102 



Local 

 Breeding. 



Special sort 

 trials. 



3. The plots should be laid across, not lengthwise, of the ."land" and 

 should be oblong in shape. 



4. It is better to test two or three sorts carefully in the above manner 

 than to attempt to test many on single plots. 



5. Careful notes should be taken re manner of growth, strength of straw, 

 rust, etc., during the growing season. 



6. Each plot for each sort should be threshed and weighed separately. 



7. Such trials should be continued for at least two or three years as one 

 year's experiments cannot give any reliable indication of the value of a sort. 



While the Branch Stations of the Swedish Association appear to be 

 doing excellent work and while local tests conducted by interested farmers 

 are of value as an indication of the probable value of the various sorts, yet 

 more work in local breeding is regarded as necessary. This need has become 

 more and more apparent with the increasing importance of methods based on 

 direct judgment. Since the selection and elimination of cultures must be 

 governed by actual performance, including yielding tests, and since the 

 behaviour of a sort in a green district may be the reverse of that in another 

 it is clear that the development of superior sorts for given localities can 

 reach its highest point only when executed in the locality for which they are 

 intended. This principle is coming to be observed by the Institution at 

 Svalof. Thus line-breeding work with the common autumn wheats of 

 Central Sweden is now being conducted by Mr. Elofson, Superintendent of 

 the Branch Station at Ultuna, as this work gave no results of value when 

 prosecuted at Svalof. The crossing Pudel X Swedish Velvet Chaff is also 

 being investigated in a very thorough manner at Ultuna while at Lulea, Dr. 

 Ulander, Superintendent of that station, is working with crosses between 

 north Scandinavian early oats and later high yielding varieties, etc. 



Efforts to produce on the stiff clay soils at Ultuna, a barley sort suitable 

 for the lighter soils of the province of Dalarne have not met with great 

 success. A permanent breeding Station at a representative point in this 

 province is regarded as imperative. More stations in the good agricultural 

 provinces, Ostergotland (especially for barley) and Vestergotland (for wheat, 

 oats and rye) , are also believed to be an essential to further progress in these 

 districts. 



When a sort has passed the tests at Svalof of Ultana and has likewise 

 shown a promising record in other sort trials made by interested farmers 

 throughout the country it is subjected to further trials bnown as Special sort 

 trials in those parts of the country for which it is specially intended before 

 being placed on the market. Adjoining this special test plot there is placed 

 a plot of the sort which heretofore has been regarded as the most satisfactory 

 in the district. These plots should be at least 50 square metres (1/82 acres) 

 in size and should be in at least three series according to the following plan 

 (43, p. 105) : 



