STUDIES ON OAT BREEDING. 147 



On the basis of the results thus obtained 80 of these rows 

 were thought good enough to be continued in small plots. Du- 

 plicate 1-2000 acre plots of each of these 80 pure lines were 

 grown in 19 12. 



Of these pure lines 34 were sufficiently promising to be con- 

 tinued into field tests in ,1913. Thirty-one of these were again 

 tested in 1914. 



In 191 5 all of these pure lines were discarded except twelve. 

 These twelve lines were tested in quadruplicate plots in 191 5. 



In each of the three years, 1913-1915, these pure lines were 

 grown along with a number of the best commercial varieties 

 obtainable. In 19 14 and 191 5 the pure line plots alternated in 

 the field with commercial variety plots. 



A method of correcting the yield of individual plots for dif- 

 ferences in soil fertility is briefly outlined. This method of 

 correction was applied to the 1914 and 1915 results and the ma- 

 jor portion of the discussion is based on these corrected yields. 



The detailed results of the field tests of these pure lines for 

 each of the three years is given in tables 3, 4 and 5. • The results 

 so far as yield is concerned are summarized in table 7. In table 

 S are summarized the results of tests of eleven commercial 

 varieties tested for the three years under the same conditions 

 as the pure lines. 



From these tables it is seen that the 12 pure lines averaged 

 to yield 80.8 bushels per acre against 75.2 bushels for the 11 

 commercial varieties. Only four of the commercial varieties 

 gave a better yield than the poorest of the pure lines. In all 

 cases the average yield of the pure lines selected from a given 

 variety exceeded the yield of the parent variety. 



While the original selections represented 18 different varie- 

 ties, the pure lines finally retained came from only three differ- 

 ent varieties. Seven of these are from the Banner variety, 

 four from the Irish Victor and one from the Imported Scotch. 



A detailed description of the 12 pure lines shows that in 

 morphological characters, such as type of 'head, character of the 

 grain, etc., these pure lines closely resemble their respective 

 parent varieties. The changes in the physiological characters 

 which result in higher yield are therefore not necessarily asso- 

 ciated with morphological characters in the plant or grain. 



