20 BULLETIN 103% U. S. DEPAETMEN^T OF AGRICULTURE. 



tions from the Kubanka variety appeared to be most promising:. 

 Three of these, designated as Nos. 1440-735, 1516-712, and 1516-715, 

 gave the highest average yields and Avere grown in plats in the 

 varietal experiments during 1917, 1918. and 1919. The yields in 

 the plat experiments, as shown in Table VII, were not higher than 

 other durum varieties, however, so that nothing of value was ob- 

 tained from the nursery experiments with spring wheats. A selec- 

 tion of the Manchuria variety, designated as No. 2492-38, proved to 

 be a high-yielding strain in dry seasons. In 1918 and 1919 it was 

 substituted for the parent bulk Manchuria in the varietal experiments 

 in plats. Because this selection is inferior in both yield and quality 

 to several other varieties, it is not considered to be of any particular 

 value. 



WINTER WHEAT. 



Experiments with winter wheat on drj^ land have included tests 

 of varieties and selections and of rates and dates of seeding. A large 

 part of the nursery work also was devoted to the improvement of 

 winter wheat by selection. Preliminary experiments showed defi- 

 nitely that the only varieties of winter wheat adapted to the condi- 

 tions at Newell belonged to the hard red winter or Crimean group. 

 The varieties grown in plats, therefore, consisted almost entirely of 

 wheats of this type. 



VARIETAL EXPERIMENTS. 



The varietal experiments with winter wheat were begun in the 

 fall of 1907 and continued until 1917. The 1918 crop was com- 

 pletely winterkilled, and no wheat was sown in the fall of 1918. 

 Good yields were obtained in 1908, 1909, 1913, 1914, and 1915. The 

 yields for the latter je-Av were extremely large. The yields in J.910 

 and 1917 were reduced by drought and in 1916 by winterkilling, rust, 

 and drought. The crop of 1911 was completely killed by drought, 

 and the wheat sown in the fall of 1911 did not emerge until late the 

 following spring, so that no crop was obtained in 1912. The wheat 

 was sown on summer-fallowed land each year and since 1912 has 

 been grown in plats replicated three or five times. The yields are 

 shown in Table XII. 



The varieties grown are all of the Crimean group except Alton 

 (Ghirka Winter), an awnless hard red winter variety, and Fultz, a 

 soft red winter wheat. Some differences in yields were obtained from 

 several lots of the Crimean wheats, but it is not certain that these 

 differences are significant. The five varieties which were grown each 

 3^ear from 1910 to 1917, inclusive, gave exactly the same average 

 yield, 21.5 bushels per acre. 



