat from large seed than from small seed.^ Lu- 

 banski has experimented in Russia with winter wheat, barley, 

 oats and sugar beets, and finds the yield, and to some extent the 

 quality, influenced in favor of large seed.* Desprez, at Grignon, 

 France, has conducted experiments with several varieties for 

 several years, the general results being in favor of the large 

 seed. Different weights of seed were sown with each variety, 

 but the same weights of large and small seed were sown : thus 

 no t^vo plats received the same number of seeds.^ In 1900, 

 Deherain reports from the same station but slightly better results 

 from large seed.® Cobb reports tests of various sizes of wheat 

 grains and concludes that the superior yield from large, plump 

 grain is sufficient to justify the cost of first-class cleaning 

 machinery.' 



The results of foreign experiments are rather uniformly in 

 favor of large seed : some experiments showing rather striking 

 results. A careful analysis of all American experiments appears 

 to show that where large and small seed are obtained by the 

 use of the ordinary fanning mill the yield has been only slightly 

 if at all increased on account of the seed, while apparently, 

 where greater care is taken in the selection, a moderate increase 



1 Penn, Rpt, 1893, P- ^^2. 



2 Tenn. Bui, Vol. XIV, No. 2 (1901), pp. 42-47. 



3 University College of Wales Rpt. 1S99, PP- 68-70. 



4 Selsk. Khoz. i Lyesov. 200 (1901), Mar., pp. 611-617. (E. S. R. XIV, 432 ) 

 6 Jour. Agr. Prat. 2 (1897), No. 37, pp. 416-420. 



6 Ann. Agron. 26 (1900), No. i, pp. 20-23. (E. S. R. XII, 233.) 

 ' Seed ^\^leat, pp. 1-60: Sidney, 1903. 



