CEREAL EXPERIMENTS IN MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 13 



Of the 43 varieties grown at Arlington 36 were included in the tests 

 of 1914. Those few that wore discontinued in 1913 and previous 

 years at Arlington did not yield well enough or were too inferior in 

 quality to warrant their continuance in the plat tests. This also gen- 

 erally was true of the 65 varieties that have been eliminated at College 

 Park. As the tests progressed it was necessary to discard some of 

 the inferior sorts in order to make room for new and untried ones 

 that appeared on the market. 



MISCELLANEOUS DATA. 



It is important in making a comparison of varieties to consider 

 data other than those of yield. Table IV shows the average dates 

 of heading and of ripening, average height, average yield of grain and 

 of straw, and average weight per bushel for the varieties included in 

 Table III. 



Winter wheat at College Park and Arlington usually is fully headed 

 by May 20, and ripe about one month later. The average dates of 

 ripening, as given in Table IV, are remarkably uniform, being with few 

 exceptions within a period of 3 or 4 days. There is no marked differ- 

 ence between the various groups, the one to which Fultz, Purple 

 Straw, etc., belong probably being the earliest. The two earliest 

 varieties grown at both Arlington and College Park are Fishhead 

 (C. I. No. 1732) and Maryland Flint (C. I. No. 1949). It is generally 

 believed that the early varieties yield more than the midseason and 

 late ones, but if the early and late varieties in the several larger groups 

 are compared, no definite correlation between earliness and yield is 

 shown. Most of the best varieties in each group are those that are 

 midseason in maturity. The China, the leading awnless variety at 

 College Park, is one of the latest varieties, which is contrary to the 

 belief that late varieties are not high yielders. However, this variety 

 is very resistant to scab and rust, thus partially offsetting the dis- 

 advantage of late maturity. 



The yields of straw in the winter-wheat varieties, as shown in Table 

 IV, are quite variable. Those that rank high in yield of straw do not 

 in all cases rank high in yield of grain. On the other hand, those that 

 are high in yield of grain are not always heavy producers of straw. 



The average weight per bushel at Arlington is higher than at College 

 Park, because it is always determined after the grain is fanned, while 

 at College Park it is usually determined as the grain comes from the 

 thrasher. However, those varieties which have been best at Arling- 

 ton in quality of grain, as determined by weight per bushel, have been 

 best at College Park also, as a rule. 



