12 BULLETIN 297, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
harrow and disk harrow, pulverize the soil to a greater extent and 
increase the danger from soil blowing. 
The only varietal tests here reported which were not conducted on 
fallowed land are those with oats, barley, and flax in 1913. The 
varietal test of oats was on corn ground, which was disked and har- | 
rowed into geod condition before seeding. The barley varieties were 
grown on land cropped to wheat the previous season, which was 
plowed about 10 inches deep soon after the wheat was taken off and 
was worked down with disk and harrow immediately after plowing. 
The flax varieties were sown on land on which small grain was grown 
in 1912, the preparation being the same as that for barley. 
The rate-of-seeding test with spring wheat in 1910 and with oats 
in 1913 and the date-of-seeding test with flax in 1913 were on land 
on which corn was grown the previous year. The land was disked 
and harrowed but was not plowed before seeding. The rate-of-seeding 
test with spring wheat in 1913 was on land cropped to small grain 
the preceding season and prepared the same as that for the barley 
varieties. 
RATES AND DATES OF SEEDING. 
The usual rate of seeding for spring wheat has been from 4 to 5 
pecks to the acre; for winter wheat, 3 pecks; for oats, 6 pecks; for 
barley, 5 pecks; and for flax, 2 Snaaiee 
Spring grains have been sown as early as seemed practicable, seldom 
before April 1 or later than April 15. Winter grains have been sown 
at what was thought to be the most favorable date each year. This 
has usually been between September 15 and October 1. 
NURSERY EXPERIMENTS. 
The nursery tests at Newell have included varieties newly intro- 
duced and those of which there-was not sufficient seed for sowing in 
the field plats, and also pure-line selections from the better commer- 
cial varieties. The latter has been the most important feature of 
the nursery work. The varieties and selections have been grown in 
short rows, thus making possible the economical testing of a very 
much larger number of varieties and races than could have been 
included in the plat tests. 
NATURE OF THE WORK. 
Although the improvement of the cereal crops by selection has 
required a considerable outlay of time and money, the results are 
less than were expected at the outset. This is due to several causes, 
the most important of which are the partial or complete crop failures 
resulting from the extremely dry seasons. ‘This has prevented 
sufficient increase of the more desirable strains for a thorough test in 
