30 



BULLETIN 297, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



be recommended to the farmer on the dry lands in western South Da- 

 kota. If oats are grown, only the very earliest varieties, such as 

 Sixty-Day and Kherson, should be used. 



The experiments with oats at Newell have included varietal tests 

 and a test of rate of seeding with Kherson oats. 



VARIETAL TEST OF OATS. 



The varietal experiments with oats during the six years from 1908 

 to 1913 have included 16 varieties and races. Of these, eight may.be 

 classed as early, five as midseason, and three as late varieties. All the 

 late varieties are side oats, while all the early and midseason varieties 

 have open or spreading panicles. Only five of the 16 varieties have 

 been grown in all of the six years. The annual and average yields 

 of the 16 varieties and races are given in Table XVI. 



Table XVI. — Annual and average yields of 16 varieties and races of oats on the Belle 

 Fourche Experiment Farm, 1908 to 1913, inclusive. 





C. I. No. 







Yield per acre 



(bushels). 





Group and variety. 



1908 



1909 



1910 



1911 



1912 



1913 



Average. 





6 years, 

 1908-1913. 



4 years, 

 1910-1913. 



Early varieties: 



Burt 



293 

 459 

 337 

 165 

 (165-562) 

 (165-5661 

 625 

 626 



•658 

 444 

 441 



<*47.5 









6.0 

 6.2 

 7.5 

 6. 6 

 6.2 

 7.1 

 7.9 

 9.9 



14.1 

 10.4 



22. 4 

 2L9 

 21.0 



22.7 









a25. 7 



al5.0 







19.3 



10.8 







Sixty-Day 



o46.6 



25.0 



15.6 







19.4 



11.2 







Do 











23.3 

 21.6 

 24.6 



19.5 

 18.5 







Do... 







14.4 

 16.6 



3.6 



4.4 













 





11.0 



Do... 









12.8 



Midseason varieties: 



38.8 

 36.1 



32.0 

 21.3 





9.3 



Canadian 



15.6 



8.3 





26.6 

 28.4 



20.0 

 ?2.8 

 17.5 















Swedish Select 



134 



551 

 300 

 342 



38.1 



30.9 

 30.9 



19.4 



2.3 





 

 









 

 



9.2 

 22.7 



15.2 

 14.3 



15.5 

 14.6 



6.7 



Late varieties: 



9.2 



























a Average of two plats. 



Table XVI shows that fairly good yields of oats were obtained 

 from all varieties in 1908, when the seasonal rainfall was slightly 

 above normal and the distribution of the rainfall was favorable. 

 The low yield in 1909 was due in large measure to poor preparation 

 of the seed bed and resulting poor germination and slow growth. 

 Abundant rainfall favored the larger and later varieties, such as Big 

 Four and Swedish Select, which may always be expected to yield 

 more than the early varieties in particularly favorable years. In 

 1910 the conditions early in the season were exceptionally good, but 

 the rainfall after the seed germinated was much below normal and 

 consequently only the earliest varieties produced yields which were 



