1908.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 461 



. Varieties of Oats {Field Expts. at Harper-Adams Agric. Co//., 1907). — 

 Trials have been carried out at this College since 1903, and eight varieties 

 were tested in 1907. The yields per acre were as follows in bushels of 

 39 lb. : — New White Horse, 95 ; Thousand Dollar, 89 ; Banner, 85 ; High- 

 lander, 84 ; New Abundance, 82 ; Giant King, 79 ; Beseler's Prolific, 73 ; 

 and Universal, 70. 



At the Newport Grain Show two varieties were shown from these plots, 

 and New Abundance gained the 1st prize and Highlander the 2nd prize. A 

 chart is given in the Report showing the yields of the different varieties, 

 tested since 1903. 



Varieties of Oats {Univ. Coll. of Wales, Aberystwyth, Agric. Dept., Ann. 

 Rept., 1906). — Tests with varieties of oats have been in progress for six years,, 

 and the following conclusions have been arrived at : — (1) That a change of 

 seed, provided the proper variety be selected, is most desirable and profit- 

 able ; such changes must be made at intervals of two or three years as the 

 variety deteriorates ; (2) that certain varieties are reliable and heavy 

 croppers, whatever the character of the season may be, e.g., Waverley,. 

 Abundance, Newmarket, and Golden ; (3) that many varieties, although 

 costly, are so unsuitable to the soil and climatic conditions of Wales as to be 

 very unprofitable ; and (4) that trials on a small scale on every farm with a. 

 few varieties are to- be strongly recommended. 



Varieties of Oats {Univ. Coll., Reading. Results of Expts. at College 

 Far?n). — Trials of four varieties were made, viz., Thousand Dollar, Banner, 

 Siberian, and Wide Awake. 



Varieties of Oats {West oj Scotland Agric. Coll., Bull. 41). — These 

 experiments were carried out on 147 farms in eleven counties in Scotland 

 during the five years 1902- 1906. The conclusions arrived at were that the 

 yield of all varieties of oats varies greatly according to the character of the 

 season, but the variation is less in the West of Scotland in the case of 

 acclimatized straw-producing varieties like the Sandy, than in the case of 

 new and imported grain-producing varieties like the Banner. Seasons of 

 low temperature, especially cold, wet springs, are very prejudicial to the 

 oat crop. On suitable soils and in suitable districts, the grain-producing 

 varieties like the Banner give in the average of years, larger and more 

 profitable crops than the older Scotch varieties of either the Potato or the 

 Sandy type. 



Oats of the Banner type are more liable to be damaged by grub than the 

 other kinds, and are- best grown either as a second corn crop or after a root 

 crop, and should only be grown after lea on friable and open soils, or on land 

 in high condition or liberally manured. They are not adapted to cold, wet 

 clays or mosses, or poor, exposed, unproductive land, or tough old lea land,, 

 but are best grown on good soils, and in not too exposed situations. On the 

 former class of soils better results will be got from the Sandy type. 



Varieties of Oats {Univ. Coll. of N. Wales, Bangor, Bull. 3, 1906, 5,. 

 1907). — Fourteen varieties were tried at the College Farm in 1906 and 21 

 varieties in 1907. The heaviest yields of head corn, 42 lb. to the bushel, rh 

 1906 were obtained from Thousand Dollar (57 bush.), Newmarket (54 bush.),, 

 Storm King (54 bush.), W T averley (53 bush.), Tartar King (51 bush.), and Wide 

 Awake (51 bush.), and in 1907 from Newmarket (106 bush.), Wide Awake 

 (104 bush.), Stable King (101 bush.), and Strube's Schlandstedter (101 bush.) 

 The yields in 1907 were in many cases far in excess of previous years. 



