i ii ii ■■■ inn nun in in ii inn mil mil in ii mil in ii mi mi 
TESTS OF SELECTIONS OF OATS. 7 
Burt or from a hybrid of these two varieties, 18 were pure lines of 
Sixty-Day or were selections from hybrids in which that variety 
was a parent, 6 were pure lines from Burt or selections from hybrids 
containing that variety, and only 3 represented neither variety. It 
is apparent, therefore, that Sixty-Day and Burt are valuable varieties 
for central Illinois, a conclusion which is in agreement with varietal 
tests at the Illinois experiment station. 
COMPARISON OF SELECTIONS FROM HYBRIDS AND COMMERCIAL VARIETIES. 
In 1907, 82 selections from commercial varieties exceeded 419 selec- 
tions from hybrids in average yield to the acre by 2.57 bushels, or 
5.59 per cent. In 1908, 69 selections from commercial varieties aver- 
aged 0.07 bushel, or 0.18 per cent more than 378 selections from 
hybrids. In all the 948 tests made in the two years, 151 pure lines 
from commercial varieties averaged 1.56 bushels, or 2.69 per cent 
more than 797 selections from hybrids. Of the 228 strains which 
were tested both years, however, 51 pure lines from commercial 
varieties averaged 0.56 bushel, or 1.24 per cent, less than 177 selec- 
tions of hybrid parentage. Of the 10 highest yielding strains, 7 were 
selections from commercial varieties and 3 were from hybrids, while 
of the 25 highest, 13 were from commercial varieties and 12 from 
hybrids. This slight superiority for the selections from commercial 
varieties over those from hybrids is probably due largely to the fact 
that a large proportion of the former were from two varieties par- 
ticularly suitable to central Illinois, Sixty-Day and Burt, while one 
or both parents of many of the hybrids were varieties not so fully 
adapted to the conditions. 
TESTS AT THE IOWA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The cooperative investigations for the improvement of the oat crop 
by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station and the Bureau of 
Plant Industry were begun in 1903. In the earlier years of the co- 
operation a study was made of the general conditions and methods 
of production. In 1907, 66 of the better strains from the oat nursery 
at McLean, 111., were secured for testing. When the work at McLean 
was discontinued in 1909, the strains retained from the earlier trials 
at that place, 381 in all, were added to the nursery at Ames, Iowa. 
CONDITIONS OF THE TESTS. 
The plats used in all nursery tests at the Iowa station have each 
been confined to an area of 30 square feet. Each selection is planted 
in duplicate in rows 15 feet long and 1 foot apart. These rows are 
the unit of the nursery. Each is maintained as a separate plat until 
thrashing time, when the duplicates are united and yields and other 
