CULTURE OF OATS 299 



seeds, and in each case equal quantity but not equal number 

 of seeds per acre was used. By means of hand selected seeds, 

 and using the same number of seeds per acre, the Ontario Agri- 

 cultural College obtained during seven years sixty-two bushels 

 with large seeds, fifty-four bushels with medium sized seeds, 

 and forty-seven bushels of grain with small seeds.^ In the 

 Northwest Territories selected, well cleaned, and small oats 

 for seed yielded 131, 122, and 121 bushels respectively.^ 



402. Seed Selection. — In the above experiments the influence 

 of weight or specific gravity of seed upon yield rather than the 

 hereditary influence of continuous selection of seed was deter- 

 mined, a fresh source of seed in most instances being used for 

 each year's work. It should be remembered that every spikelet 

 of oats contains two seeds, one very much larger than the other. 

 In the following experiment by Zavitz the influence of continu- 

 ous selection of large, plump, well-developed seeds was com- 

 pared with the like selection of light-weighing and light-colored 

 seeds. At the end of eleven years, the former produced seventy- 

 seven bushels per acre and the latter fifty-eight bushels per acre. 

 An ounce of the former contained 1,208 grains, while an ounce 

 of the latter contained 1,586 grains. The selection of hulled 

 seed continuously showed a tendency to produce oats which 

 ivere easily hulled during threshing.^ 



403. Mixing Varieties. — It has been held that since varieties 

 have different habits of growth, the mixing of two or more 

 varieties might enable them more fully to occupy the soil and 

 thus produce higher yields. During seven years the Ohio 

 Station tested a mixture of four distinct varieties but found 

 no influence upon yield as compared with the varieties not 

 mixed.* 



' Ont Agr. Col. and Expt. Farms Rpt. 1903, p. 118 

 - Can. Expt. Farms Rpt. 1901. 



3 Ont. Agr. Col. and Expt. Fa ms Rpt. 1903, p. 119. 

 * C)hio BuL 138. 



