12 
BULLETIN 
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
found that short rows can be sown by hand fairly rapidly, very uni- 
formly, and much more accurately than by machine. 
In the beginning of the work only one row of each strain was 
grown, but it was found that the same strain should be replicated in 
as many rows in different parts of the field as is feasible. Beginning 
in 1909, the different strains were replicated several times and have 
been each year since then. After trying different systems it has 
been decided to repeat each variety or strain 10 times, as an}- less 
number is considered too small. Since the average of all the rows is 
easily obtainable with 10 as a divisor, it makes it all the more desir- 
Fig. 3.— Oat nursery at the Cornell University experiment station, 1912. 
able to use tins number. Figure 3 shows the oat nursery at the 
Cornell experiment station in 1912. 
In regard to the use of short rows for the testing of strains, it 
may be said that of all the systems tried this method seems the 
most accurate. This is especially true on soil winch is very non- 
uniform. It is not safe to draw conclusions from one plat of a 
variety, as the plat may be very favorably or unfavorably located 
and the results influenced thereby. On this point attention may be 
called to the work of Dr. T. L. Lyon. 1 After comparing the errors 
obtained from rod rows and tenth-acre plats, he concludes: 
1 Lyon, T. L. A comparison of the error in yields of wheat from plats and from single rows in multiple 
series. Proceedings, American Society of Agronomy, v. 2, 1910, p. 38-39, 1911. 
