ANNUAL REPORT, 1944-45 13 



In early September 1944, two acres were seeded with field brome grass by a 

 poultryman in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Results thus far in 1945 have been 

 most promising. By spring this grass had made a dense matted growth which 

 has since stood up well under heavy ranging conditions. A cover has been main- 

 tained even around range shelters and feeding stations. The herbage appears to 

 be reasonably palatable. 



The present season has been abnormally wet and this may account for some of 

 the favorable results thus far. If this grass performs satisfactorily in a year with 

 normal rainfall, poultrymen will have available another valuable grass for use 

 on some of their ranges. 



Field brome grass {Bromus arvensis) is a winter annual which must not be 

 confused with smooth brome grass {Bromus inermis) which is a true perennial. 

 Field brome grass has been used to a limited extent in Europe as a forage grass, 

 but, as yet, its use in this country has been confined only to experimental trials. 

 Seed was first secured by the Agronomy department in 1937 from a commercial 

 seedsman in Germany and in 1938 from the Royal Danish Agricultural Society. 

 Seed for these field trials on poultry ranges has been supplied by the Nursery 

 Division of the U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service. Seed is not yet available 

 commercially. 



Breeding Work with Orchard Grass. (W. G. Colby.) Notwithstanding such 

 desirable characteristics as tolerance to heat and drought, wide range of soil 

 adaptability, good yielding ability, and resistance to lodging, orchard grass has 

 never been popular for either hay or pasture. One reason has been its habit of 

 early maturity. When used in hay mixtures, orchard grass matures from one to 

 two weeks before any of the other common grasses or legumes in the mixture. 

 If it is cut after maturity, it makes coarse, poor-quality hay. Its early maturity 

 also makes it a poor pasture grass. Unless it is grazed promptly in the spring, 

 it will form seed heads and become quite unpalatable. 



Strains have been developed which mature from a week to ten days later 

 than commercial strains and several have done well in the seeding mixture 

 trials. However, most of these late maturing strains, including S 26, S 37, and 

 S 143, are very susceptible to winter injury in the seedling stage and frequently 

 suffer serious winter injury in established stands during severe winters. 



One strain — Finnish late hay — has been found which is as hardy as commercial 

 orchard grass, even in the seedling stage, yet matures from a week to ten daj^s 

 later. Seed of this strain was obtained in 1938 from a commercial seedsman in 

 Finland. It has shown up well in both hay and pasture mixtures. It com- 

 bines well with alfalfa and does reasonably well with ladino clover; at least it is 

 much superior to all early-maturing hay strains of orchard grass. For the 

 past two years seed has been increased so that small quantities are available for 

 trial. 



In order to further improve the performance of Finnish late hay orchard grass, 

 a space-planted nursery was set out in 1944 using this seed. Late-maturing, 

 winter-hardy plants, with desirable morphological characteristics were selected 

 in 1945. These have been selfed and their progeny will be tested in 1946. It 

 is expected to develop a new strain following the "strain building" procedure. 



Trials with New Oat Varieties. (W. G. Colbj.) For several years yield trials 

 with new disease-resistant oat varieties have been carried on in cooperation 

 with the U.S.D.A. Division of Cereal Crops. The following varieties have 

 given good grain yields and have shown high resistance to leaf rust: Vicland, 

 Tama, and Clinton. While oats are relatively unimportant as a grain crop in 

 Massachusetts, they are grown quite widely for forage. Varieties resistant to 

 leaf rust are, therefore, more valuable for Massachusetts conditions. 



