244 
He Studied Oat Family-Trees 
The Story of How the Jefferson County No. 343 Oat Was Born 
By w. I. ROE 
American Agriculturist, October 11, 1924 
A LTHOUGH an oat kernel is a small thing 
/\ in itself, multiplied by millions and even 
/ ^ larger numbers as it affects the farmers 
of Northern New York, its influence 
is almost incalculable upon the various businesses 
and industries. Looking at the humble oat from 
this angle it assumes a new significance and the 
history of its family tree becomes of much im¬ 
portance. 
Jay D. Warner of Chaumont, Jefferson County, 
who has had about as much intimate contact with 
oat family-trees as any one farmer in 
this part of the State, finds that there 
is not only interest but profit as well 
in making a study of the idiosyn¬ 
crasies of oats, and has been follow¬ 
ing hlong lines of this kind for several 
years. The story of his work and 
its results reads almost like a fairy 
tale. 
In 1914 Mr. Warner became in¬ 
terested through discussions opened 
by the farm bureau and the State 
College of Agriculture at Ithaca, in 
securing greater returns for the labor 
that he was compelled to put on an 
acre of land in order to secure a crop 
of oats and decided to cooperate with 
these agencies in working out his 
problem. With the visit of the 
County agent, who at that time was 
F. E. Robertson, and Prof. H. II. 
Love to his farm at harvest time that summer, 
the initial step was taken. 
These men with Mr. Warner went through the 
best field of oats that was on the farm looking for 
oats heads that possessed the characteristics 
which would point to something better than the 
average. The variety used for the beginning of 
the work was known as American Beauty—a 
strain of the Banner variety well known all 
through the North Country for its vigor and 
productivity. As fast as a head was discovered 
that would meet the requirements—and the 
appearance of the straw was taken into consider¬ 
ation as well—it was picked and put into a sack. 
In this way several hundred heads were secured 
that represented the very best that the field 
afforded. 
One of the interesting things that came out in 
this work was the fact that oat flower is a self- 
fertilized flower and a black oat and a white oat 
can be grown alongside each other for many 
years without mixing in any way. This fact was 
taken advantage of by Mr. Warner in his work. 
The heads were taken in charge by the Depart¬ 
ment of Plant Breeding at Ithaca and were gone 
over very thoroughly, some that showed up rather 
poorly on close examination being removed. 
Despite this 600 heads passed the test and were 
threshed out for planting the following spring, the 
kernels from each head being put in an envelope 
by itself and given a number that would desig¬ 
nate all future progeny. 
The following spring Mr. Warner sowed the 
kernels from each head in a row side by side so 
that each would have an equal show with its 
neighbors. These 600 rows of oats were a great 
revelation in showing the habits of growth of oats. 
The progeny from each head all showed the same 
characteristics—one row would all be tall plants 
with long branching heads, another would be short 
plants and thick compact heads, and 
so on. Again Mr. Warner and Dr. 
Love and Mr. Robertson went through 
the selection process at harvest time, 
but this time picking only the best 
rows from the 600. Each row was 
harvested and kept separate and the 
grain threshed out and weighed. 
The following year oats from each 
of the best rows saved were planted 
side by side for comparison again. The 
same process was repeated for several 
years—as larger amounts of the best 
seed became available larger areas 
were planted until the few left were 
being planted under actual field 
conditions. 
After a particularly hard storm one 
day Mr. Warner noticed that one 
particular selection was standing up 
while the others were all practically 
flat. This strange characteristic attracted him 
immediately, for one of the things that caused 
severe loss in some seasons was the oats going 
down before harvest time. If he could get. an oat 
that would stay up when the others went down he 
felt that his work would have been of some actual 
value to farmers of New York State. 
The following year the same thing was noticed 
with the same oat not only at Mr. Warner’s farm 
(Continued on page 261 ) 
The Oat Crop is a Crop of the Cow Country. The field pictured here 
is situated in Delaware County, N. Y. 
Why the Holstein Appeals to Me as a Dairy Cow 
An American Agriculturist Wednesday Evening Radio Talk Broadcast from WEAF 
By C. F. BIGLER 
W ELL, before I begin this talk I must qualify. 
You know there are hundreds of speakers 
who tell you about farming and dairying (and 
during the fall campaign there will be many more) 
who never trespassed on a farm nor milked a cow. 
I am a dairyman who owns a herd and can pull 
the lacteal fluid into the pail. Do I know cows? 
