CEREAL IMPROVEMENT INTRODUCTIONS 173 



Agriculture from C. I. Mrozinski of Proskurov, in Podolia 

 Government, Russia. Podolia lies just west of Kherson 

 and the conditions of soil and climate are very similar, 

 though it is not quite so dry as in Kherson. It also 

 happens that the Sixty-Day oat closely resembles the 

 Kherson oat, in fact appears practically identical with 

 it, although under the same conditions there is sometimes 

 considerable variation in yield. Though both are adapted 

 to middle latitudes, it appears that the adaptation of 

 Kherson tends slightly more to the west and north, and 

 Sixty-Day more to the east and south. It was soon evi- 

 dent that the Kherson and Sixty-Day oats filled a " long- 

 felt want " in the central and middle eastern oat districts 

 of the United States, and the oat industry has been greatly 

 stimulated by their introduction. They are very early, 

 yield heavily, and do not lodge. The name Sixty-Day, 

 however, is misleading, the time to maturity being from 

 90 to 100 days. 



There is some discrimination against these oat varieties, 

 because of the yellow color and small size of the kernel, 

 which has sometimes resulted in a price difference, in 

 favor of white oats, of 1 or 2 cents a bushel. There is a 

 great variation in color in different localities. To the 

 north and west the color becomes whiter. Because of 

 the thin hull, there is a greater proportion of caryopsis 

 to hull than the appearance indicates, and the feeding 

 value of these oats is higher than that of most other 

 varieties (Warburton, 1910, pp. 9-12). 



167. Other oat introductions. The North Finnish 

 Black oat was obtained by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, through Barbour Lathrop and D. G. 

 Fairchild, in 1900, also in April, 1901, from Tornea, Fin- 

 land, where it is a standard variety. The kernels of this 



