TESTS OF SELECTIONS OP OATS. 19 



with an average yield of 60.4 bushels to the acre, 5.32 bushels more 

 than was obtained from the Japan. The average yield of straw for 

 the years 1911 and 1912, however, was nearly 700 pounds to the acre 

 less than that of Japan. As the straw is a valuable part of the crop 

 in Pennsylvania, this difference is worthy of consideration. Selec- 

 tions 49al-25-4 (Sixty-Day X Clydesdale) and 132-3-1 (Sixty-Day) 

 averaged 53.63 and 53.26 bushels to the acre, respectively. In 1911 

 and 1912, several commercial varieties were grown in the same field 

 with these selections. The highest yields obtained were 66.8 bushels 

 from Joanette and 58.4 bushels from Sixty-Day, as compared with 

 59.3 bushels from the Sixty-Day selection 62— II— 18— 1—1. 



VIRGINIA. 

 ARLINGTON EXPERIMENTAL FARM. 



Spring oats are not ordinarily grown in the vicinity of Washington, 

 D. 0,, where the Arlington Experimental Farm is located, as climatic 

 and soil conditions usually make early spring planting difficult, and 

 early planting is essential to the successful production of the crop. 

 On the other hand, fall-sown oats of certain varieties generally sur- 

 vive the winter and produce good yields, maturing before the earliest 

 spring-sown varieties. As it is sometimes desirable, however, to sow 

 oats in this section in the spring, preliminary tests of more than 200 

 of the selections were made in 1908. The plantings were made on 

 March 27 in rows 17 feet long and 1 foot apart. Only one row of 

 each strain was grown. The season was rather unfavorable to spring 

 oats, the highest yield being at the rate of 30 bushels to the acre. 

 The following year, 1909, no spring oats were grown. In 1910, 16 

 of the strains which appeared to be most promising in 1908 were 

 planted in 17-foot rows on March 22. In 1911 and 1912 these strains 

 were planted in plats measuring 1 square rod each. The tests which 

 have been conducted are altogether too meager to furnish data from 

 which conclusions may be drawn. Apparently the most favorable 

 strains are the selections of Sixty-Day, the hybrids of Burt and 

 Sixty-Day (series 34), and selection 49al-12 from the hybrid of 

 Sixty-Day and Clydesdale. The latter has produced the highest 

 average yield. 



VIRGINIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1 



In the spring of 1908, 47 strains of the hybrids and selections were 

 sent to the Virginia experiment station at Blacksburg. The fol- 

 lowing year 46 additional strains were sent. The tests in 1908 and 

 1909 were made in rows 4 rods long and 1 foot apart, those of 1910 in 



i These tests were made by Profs. Lyman Carrier and T. B. Hutcheson, to whom acknowledgments are 

 due for the results here reported. 



