30 



BULLETIN 1039, U. S. DEPAETMEjSTT OF AGRICULTURE, 



maturity 11 days earlier than Swedish Select and 18 days earlier 

 than White Russian. The average height of Kherson was 4 inches 

 less than that of the other two varieties listed. The proportion of 

 grain to straw also is much higher in the Kherson than in the other 

 varieties. The Sixty-Day and other early varieties have given about 

 the same data in the experiments as are shown for Kherson. 



/S 20 



3S 















^.?eu. 













2<^.7Sa 

 3(J, 











W^.2^' 











,S/f££>/S//Sa.£CT 



Fig. 10. — Diagram showing the average yields, in bushels per acre, of three varieties of 

 oats on dry land at the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm for the 12-year period from 

 1908 to 1919, inclusive. 



In 1907, two plats of Boswell Winter oats, C. I. No. 480, were 

 sown. Only a small percentage of the plants survived the winter, 

 but these tillered so freely that a yield of 28.5 bushels per acre was 

 obtained. This variety was again sown in 1908 and 1909, but winter- 

 killed entirely each year. Winter oats are not sufficiently hardy for 

 western South Dakota, 



Table XIX. — Average agronomic data for three varieties of oats groivn on dry 

 land on the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm, 1908 to 1919, inclusive. 





C.I. 

 No. 



Date of— 



Height .1 



Weight 



per 

 bushel. a 



Yields per acre. 



Variety. 



Head- 



ing.a 



Ripen- 



ing.o 



Grain.?' 



Straw, c 





459 

 134 

 551 



July 2 

 July 11 

 July 19 



July 23 

 Aug. 3 

 Aug. 10 



Inches. 

 24 

 28 

 28 



Pounds. 

 30.4 

 29.8 

 31.3 



Bushels. 

 29.7 

 24.7 

 23.0 



Pounds. 

 1,131 





1,330 





1,492 







a Average for 9 years (1908 to 1910, 1912, 1913, 1915 to 1917, and 1919). 



b Average for 12 years, 1908 to 1919, inclusive. 



c Average for 10 years, 1908 to 1913, 1915 to 1917, and 1919. 



NURSERY EXPERIMENTS, 



The growing of head selections of oats was begun on the Belle 

 Fourche Experiment Farm in 1908, from selections made at the 

 Highmore (S. Dak,) substation in 1907. Other selections were added 

 later, so that a considerable number have been tested. The two most 

 promising selections made at Highmore were included in the plat 

 experiments at Newell in 1912, one of which, No, 165-566, has been 

 continued in the plats each year, xVs the average yield of this strain 

 is slightly less than that of the parent variety, it is apparent that 

 nothing was accomplished in the improvement of oats by selection. 



