AUSTRALIAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 9 
parison was as accurate as is possible with grain varieties in rows. 
It will be noted from Table I that the Federation group of wheats with 
one exception exceeded 25 bushels per acre in yield. Only 3 other 
varieties (No. 8, C. I. No. 4722; Florence, C. I. No. 4988; and 
Viking, C. I. No. 5009) exceeded 25 bushels per acre, and only 24 
varieties other than the Federation wheats exceeded 20 bushels in 
acre yield in 1919. Federation, C. I. No. 4734, exceeded the average 
yield of the three highest yielding check rows of Early Baart by 7.2 
bushels per acre in 1919 and exceeded the yield of the highest yielding 
check row of Early Baart by 6.5 bushels. 
RESULTS AT CfflCO. 
The Plant Introduction Station is located in Butte County, Calif., 
in the Sacramento Valley, at an altitude of 189 feet. The soil is a 
sandy loam containing some gravel. Shallow spots, with outcropping 
lava rock, are common. Although not uniform, the soil is characteris- 
tic of a large portion of the wheat land of the Sacramento Valley, the 
best being used for fruit growing. The normal annual precipitation 
is 23.6 inches, most of it occurring from September to May. The 
wheat experiments have been conducted without irrigation, but 
either on summer fallowed land or following a crop of alfalfa or corn. 
At Chico the yields are computed from duplicate 16-foot rows 
in 1918 and from triplicate 16-foot rows in 1919. (Table I.) The 
average results for the two years show that 23 varieties exceeded 30 
bushels per acre in average yield. Hard Federation (C. I. No. 4733) 
was the highest yielding variety, averaging 37.9 bushels per acre. 
With but one exception (C. I. No. 4168), all strains of the Federation 
group were among the 23 highest yielding varieties. Of the other 
wheats, Viking (C. I. No. 5120) and Yandilla King (C. I. No. 4997) 
produced the highest yields, averaging 37.8 and 35 bushels per acre, 
respectively. 
In 1918 soil conditions were fairly uniform and good stands were 
secured except in a few cases where the seed was not viable or where 
only small quantities of seed were available. The highest yielding 
varieties (rows adjacent to vacant or thin rows not included) were 
those of the Federation group. 
In 1919 good uniform stands were secured. The soil conditions 
were fairly uniform except on one corner of the nursery, where a part 
of a replicated series was not harvested. Rainy weather in winter 
and early spring produced a heavy plant growth with conditions 
favorable for the spread of an infection of powdery mildew (Erysiphe 
graminis), which resulted in the lodging of practically 100 per cent 
of the crop in nearly all varieties. Yields consequently were reduced. 
Firbank (C. I. No. 5013) was the leading variety, with Hard Fed- 
eration (C. I. No. 4733) ranking fourth. 
183666°— 20— Bull. 877 2 
