30 
BULLETIN 1039, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
maturity 11 days earlier than Swedish Select and 18 days earlier 
than White Eussian. The average height of Kherson was 1 inches 
less than that of the other two varieties listed. The proportion cf 
grain to straw also is much higher in the Kherson than in the other 
varieties. The Sixty-Day and other early varieties have given about 
the same data in the experiments as are shown for Kherson. 
to 
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35 
Fig. 10. — Diagram showing the average yields, in bushels per acre, of three varieties of 
I oats on dry land at the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm for the 12-year period from 
1908 to 1910, inclusive. 
In 1907. two plats of Boswell Winter oats, C. I. Xo. 480, were 
sown. Only a small percentage of the plants survived the winter, 
but these tillered so freely that a yield of 28.5 bushels per acre was 
obtained. This variety was again sown in 1908 and 1909, but winter- 
killed entirely each year. Winter oats are not sufficiently hardy for 
western South Dakota. 
Table XIX. — Average agronomic data for three varieties of oats grown on dry 
land on the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm, 1908 to 1919, inclusive. 
CI. 
No. 
Date of— 
Height. a 
Weight 
per 
bushel. a 
Yields per acre. 
Variety. 
Head- 
ings 
Ripen- 
ing.** 
Grain.'- 
Straw, c 
Kherson 
459 
134 
551 
July 2 
July 11 
July 19 
July 23 
Aug. 3 
Aug. 10 
Inches. 
24 
28 
28 
Pounds. 
30.4 
29.8 
31.3 
Bushels. 
29.7 
24.7 
23.0 
Pounds. 
1,131 
1,330 
1,492 
; a Average for 9 years (1908 to 1910, 1912, 1913, 1915 to 1917, and 1919). 
; b Average for 12 years, 1908 to 1919, inclusive. 
c Average for 10 years, 1908 to 1913, 1915 to 1917, and 1919. 
NURSERY EXPERIMENTS. 
The growing of head selections of oats was begun on the Belle 
Fourche Experiment Farm in 1908, from selections made at the 
Highmore (S. Dak.) substation in 1907. Other selections were added 
later, so that a considerable number have been tested. The two most 
promising selections made at Highmore were included in the plat 
experiments at Newell in 1912, one of which, Xo. 165-566, has been 
continued in the plats each year. As the average yield of this strain 
is slightly less than that of the parent variety, it is apparent that 
nothing was accomplished in the improvement of oats by selection. 
