TESTS OF SELECTIONS OF OATS. 7 



Burt or from a hybrid of these two varieties, 18 were pure lines of 

 Sixty-Day or were selections from hybrids in which that variety 

 was a parent, 6 were pure lines from Burt or selections from hybrids 

 containing that variety, and only 3 represented neither variety. It 

 is apparent, therefore, that Sixty-Day and Burt are valuable varieties 

 for central Illinois, a conclusion which is in agreement with varietal 

 tests at the Illinois experiment station. 



COMPARISON OF SELECTIONS FROM HYBRIDS AND COMMERCIAL VARIETIES. 



In 1907, 82 selections from commercial varieties exceeded 419 selec- 

 tions from hybrids in average yield to the acre by 2.57 bushels, or 

 5.59 per cent. In 1908, 69 selections from commercial varieties aver- 

 aged 0.07 bushel, or 0.18 per cent more than 378 selections from 

 hybrids. In all the 948 tests made in the two years, 151 pure lines 

 from commercial varieties averaged 1.56 bushels, or 2.69 per cent 

 more than 797 selections from hybrids. Of the 228 strains which 

 were tested both years, however, 51 pure lines from commercial 

 varieties averaged 0.56 bushel, or 1.24 per cent, less than 177 selec- 

 tions of hybrid parentage. Of the 10 highest yielding strains, 7 were 

 selections from commercial varieties and 3 were from hybrids, while 

 of the 25 highest, 13 were from commercial varieties and 12 from 

 hybrids. This slight superiority for the selections from commercial 

 varieties over those from hybrids is probably due largely to the fact 

 that a large proportion of the former were from two varieties par- 

 ticularly suitable to central Illinois, Sixty-Day and Burt, while one 

 or both parents of many of the hybrids were varieties not so fully 

 adapted to the conditions. 



TESTS AT THE IOWA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The cooperative investigations for the improvement of the oat crop 

 by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station and the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry were begun in 1903. In the earlier years of the co- 

 operation a study was made of the general conditions and methods 

 of production. In 1907, 66 of the better strains from the oat nursery 

 at McLean, 111., were secured for testing. When the work at McLean 

 was discontinued in 1909, the strains retained from the earlier trials 

 at that place, 381 in all, were added to the nursery at Ames, Iowa. 



CONDITIONS OF THE TESTS. 



The plats used in all nursery tests at the Iowa station have each 

 been confined to an area of 30 square feet. Each selection is planted 

 in duplicate in rows 15 feet long and 1 foot apart. These rows are 

 the unit of the nursery. Each is maintained as a separate plat until 

 thrashing time, when the duplicates are united and yields and other 



