CEREAL EXPERIMENTS AT DICKINSON, N. DAK. 4] 
TABLE XXI.—Results of milling and baking tests and yield of grain per acre of 
unselected Ghirka wheat and of five pure-line selections from it grown at 
Dickinson, N. Dak., in 1918. 
Cleaned : 
Actual are Protein r Loss | 
Variety. yield | We@ht | in wheat | of aor, | Mmill- |Veicat’| Color. | Aes 
per acre. | yu shel. (N. X5.7). ing. | 
Bushels. | Pounds. | Per cent. | Per cent. | Per cent. Cxc PRE Cha EaCe: 
Ghirka, unselected...........- 30 64.3 13. 88 69.6 Oe OM ee? OME || 292550 ee 9ieo 
Gini a NO seas eyo es 35.6 65 14. 36 TL. 2 3.35 |. 2,450 | 96 94 
CMI KORNO sph OS ihe cena ee a= Dents 64 15.28 69.1 4.5 2,265 | 96 93 
GintinkcayNios2 95s soa hes ee 33.2 63.5 15. 62 67.5 Cal 1,790 | 94 86 
Galilee NIOE sila cis eee 38 65.5 15.28 70.1 4.17 1, 985 90 92 
Gian eaINO si G Gb pee ee? aie 35.2 65 14.76 72.4 1.46 2,097 95 93.5 
CROSSES. 
Attempts to originate new and better cereal varieties by means of 
hybridization have been made at Dickinson. Work has been done 
with both natural and artificial crosses. It is probable that crosses 
occur naturally in the cereal crops, especially wheat, more often than 
is usually supposed. A number of field crosses of wheat selected from 
the varietal plats have been planted in the nursery at Dickinson. 
These have broken up in the next generation, and the many different 
types have been replanted. Several pure lines have been segregated, 
but none have been of any economic value. Artificial crosses have 
been made with both spring and winter wheat and with barley. With 
spring wheat the object of the work is to increase the milling quali- 
ties of the Ghirka variety by crossing it with Red Fife and other 
good milling wheats and still to retain its earliness and high yield. 
The barley crosses have been made between Hannchen and several 
other varieties, the purpose being to obtain earlier and taller varieties. 
Most of the crosses, however, have been made with winter wheat, 
with the object of increasing their hardiness or winter resistance. The 
theory that a part of the offspring of crosses between two medium- 
hardy strains of one variety or of different varieties will exceed the 
parents in winter resistance if they follow the ordinary Mendelian 
laws in*respect to this character, as they do with other characters, 
was developed independently by. Nilsson-Ehle* and by Waldron.’ 
This work has been under way at Dickinson for three years. In 1911 
and 1912 crosses were made on over 3,000 individual wheat flowers. In 
1913 about 1,300 individual crosses were.made. The seeds from these 
crosses are planted 3 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart. Twenty 
seeds of each parent are planted in rows on either side of the crossed 
1 Nilsson-Ehle, Herman. Kreuzungsuntersuchungen an Hafer und Weizen. Jn Lunds 
Uniy. Arsskr., n. f. afd. 2, bd. 5, no. 2, 122 p., 1909. 
2 Waldron, L. R. Increase in hardiness. In N. Dak. Agr. Exp. Sta., Dickinson Sub- 
Hxp. Sta., 3d Ann. Rpt., p. 33, 1910. 
Waldron, L. R. Breeding certain field-crop plants in the cold northwest. Jn Amer. 
Breeders’ Assoc. Ann. Rpt. 8, 1911, p. 434, 1912. 
