14 BULLETIN 402, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



were grown the following season in longer rows. In the longer rows 

 the race was checked against the parent variety or some other variety 

 used as the standard. After one or two seasons' test, all those that 

 failed to excel the check were discarded. Several hundred selections 

 have been tested in this way. 



At first it was thought that further improvement might result 

 from selection within pure lines. Several hundred selections were 

 made, but no superior races have been isolated and the practice has 

 been discontinued. 



Races that proved superior in nursery rows were sown in increase 

 plats in order to get seed for advancing the test to field plats. A 

 few of the races thus isolated now rank with the best varieties in 

 their respective groups. 



INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS. 



The best variety or method of culture is the one which on the 

 average will produce the highest acre value at the least cost. None 

 of the varieties or methods of culture tested have fulfilled all these 

 requirements for each of the years tested. Some varieties have held 

 secondary positions for two or three years, and yet in the average 

 for the 8-year period they rank among the first. The best variety 

 or method, presumably, is that one which gives the best average 

 during a series of years, provided the seasons are representative. 

 In actual practice, however, the problem is more comphcated than 

 would appear from this statement. The variation in soil from place to 

 place, the changes in climatic factors from year to year, and especially 

 at critical times during the period of cereal growth, and the adapta- 

 bility of the different varieties to the changing conditions must all be 

 taken into account. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH WHEAT. 



Experiments with wheat at the Akron Field Station have included 

 plat and nursery tests of both winter and spring varieties. In addi- 

 tion to varietal tests there have been date-of-seeding and rate-of- 

 seeding experiments with winter wheat and rate-of -seeding experiments 

 with spring wheat. 



Wheat has occupied a major position in the cereal tests. It is the 

 cash crop of the district. Its acre value is equal to or greater than 

 that of other cereals, and there is always a market for the grain. 

 Considerable time has been devoted to developing improved strains. 

 Two or three of the hmidreds of selections made are proving superior 

 to the parent stocks. The work of first importance, however, has 

 been the testing of varieties. 



