8 BULLETIN 99, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



data on the grain are taken from the combined product. Figure 

 shows the method of harvesting the selections, while figure 2 is a view 

 of the oat nursery when the harvest was about completed. 



The soil used in the nursery work has varied somewhat, but in 

 general may be termed rolling prairie upland. In 1907, 1908, and 

 1911 the tests were made on a dark prairie-loam soil. In 1909, 1910, 

 and 1912 the fields varied from dark prairie loam to a much lighter 

 colored gravelly loam. 



The preceding crop each season except 1910 and 1911 was corn. 

 In 1910 the nursery followed the oat varietal plats, while in 1911 it 

 followed barley. When the nursery has followed corn the stalks have 

 been removed and the land plowed in the fall. When following small 



Fig. 1. — Field of oats, showing the method of harvesting selections when grown in nursery rows. 



gram, it has been necessary to plow in the summer and to cultivate, 

 in order to germinate all volunteer grain before seeding time the fol- 

 lowing season. 



The climatic conditions have been far from uniform during the 

 period covered by the tests reported in this publication. The years 

 1907 and 1908 were very wet. In 1909 the yields of all the early 

 and medium selections were reduced, because they were blown down 

 by a severe wind and rainstorm before the grain filled. The 1910 

 crop was grown almost entirely from moisture that fell before May 1 . 

 The 1911 crop was grown under abnormally dry conditions and was 

 badly damaged by a hot wind about July 1. The 1912 crop was 

 produced under the most favorable conditions of any of the six, with 

 the exception that two windstorms lodged many of the selections. 



