134 MAINE AGRICULTURAL, EXPERIMENT STATION. I916. 



deposited in the straw in the attempt to find a relation between 

 those characters and the lodging of the plants. For practical 

 purposes under conditions facing the plant breeder in his selec- 

 tion work, these methods can not be taken into consideration. 

 It has seemed to us more satisfactory to rely chiefly upon expe- 

 rience and observations made directly in the field. The study 

 of the actual conditions in the field, the notes taken after heavy 

 storms and rains served in our selection work as a very valuable 

 guide in the process of elimination of undesirable strains. Con- 

 sequently under ordinary soil conditions the 12 ultimately se- 

 lected lines show a very considerable resistance and strength of 

 straw. This was shown very clearly in the season of 1915 

 when the very heavy flooding rains in the latter part of the 

 season caused much damage in the central part of the state. In 

 our plots those commercial varieties which were inclined to 

 lodge were in very bad condition at harvest. None of these 

 pure lines were seriously damaged. Several of the Banner 

 lines, especially 357 and 355, lodged to some extent. The Irish 

 Victor lines all stood up well. No. 340 was grown as a farm 

 oat at Highmoor and on the entire 13 acres there was only one 

 small area that lodged at all. Of the pure lines, Nos. 355 and 

 357 showed the greatest amount of lodging. 



Some data with regard to the height and diameter of straw, 

 of the pure lines are given in Table 10. These data represent 

 the means of measurements of a considerable number of indi- 

 viduals collected at random in the different field plots. It will 

 be noted from this table that the pure lines also show only a 

 slight variation in the height and diameter of the straw. 



In regard to the color and width of the leaves the pure lines 

 show again a resemblance to their respective parent varieties. 

 The Banner lines have slightly wider and darker leaves than 

 the Irish Victor lines. 



CHARACTERS OE THE HEAD. 



The panicle or head of the oat plant contains a series of very 

 important features which determine the qualitative and quanti- 

 tative merits of the plant. The type of head is therefore a 

 most important character and a very reliable guide in selection 

 and breeding work. The head characters serve to isolate 

 different forms and types of oats and on that basis the Svalof 



