14 BULLETIN 402, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
were grown the following season in longer rows. In the longer rows 
the race was checked against the parent variety or some other variety 
used as the standard. After one or two seasons’ test, all those that 
failed to excel the check were discarded. Several hundred selections 
have been tested in this way. 
At first it was thought that further improvement might result 
from selection within pure lines. Several hundred selections were 
made, but no superior races have been isolated and the practice has 
been discontinued. 
Races that proved superior in nursery rows were sown in increase 
plats in order to get seed for advancing the test to field plats. A 
few of the races thus isolated now rank with the best varieties in 
their respective groups. 
INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS. 
The best variety or method of culture is the one which on the 
average will produce the highest acre value at the least cost. None 
of the varieties or methods of culture tested have fulfilled all these 
requirements for each of the years tested. Some varieties have held 
secondary positions for two or three years, and yet in the average 
for the 8-year period they rank among the first. The best variety 
or method, presumably, is that one which gives the best average 
during a series of years, provided the seasons are representative. 
In actual practice, however, the problem is more complicated than 
would appear from thisstatement. The variation in soil from place to 
place, the changes in climatic factors from year to year, and especially 
at critical times during the period of cereal growth, and the adapta- 
bility of the different varieties to the Renee conditions must all be 
taken into account. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH WHEAT. 
Experiments with wheat at the Akron Field Station have included 
plat and nursery tests of both winter and spring varieties. In addi- 
tion to varietal tests there have been date-of-seeding and rate-of- 
seeding experiments with winter wheat and rate-of-seeding experiments 
with spring wheat. 
Wheat has occupied a major position in the cereal tests. It is the 
cash crop of the district. Its acre value is equal to or greater than 
that of other cereals, and there is always a market for the grain. 
Considerable time has been devoted to developing improved strains. 
Two or three of the hundreds of selections made are proving superior 
to the parent stocks. The work of first importance, however, has 
been the testing of varieties. 
