492 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [sept., 



53§ bush., and Thousand Dollar and Mounted Police produced 53 bush. 

 Thousand Dollar was the best sample and Mounted Police the worst. 



A small trial was made at four centres in 1908 for the purpose of 

 demonstrating whether the oat crop can be profitably treated with 

 artificial manures. The land was in good "heart" at all the centres, 

 at three of which clover was the previous crop. All the dressings pro- 

 duced an increase in the crop, more than enough to pay for the manures, 

 the best result being- that from £ cwt. sulphate of ammonia alone, which 

 gave an increase of 37 stones of grain and 6 cwt. of straw, or a 

 value of 34s., after deducting the cost of the manure. 



Varieties of Oats and Barley (Aberdeen and N. of Scotland Coll. 

 of Agric, Expts., Leaflet No. 10). — Six varieties of oats were tested 

 against the common Potato strain at fourteen centres. The plots were 

 one-tenth acre in extent, and the seed was sown at the rate of 3! 

 million grains (7-8^ bushels) per acre, except in the case of Potato, 

 which, owing to its habits of stooling or tillering, was considered 

 sufficiently thick at the rate of three million grains per acre. The 

 season, being cold and late, was more favourable to the hardy Scotch 

 varieties than to the more tender kinds recently introduced. Nevertheless 

 the newer varieties continued to show a marked superiority in crop. 

 From various causes the results from only eight centres were con- 

 sidered trustworthy, and, taking the average of these, the following 

 yields in bushels per acre were obtained : — Major, 76 ; Banner, 73 ; 

 Thousand Dollar, 72 ; White Horse, 70 ; Yielder, 70 ; Potato, 67 ; and 

 Bountiful, 66. Major is the produce of a mixture, made locally in 

 1905, of Waverley, Wide Awake, Siberian, and Thousand Dollar. The 

 produce of this mixture has been grown each year since, and has 

 been noteworthy for its heavy and uniform crops. The earliest variety 

 was Yielder, which ripened from a week to a fortnight before Potato. 



A series of preliminary experiments have been carried out to ascer- 

 tain whether there is a probability of increasing the barley produce 

 of the north of Scotland by the introduction of superior varieties. Six 

 varieties were tested in 1909 in comparison with Common Barley and 

 St. Madoes, an old Perthshire variety. Plots of one-tenth acre were 

 sown on twelve farms at the rate of 2J million grains per acre, or 

 about 4! bushels per acre of Common Barley. The following are the 

 average crops of dressed grain in bushels per acre at eight centres 

 (the results from the other four centres were not considered reliable) : — 

 Invincible, 47 ; Danish Archer, 45 ; Maltster, 44 ; St. Madoes, 42 ; Gold- 

 thorpe, 42; Common, 41; Chevalier, 39; Eclipse, 37. Danish Archer 

 is considered to be the most valuable variety for the better barley 

 districts, but it is not suitable for cold or high land. It produces a 

 large quantity of straw as well as a heavy grain crop, and during the 

 three years for which these trials have lasted has each year given the 

 greatest total yield of grain and straw together. 



Varieties of Wheat and Oats (Holmes Chapel Coll. of Agric, Year- 

 Book, 1909). — Of ten wheats, White Stand-up and Red Stand-up gave 

 the heaviest yields of both grain and straw. Of eight varieties of 

 oats Thousand Dollar, Tartar King, and Triumph White, which were 

 all about equal, did best. 



Time of Sowing of Red Fife Wheat (Jour. South-Eastern Agric. 

 Coll., No. 18, 1909). — A trial was made of the effect of early and late 



