CEREAL EXPERIMENTS AT DICKINSON, N. DAK. 



41 



Table XXI. — Results of milling and baking tests and yield of grain per acre of 

 unselected Ghirka wheat and of five pure-line selections from it grown at 

 Dickinson, N. Dak., in 1913. 



Variety. 



Actual 



yield 



per acre. 



Cleaned 

 weight 



per 

 bushel. 



Protein 



in wheat 

 (N.X5.7). 



Yield 

 of flour. 



Loss 

 in mill- 

 ing. 



Volume 

 of loaf. 



Color. 



Tex- 

 ture. 



Ghirka, unselected 



Bushels. 

 30 

 35.6 

 27.7 

 33.2 

 38 

 35.2 



Pounds. 

 64.3 

 65 

 64 

 63.5 

 65.5 

 65 



Per cent. 

 13.88 

 14.36 

 15.28 

 15.62 

 15.28 

 14.76 



Per cent. 

 69.6 

 71.2 

 69.1 

 67.5 

 70.1 

 72.4 



Per cent. 

 5.51 

 3.35 



4.5 

 7.1 

 4.17 

 1.46 



C.c. 

 2,011 

 2,450 

 2,265 

 1,790 

 1,985 

 2,097 



Pr. ct. 

 92.5 

 96 

 96 

 94 

 90 

 95 



Pr. ct. 

 91.5 



Ghirka No. 4 



94 



Ghirka No. 19. 



93 



Ghirka No. 29 



86 



Ghirka No. 31 



92 



Ghirka No. 66 



93.5 







CROSSES. 



Attempts to originate new and better cereal varieties by means of 

 hybridization have been made at Dickinson. Work has been done 

 with both natural and artificial crosses. It is probable that crosses 

 occur naturally in the cereal crops, especially wheat, more often than 

 is usually supposed. A number of field crosses of wheat selected from 

 the varietal plats have been planted in the nursery at Dickinson. 

 These have broken up in the next generation, and the many different 

 types have been replanted. Several pure lines have been segregated, 

 but none have been of any economic value. Artificial crosses have 

 been made with both spring and winter wheat and with barley. With 

 spring wheat the object of the work is to increase the milling quali- 

 ties of the Ghirka variety by crossing it with Red Fife and other 

 good milling wheats and still to retain its earliness and high yield. 

 The barley crosses have been made between Hannchen and several 

 other varieties, the purpose being to obtain earlier and taller varieties. 



Most of the crosses, however, have been made with winter wheat, 

 with the object of increasing their hardiness or winter resistance. The 

 theory that a part of the offspring of crosses between two medium- 

 hardy strains of one variety or of different varieties will exceed the 

 parents in winter resistance if they follow the ordinary Menclelian 

 laws in respect to this character, as they do with other characters, 

 was developed independently by Nilsson-Ehle 1 and by Waldron. 2 

 This work has been under way at Dickinson for three years. In 1911 

 and 1912 crosses were made on over 3,000 individual wheat flowers. In 

 1913 about 1,300 individual crosses were made. The seeds from these 

 crosses are planted 3 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart. Twenty 

 seeds of each parent are planted in rows on either side of the crossed 



1 Nilsson-Ehle, Herman. Kreuzungsuntersuchungen an Hater und Weizen. In Lunds 

 Univ. Arsskr., n. f. afd. 2, bd. 5, no. 2, 122 p., 1909. 



2 Waldron, L. R. Increase in hardiness. In N. Dak. Agr. Exp. Sta., Dickinson Sub- 

 Exp. Sta., 3d Ann. Rpt., p. 33, 1910. 



Waldron, L. R. Breeding certain field-crop plants in the cold northwest. In Amer. 

 Breeders' Assoc. Ann. Rpt. S, 1911, p. 434, 1912. 



