24 BULLETIN 99, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



MINNESOTA.! 



In the spring of 1908 fifty-three of the oat selections were sent to 

 the Minnesota experiment station. These were tested in centgener 

 beds from 1908 to 1911, inclusive. In the 1912 test the number of 

 selections was reduced to 26 by the elimination of those that had made 

 the least favorable showing in previous tests. The highest average 

 yield per plant, perhaps the best indicator of the value of a strain 

 grown in centgener tests, was obtained from selection 49a2-12 from 

 the Irybrid Sixty-Day X Clydesdale. The average yield per plant for 

 this selection for the five years was 271.4 grams. Other selections 

 from this hybrid which exceeded 250 grams in yield were 49al-25-4 

 and 49a2-14-3. The only other selections which averaged as much 

 as 250 grams of grain per plant were selections 50al-3, 50al-21, and 

 50al-24 from the hybrid Sixty-Day X Probsteier. Some of the 

 selections from the commercial variety Sixty-Day also yielded well. 



SUMMARY. 



The preliminary work in oat breeding was done at the Arlington 

 Experimental Farm in Virginia and at McLean, 111. A considerable 

 number of hybrids were made in 1902, and numerous selections have 

 been made from these and from commercial varieties in succeeding 

 years. 



The tests of these selections at McLean, which were continued until 

 1908, indicated the superiority of the Sixty-Day and Burt varieties 

 and of hybrids between these varieties as material from which to 

 select for central Illinois conditions. The selections from the hybrid 

 Danish Island X Asia Minor Rustproof also produced high yields. 



Sixty-four oat selections were tested at the Iowa experiment sta- 

 tion for the six years from 1907 to 1912, and 381 selections for the four 

 years from 1909 to 1912. These tests were made in duplicate in rows 

 15 feet long and 1 foot apart. The highest yields in the 6-year test 

 were obtained from selections from the Welcome and Sixty-Day 

 varieties and from the hybrid Sixty-Day X Probsteier. The highest 

 yields in the 4-year test were obtained from selections from the 

 hybrids Danish Island X Asia Minor Rustproof and Burt X Sixty- 

 Day. The highest average yields for the various series of selections 

 from hybrids and commercial varieties were obtained from the hybrids 

 Golden Giant X Asia Minor Rustproof, Danish Island X Asia Minor 

 Rustproof, and Burt X Sixty-Day, and from the commercial varieties 

 Burt, Welcome, Silvermine, and Sixty-Day. 



One hundred and forty-eight selections from hybrids and commer- 

 cial varieties of oats have been tested in nursery rows at the Cornell 

 University experiment station for one to six years. With the excep- 



1 The tests at the Minnesota station were made under the direction of Prof. A. Boss, to whom acknowl- 

 edgments are due for the results here reported. 



