
117 
TILLERING IN CEREAL GROWTH. 
What is termed tillering in some localities, stooling in 
others, or both, in the same region, is the development of 
shoots or suckers from the root or base of the culm of the 
plant. This characteristic 1s especially striking in the grass 
family, a cluster of many shoots arising from a common 
center, at or near the surface of the ground. Among our 
agricultural plants, barley, oats, rye and wheat are the 
ones most given to tillering. In these classes of plants are 
many varieties, possessing certain habits and modes of 
growth, and having special developments peculiar to them- 
selves as individuals. In tillering is this essentially true 
and of so great importance does the grain erowing farmer 
consider the tillering in the varieties he wishes to grow, 
that this feature has great weight with him in the selection 
of the variety. Other things being equal, if one variety 
produces five stalks on an average, to another’s ten, the 
latter will prove far more profitable for the farmer to grow. 
With a view of obtaining comparative figures of the _tiller- 
ing habit in our cereal varieties, barley, oats, rye and wheat 
were planted under conditions best adapted to this study. 
Though these conditions were not such as are found in the 
field, considering that the varieties had equal treatment in 
every way, the figures resulting have just as great a rela- 
tive value as they would have had, had the plants been 
under field culture. The seed was.sown in rows two feet 
apart, each grain being placed six feet apart in the row. 
‘The winter wheat varieties, owing to the srverity of winter, 
suffered from cold, and the plants did not attain the robust 
development often seen, yet this did not interfere with 
their completing their growth, tillering well, and producing 
large, stout heads. The barley, oats and rye were restrict- 
ed in no way in making a perfect development. The fol- 
lowing tables give the number of plants counted of each 
variety, the one producing the maximum number of shoots, 
the minimum number, and the average number from all 
the plants. The varieties are placed in alphabetical order, 
and in cases where different names are the same variety, a 
duplicate numeral is used to designate the same. Noculms 
@ere counted that did not produce a panicle. 
