Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1917. 105 



plots the plants were washed worse than in others, and yet it 

 was not practicable to estimate the exact amount of damage 

 done. 



In all, 18 different varieties were tested. Seven out of thece 

 are standard commercial varieties which have been tested by 

 us for several years past and found to be exceptionally good. 

 These varieties with their 1916 yields in bushels per acre are 

 Early Pearl 56.7; Irish Victor 52.6; Banner 51.1; Gold Rain 

 51.0; Minnesota 26, 47.8; Swedish Select 44.5; and Kherson 

 40.3. In addition, one other commercial variety, Dibbles Heavy 

 Weight, were tested for the first time. This gave 43.8 bushels 

 per acre. 



Ten varieties of our breeding Vv^ere also tested. Five of 

 these were varieties which have been tested for the past four 

 years. These varieties with their yields are as follows : Maine 

 340, 52.7 bushels; Maine 355, 51.4 bushels; Maine 281, 51.5 

 bushels; Maine 351, 51.1 bushels ; Elaine 337, 48.2 bushels. The 

 other five varieties were new strains which were tested under 

 field conditions for the first time this year. These varieties and 

 their yields are No. 1054, 51.5 bushels; No. 891, 47.4 bushels; 

 No. 1053, 46.7 bushels; No. 978, 46.5 bushels; No. 982, 45.0 

 bushels. 



From these records it v/ill be seen that all of the varieties 

 yielded much lower than in the past. The highest yield ob- 

 tained was from Early Pearl, 56.7 bushels. Maine 340 was 

 second in yield, giving 52.7 bushels per acre. Two of the plots 

 of Maine 340 were very seriously injured by the heavy rains, 

 and this in a large measure accounts for its smaller relative 

 yield. Several other varieties such as Gold Rain and Minne- 

 sota 26 which have usually stood near the top of the list yield- 

 ed much lower relatively this year than in the past. 



The 5 pure lines including Maine 340, Maine 355, etc., av- 

 eraged to yield better than the majority of the varieties tested. 

 Of the five new varieties tested for the first time only one — No. 

 105^1 — appears to be promising, but some of these will be tested 

 again next year. 



