IMPROVEMENT OF GHIEKA SPRING WHEAT. 3 



There is a variety known as Ghirka Winter (C. I. No, 1438), which 

 apparently differs from Ghirka Sprmg only in the winter habit and in 

 having a shorter, stouter spike. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



This paper contains the results of experiments with only one of the 

 department's introductions, Ghirka Spring (C. I. No. 1517) from 

 Grodno Province in Russian Poland. 



The experimental data are discussed under three separate topics, 

 yield, quahty, and improvement. The yield of the original unse- 

 lected Ghirka Spring wheat is compared with that of three standard 

 varieties at a series of seven stations during a period of seven years. 

 The milling and baking qualities also are compared with those of the 

 same three standard varieties grown at the Dickinson (N. Dak.) sub- 

 station during three different years. Finally, the progress being 

 made in improving both yield and quality by pure-line selection is 

 shown. 



COMPARATIVE YIELDS. 



Ghirka Spring wheat has been tested in comparison with other 

 domestic and foreign wheats at several agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions in the Great Plains area. Some of these tests have been con- 

 ducted by the State stations, some by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, and some by the two in cooperation. 



At the time this wheat was included in the varietal tests at the 

 experiment stations in the northern part of the Great Plains, Blue- 

 stem and Fife were the standard wheats grown in that district, while 

 durum wheat was becoming better known and its acreage increasing. 

 The experiment stations were testing several varieties and strains of 

 Fife and Bluestem wheats and many new varieties of durum wheat 

 which were then being imported. The object of these varietal experi- 

 ments was to determine which group of wheat was best adapted to 

 each locality. 



The work at the start was considered a local problem. The varie- 

 tal tests at each station were practically independent of those at any 

 other. As the work progressed, the best adapted groups and varie- 

 ties became more and more evident at each testing station. When 

 the results from all the stations in one part of this area are compared 

 ordy group adaptations usually are shown. The best variety in each 

 group has been not always the same at all stations. In some cases 

 the vari(!ty l(!U(ling at one station has not })oen grown at some of tlio 

 other stations or, if grown, has been discunhid if tlic yields were not 

 satisfactory. For these reasons it is diflicult to (;omparo the results 

 from irulividnul variiitics at a group of stations. It is possible, Ivow- 

 evor, to pn^scnt yields of (jliirka Spring wlieat (('. I. No. 1517) from 

 seven experiment stations in tlu; northern Great Plains during the 



