TESTS OF SELECTIONS OF OATS. 



THE HIGHEST YIELDING SELECTIONS. 



Of the 64 selections which have been tested at the Iowa station 

 for six years, the five with the highest average yield to the acre 

 follow: Welcome selection 123-5, 48.5 bushels; selection 50al-24 

 from the hybrid Sixty-Day X Probsteier, 47.8 bushels; and Sixty-Day 

 selections 62-II-6-3, 47.2 bushels, and 62-11-19 and 62-II-19-1, 

 46.5 bushels each. Of the 10 highest yielding strains four are selec- 

 tions from Sixty-Day, two from Burt, two from a hybrid of two 

 strains of Burt, one from Welcome, and one from the hybrid Sixty- 

 Day X Probsteier. Only three of these 10 selections have been de- 

 rived from hybrids. Eight of the 10 highest yielding selections are 

 early in maturing, the average date of ripening for the six years being 

 before July 15. The highest yield obtained in the 4-year test is 



Fig. 2. — Oat nursery at the Iowa experiment station when harvesting was almost completed, showing 

 the method of protecting the bundles from mixture and from injury. 



that of selection 34al-12-l-l from the Burt X Sixty-Day hybrid, 72 

 bushels to the acre. This high average is due largely to the ex- 

 tremely high yield of this selection in 1912, 117 bushels, while other 

 selections from the same hybrid which yielded as well in previous 

 years ranged from 60 to 80 bushels. This selection is not yet fixed, 

 as it still shows considerable variation in some characters. This may 

 explain, in part at least, its high yield. It will be further selected in 

 the future. 



Six closely related selections from series 8, Danish Island X Asia 

 Minor Rustproof, ranged from 59 to 64 bushels hi average yield. 

 The highest yield obtained from any selection from a commercial 

 variety in this test was 58 bushels from the Welcome selection, 123-5. 

 Of the 25 selections which averaged 54 bushels or more in yield for 

 40361°— 14 2 



