TESTS OF SELECTION'S OF OATS. 11 



When a comparison is made of all selections from hybrids with all 

 selections from commercial varieties, it is found that the selections 

 from commercial varieties exceed in average yield those from hybrids 

 in three of the four years. The selections from commercial varieties 

 were 1.83 bushels to the acre higher in average yield in 1909, 4.33 

 bushels higher in 1910, and 6.65 bushels higher in 1911, while the 

 selections from hybrids exceeded in average yield those from com- 

 mercial varieties by 4 bushels in 1912. The average yield of all 

 selections from commercial varieties for the four years was 2.2 

 bushels to the acre higher than that of all selections from hybrids. 

 This does not necessarily imply, however, that hybridization is not 

 of value in improving oats or other cereals. In this particular case, 

 most of the selections from commercial varieties were from Sixty- 

 Day, Burt, and Silvermine, varieties which are well adapted to cen- 

 tral Iowa conditions. On the other hand, a number of the varieties 

 used in making the hybrids were not so suitable for Iowa; hence, 

 selections from these hybrids could hardly be expected to yield well. 



TESTS AT THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 



STATION. 1 



INTRODUCTION. 



A series of the selections made by Mr. Norton was furnished to the 

 plant-breeding department of Cornell University at Ithaca, N. Y., in 

 1907. Field work was begun that year and has been conducted 

 continuously since that date. The experiments have been conducted 

 so long that the crops have been grown under a wide range of sea- 

 sonal climatic conditions. 



METHODS OF TESTING. 



The tests have all been made in rows about 1 rod long, though 

 the exact length of the row has varied from time to time. At pres- 

 ent the rows are planted 16 feet in length and 1 foot apart. At the 

 time of cutting, 6 inches are cut off each end of the row and dis- 

 carded, leaving a 15-foot row on which to base the calculations. 

 The ends of each row are cut off so that the effect of the increased 

 nutrition at the ends will not enter into the calculations and affect 

 the results. By using a 15-foot row and weighing the grain in 

 grams the calculated yield in bushels per acre is obtained by multi- 

 plying the grams per row by 0.2 (grams per row X 0.2 = bushels per 

 acre). 3 The seed required for each row is weighed into a separate 

 envelope before planting time. All seeding is done by hand, and the 

 rows are marked off by hand, using a board 1 foot wide. It has been 



i The writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Messrs. F. J. Pritehard, E. P. Humbert, and 

 C E. Leighty, who at various times have rendered valuable assistance in making these tests. Dr. Leighty 

 also assisted in the preparation of the data for publication. 



» The factor actually is 0.20006613+. 



