6 BULLETIN 823, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
EXPERIMENTAL DATA. 
While experiments with the Kherson and Sixty-Day oats were 
begun soon after their introduction into this country, these oats were 
not generally grown in varietal experiments in field plats until about 
1904. Within the following three or four years these varieties were 
generally included in varietal experiments by the agricultural ex- 
periment stations, particularly those in the corn belt and in the Great 
Plains area. Some of these experiments are still in progress, while 
others have been discontinued. Most of these experiments were 
continued long enough to furnish definite evidence regarding the 
adaptability of the variety to the locality. 
VARIETAL EXPERIMENTS IN THE EASTERN HALF OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
Kherson and Sixty-Day oats have been included in practically all 
the varietal experiments with spring oats conducted in the eastern 
half, or humid area, of the United States. Results obtained at 23 
experiment stations located in 17 States are presented herein. For 
the most part, these experiments have been conducted in the North- 
Atlantic, the east North-Central, and the west North-Central groups 
of States. 
The experiments at Ithaca, N. Y., Ames, Iowa, McPherson, Kans., 
and Brookings, S. Dak., have been conducted cooperatively by the 
United States Department of Agriculture and the State agricultural 
experiment stations of those States, respectively. The experiments 
at Orono, Me., Durham, N. H., State College, Pa., Wooster, Ohio, 
La Fayette, Ind., De Kalb, Fairfield, and Urbana, 111., St. Paul, 
Crookston, and Grand Rapids, Minn., Fargo, N. Dak., Lincoln, Nebr., 
Manhattan, Kans., Knoxville, Tenn., Carthage, Mo., Fayetteville, 
Ark., and Denton, Tex., have been conducted independently by the 
agricultural experiment stations of the respective States. 
In order to interpret experimental results properly, a knowledge 
of the principal physical factors influencing plant growth is essential. 
Such information as is available regarding these factors is shown in 
Table I. 
According to the data shown in Table I, the average annual pre- 
cipitation exceeds 40 inches at Orono, Me., Knoxville, Tenn., and 
Fayetteville, Ark. At the remaining stations except those in 
Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Nebraska, the average annual pre- 
cipitation is above 30 inches. Though occasional droughts occur, 
some of which are so long continued and so severe as to cause serious 
damage, the rainfall throughout this area is usually sufficient for 
crop growth. 
In most of the area under discussion summer temperatures are 
high. Except in New England and the Dakotas the mean tempera- 
