ANNUAL REPORT, 1947-48 15 



guy-wires generally used in connection with the fencing for protection against 

 snow drifting are not necessary when the fencing is used for wind erosion control. 

 Old iron pipes or wooden stakes 4J^ to 5 feet long, driven 18 inches into the ground 

 and spaced a rod apart, will hold the 4-foot-high lath fencing throughout the entire 

 season. If the fencing is placed on the windward edge of the "blowout" at right 

 angles to the prevailing winds and the crop rows are placed parallel to the fenc- 

 ing, very little loss of tillable area or inconvenience in operation of farm machinery 

 will be experienced. One fence row is usually sufficient to control "blowouts" 

 of the size commonly found in this section. 



Breeding Work with Orchard Grass. (W. G. Colby.) This project was de- 

 scribed in the Annual Report for 1945 (Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta, Bui. 428, p. 13). 

 The orchard grass strain, Finnish Late Hay, has continued to give good results 

 when grown with alfalfa or Ladino clover. The strain has received some criti- 

 cism for lack of vigor. However, for growing with Ladino clover, less vigorous 

 strains are desirable because they do not crowd out the clover two or three years 

 after seeding; for use with alfalfa the competitive factor is not so important. 



Breeding work has been progressing in an effort to select vigorous late-maturing 

 plants, and several such plants have been isolated during the past year. Whereas 

 commercial orchard grass reached the bloom stage by June 12, several of these 

 late-maturing selections did not reach bloom stage until June 28. Most of the 

 late-maturing orchard grass strains are susceptible to winter injury, especially in 

 the seedling stage. Finnish Late Hay is as hardy as most commercial strains. 

 Attempts to test the winter hardiness of these late-maturing selections failed 

 last year because of the heavy ground cover of snow throughout most of the 

 winter. 



Red Clover Variety Trials. (W. G. Colby.) Seed for the varieties included in 

 these trials was supplied by the U. S. D. A. Bureau of Plant Industry. Following 

 are the varieties tested in 1947: Midland, Dollard, Ottawa, Wisconsin Mildew 

 Resistant, Cumberland, Southern Selection, Kentucky Selection, and New Hamp- 

 shire Perennial. The three southern anthracnose-resistant strains, Cumberland, 

 Southern Selection, and Kentucky Selection, have proved to be winter hardy 

 and have given just as good if not better performance than the best northern 

 strains. Kentucky Selection and Southern Selection in particular were outstand- 

 ing. Plots seeded in the spring of 1946 still had a 20 percent stand by the spring 

 of 1948. Comparable plots of Midland clover, a recommended northern strain, 

 had less than a 5 percent stand. Results thus far indicate that seed companies 

 supplying seed of some of the anthracnose-resistant strains to southern clover- 

 growing sections could, when seed supplies are adequate, use seed of these same 

 varieties for northern red clover-growing sections. 



Trials with New Oat Varieties. (W. G. Colby.) Heavy summer thunder show- 

 ers caused serious lodging with all varieties included in the oat variety test car- 

 ried on in cooperation with the U. S. D. A. Division of Cereal Crops. Three 

 varieties, Ajax, Clinton, and Mohawk, although seriously lodged, nevertheless 

 gave good yields of fair quality grain. Ajax and Clinton have been grown for 

 several years and both varieties have been outstanding for their resistance to 

 lodging and have also ranked high in grain yields. Mohawk was grown for the 

 first time in 1946. Although not among the highest-yielding varieties in 1946, 

 its stiff straw was an outstanding characteristic. 



