UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



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i BULLETIN No. 336 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



February 10, 1916 



CEREAL EXPERIMENTS IN MARYLAND AND 



VIRGINIA. 



By T. R. Stanton, Scientific Assistant, Office of Cereal Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Cereal production in Maryland and Virginia . . 2 



Physical factors 3 



Nature of the experiments G 



Conditions of the plat experiments 7 



Experiments with winter wheat 9 



Experiments with winter spelt and emmer . . 26 



Experiments with winter rye 30 



Experiments with winter oats 34 



E xperiments with winter barley 42 



Experiments with spring-sown grains 49 



Summary 49 



INTRODUCTION. 



Experiments with cereals have been conducted cooperatively since 

 1904 at College Park, Md., by the Maryland Agricultural Experiment 

 Station and the Office of Cereal Investigations. 1 Similar experiments 

 have been conducted by the Office of Cereal Investigations on the 

 Arlington Farm, Rosslyn, Va., since 1907. 2 These experiments have 

 consisted mainly of varietal tests and extensive breeding operations 

 with the most important winter cereals. This bulletin is for the 

 most part a report of the varietal tests. The varietal testing has 



1 The preliminary cereal work conducted at College Park, Md., prior to 1907 was under the supervision 

 of Mr. Mark Alfred Carleton, Cerealist of the Bureau of Plant Industry. Mr. H. A. Miller, a scientific 

 assistant in the Office of Cereal Investigations, was in immediate charge. On October 1, 1907, when cooper- 

 ative cereal investigations were begun with the Maryland station, Mr. V. M. Shoesmith, then agronomist 

 at the station, was made collaborator. From the time of Mr. Shoesmith's resignation on January 1, 1908, 

 Mr. C. W. Nash, assistant agronomist at the station, acted as collaborator to September 1, 1909. On the 

 latter date Mr. N. Schmitz was appointed agronomist of the Maryland station, since which time he has 

 been collaborator. 



2 The Arlington Farm is located in Virginia on the southern bank of the Potomac River, just opposite 

 and to the west of the city of Washington, D. C. The experimental work with cereals has been under the 

 direction of the men in charge of wheat, oat, and barley investigations in the Office of Cereal Investigations. 

 From 1907 to 1912 Mr. H. B. Derr supervised the work with barley and wheat at the Arlington Farm. Since 

 that time the work with these cereals has been in charge of Drs. H. V. Harlan and C. E. Leighty, respec- 

 tively. Mr. C. W. Warburton has been in charge of the work with oats during practically the entire period. 

 During the summer of 1908 Mr. T. B. Mackall assisted with the work at Arlington Farm; in the summers 

 of 1909 and 1910 Mr. O. H. Saunders rendered similar service. The writer was appointed agent in the 

 Office of Cereal Investigations on April 17, 1911, and scientific assistant in the same office on May 17, 1912. 

 He has had direct charge of the work at Arlington Farm since the former date. 



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