22 DR. WM. SAUNDERS. 



oats which had been grown at all the experimental farms for the past five years, to 

 see what offect, if any, would be produced by a change of seed. The varieties were 

 Improved Ligowo, California Prolific Black and Prolific Black Tartarian: The first 

 two were imported five years ago from the same parties in Franco that we got the 

 seeds from this year. The Tartarian was imported from England a year or so 

 earlier. But these three varities were all imported from France in this instance. 

 They were sown on all the Experimental Farms at the same time, side by side with 

 seed that had been home grown for five years. The Improved Ligowo, from home 

 grown seed, gave an average of bT bushels 9 pounds to the acre, while the imported 

 seed gave 72 bushels 16 pounds, a difference in favour of the imported seed of 5 

 bushels 7 pounds per acre. 



By Mr. Rogers : 



Q. Do you find that the black oat deteriorates quicker than the white oat? 

 A. I scarcely like to offer an opinion upon so complicated a question, and one 

 so difficult to gain reliable information on. 



By Mr. Feat her ston : 



Q. You got a better return from the imported seed in this instance than from 

 the home-grown seed ? 



A. Yes. 



Q. Did you give it the same test? 



A. Yes, and the home-grown seed was obtained from oats grown here from 

 seed imported from the same source five years ago. 



By Mr. Rogers : 



Q. Do the black oats retain their colour? 



A. The California prolific black retains its colour better than the black Tartarian. 

 The imported black Tartarian gave 80 bushels to the acre, while the home-grown 

 seed gave an average of 74 bushels 15 pounds per acre, a difference of five bushels 

 19 pounds per acre in favor of the imported seed. California prolific black gave 70 

 bushels 6 pounds per acre, while the imported seed gave 79 bushels 32 pounds, a 

 gain of 9 bushels, 26 pounds per acre, the average gain of these three varieties from 

 the imported seed was 6 bushels 29 pounds per acre. 



By Mr. Featherston : 



Q. It would be better then to import your seed every year? 



A. I do not know that you would get the same every year. But these results 

 seem to show that after growing the same variety for a number of years, some 

 advantage is likely to arise from a change of seed. 