Well, I have owned every kind and color—the 
Jerseys and Guernseys whose calves you have to 
watch for months lest the cats catch them—the 
Brown Swiss with her Buffalo ap¬ 
pearance and the stately Ayrshire, 
second only to the goat in climbing 
but lacking in his tin-can appetite, and 
last but not least the Holstein—my 
Holstein, the real dairy cow. And 
why did I choose her? I must tell 
y° u u 
First, she is beautiful with her coal 
black and pure white coat; second, 
she is sociable, always talking to you 
with her large mellow eyes, and third, 
she is kind and companionable, since 
for generations she lived under the 
same roof with her masters and their 
families in her native land. 
Why do dairymen keep cows any¬ 
way? Simply because it is their busi¬ 
ness and they want that which will return to them 
the greatest net income. Will the Holstein cow 
do it? I say she will and Lhave proof. Dairying 
has become a science and only by weighing milk 
and testing for butterfat do we know whether a 
cow is an asset or a boarder. And what is the 
result of these tests? A Holstein cow holds the 
championship of all breeds for a year’s milk record 
of 37,391.4 lbs. in 365 days. Fifty-five other Holstein 
cows made over 30,000 lbs. of milk in a year and 
no cow of any other dairy breed ever approached 
it. Eighty-five Holstein cows have made over 
1,250 lbs. of butter per year while only nineteen of 
all other breeds have equaled it, or in other words, 
four out of every five cows to make this record 
were Holsteins. IJolsteins average 60% greater 
milk production than all other breeds and it is 
therefore not to be wondered that 60% of all the 
dairy cows in the United States are Holsteins. 
With this great production they are also eco¬ 
nomical. They will consume and cofiver^ mto 
milk and butter a greater amount of roughage, 
hay, silage and pasture grass than any other breed. 
They .-are large and healthy and yhen through 
producing milk are converted into beef at a 
profit. Their calves are more easy to raise than 
any other breed and it is not ap uncommon sight 
to see a Holstein cow kept as, a wet nurse for 
calves from the smaller dairy breeds. 
I do not want my audience to gain from this 
talk that all dairy cows produce these large 
amounts of milk and that dairy farmers are just 
swimming in milk. With 2,000,000 cows in this 
State, producing as our champions do, you would 
not have to depend on Hydro-electric power from 
Niagara but would have Lacto-electro power from 
the farms and still have all of the milk, ice cream, 
butter and cheese you now consume. The fact 
is that the average dairy cow in the State gives 
from 4,000 to 5,000 lbs. of milk per year, so with 
the great production of Holsteins you can see how 
small the production of the scrubs and other dairy 
breeds must average. 
If a dairy farmer makes a profit his 
cows must make an average of 8,000 
lbs. of milk per year, so when you are 
using milk you must think of someone 
somewhere producing it at a loss at 
present prices. Cities can thrive 
only as agricultural districts thrive 
and so as a consuming public you can 
lend a hand in agricultural prosperity 
if you help the dairyman to eliminate 
this unprofitable cow. How can you 
do this? By asking your milk man 
to bring you Holstein milk and soon 
I will tell you why. 
I believe I have convinced any 
thinking person that my choice of 
the Holstein as a dairy cow was right, 
but there are other reasons why she appeals to me. 
If she is to gain in popularity she must be an out¬ 
standing figure to a consuming public. As dairy¬ 
men we cannot succeed by large production alone. 
We must have our consumers satisfied that we 
are giving them the best and that in using Hol¬ 
stein milk they are getting health, strength and 
vitality. 
An appeal has been made to the consuming 
public by the owners of other breeds which give 
yellow milk to watch the cream line—an appeal 
(Continued on page 261 ) 
The Same Old Fight 
H ERE again is the old scrap among dairymen about which is the 
best dairy breed. Mr. Bigler, Secretary * of the New York 
Holstein-Friesian Association, certainly believes in the Holstein 
breed and he says so emphatically. Owners of other breeds, when 
they read this, will feel like saying some emphatic things also, so we 
are going to give them the chance. We expect to invite officers of 
other leading dairy breeds to give radio talks during the winter on 
why they prefer their particular breed. 
In the meantime, if you get real “het up” when you read this, tell 
us in a short letter why your breed is best, and so far as we have room,. 
we will publish the letters. . 
The attention of our radio audience is called to the fact that the 
American 'Agriculturist-WEAF Wednesday evening farm program 
starts at 7:50 P.M., instead of 6:50 as it did during the Hummer. 
