Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1912-10-01
lmproylnx the Oat Crop.


Seed improvement Ia the keynote 0i
progress in agriculture to-day, so far as
concerns production. 1t IL everywhere
coming to be more and more clearly rec
oguizsd that the character Of the seed Ia
q factor Of the very first importance In
determining what the returns from any
crop will be. No amount of fertilizing
or cultivation will bring big crop un-
less the seed used bears in its innate be-
reditary constitution the qualities
which make for high productiveness.
In connection with the oat variety test
work of the Maine Experiment Station,
experiments have been In progress for
two years and are being continued In
1912 in the breeding of improved strains
of oats. This work is being carried for
ward along two general lines. The first
If these is what has been called the meth
cd of "pure line'' selection. The other
10 through hybridizati0n.
The oat is q self-fertilized plant and It
is therefore simple matter to isolate
from it strains which are pure in respect
to their inherited characteristics and
will continue to breed trne for an indef-
mite period. From the oat variety test
plots grown at Highmoor Farm in 1910,
there were selected over 500 individual
oat plants, representing number Of diff
ferent varieties. These selected plants
represented the cream Of the oats in the
field. They were the 500 best oat plants
to be found that year. These were Sc
lected in the field, carefully labelled and
weighed, measured and studied in tho
laboratory as to their desirability with
the greatest precision and care. As re-
suit of this laboratory measurement and
study, more than half of the 500 selected
plants were discarded as not coming up
to the standards set, either in respect to
Weld or strength OF straw or some other
charact teristic. The remaining selected
plants, about 200 in number, we're plant
ed at Highmoor in 1911 on the "head
row" system. By this system the grains
from a single plant are planted in sim
gle row by themselves, thus inaugurating
a pedigree line. At the end of the sea-
son, each of these head rows was har-
vested and measured, weighed and
threshed separately. Then careful notes
were made ON the quality of the grain
aud q general appraisal made Of the
worth of these selections. As result
of this study, more thau half again were
discarded. From the original 500 Sc
lections made in 1910, there will be prob
agatsd in 1912 only about 80. This will
indicate the degree of the sorting and se-
lecting which has been carried on, grad
ually wedding out the poorest and keep
ing the best. These 80 final selections,
each of which represents the progeny OF
a single plant grown In 1910, will in the
summer OF 1912 be grown at Highmoor
in plots having an area of 10000 of an
acre each. In this way these selections
will be subjected to still further test and
at the same time sufficient amount of
seed will be obtained from those which
prove to be the best for propagation in
1918 on q much more extended scale.
Some idea of the quality Of these so So
lections that are being planted this year
NAV be gained from the fact that no row
was selected for further propagation in
1912 that did not yield An ounce or more
of grain per plant In the season Of 1911.
That 10 to say, of the 80 odd strains of
oats which are being propagated at High
moor in this breeding work every single
one yielded last year at the rate of one
pound Of threshed grain for every 16
plants, or more than this. Some of the
selections yielded at considerably high
or rate than this In 1911. The prospect
Of this oat breeding work producing va
rieties which will give the farmer of
Maine very much better average crop
of oats than he has now, which amounts
only to 80 or 40 bushels to the acre, is
certainly bright.-Chas. D. Woods, Di-
rector, Orono, Me.