Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-02-11
'soME DAT BREED
EXPERIMENTS

Results from the W VI a SoA
on at Aroostook Farm
Early Versus Medium Early
Varieties for Aroostook
County-The Medium in the
Lead.
! Orono. Ne. Feb. l0-The following
was issued this afternoon from the
Office Of Charles D. Woods. director
Of the Agricultural Experiment sta
ton at the University OF Maine:
! TIE adaptabii!t: Of crop to 10
cality depends upon the climatic ana
soil environment and the relation OF
the crop TO the farm program Inc
climate and sol! OF Aroostook Coun-
!!ty are well adapted to the cultivation
i Of the standard varieties OF the
Northeastern oat district Which
yields a plump, white, smooth gram
Of the very best quality. The reia-
ton of the oet crop 20 the crop plan
in Aroostook. however. is affected bT
the fact that oats are not the main
crop and their harvest must precede
the harvesting of the chief crop OF
the county. the potato. This circum-
stance in conjunction with the snort
ness of the growing season has led
the majority Of Aroostook farmers 20
iadopt quite early oat varieties which
could be harvested before potato dig
Ying comes On.
! In undertaking its oat improve
nent work al Aroostook Farm the
Maine Agricultural Experiment sta
ton Was confronted by the problem
Of developing cat strains that would
conform TO the geners-! demands Tor
early maturity and Yet give satisfac-
tory yields. Preliminary trials with
medium early and fairly late varie-
ties introduced from Highmoor Farm
indicated that certain oat varieties
ditions in the south central part Of
the State. are not suited to ARGOS
took conditions. Consequently. the
oat improvement work at Aroostook
Farm was directed toward selecting
strains out of oat varieties success
fully grown in Aroostook County.
Several hundred plants were selected
from local Aroostook grown oat va
rieties comprising two groups. early.
chiefly white Russian. and medium
early strains of the Great Dane and
other varieties. These strains were
each grown in separate rows in the
cereal crop nursery at Aroostook
Farm in 1915. Through successive
propagation of the best retained
strains there was enough seed in
1917 to test Is Of them in leo acre
plots. The average yield of the very
early white Russian strains was 81
bushels while that of the medium
early varieties was 40 bushels per
acre. In 1918 two Of the best early
white Russian strains were tested in
lao acre plots against a number of
medium early strains of the Great
: Dane and Ligowo. The two White
Russian strains yielded 80 and AIS
bushels per acre. respectively, while
the average yield Of the medium sea-
son strains was 6S bushels per acre.
In the same year s of the other
White Russian strains were tested in
Ito acre plots against a Standard
medium early variety. The former
yielded "a and the latter 50 bushels
per acre. In 1919 six of the medium
early strains Of the Great Dane and
] OF Ligowo were tested in Ito acre
plots against a standard medium
carly strain introduced from the CEN
trail part of the State. While the
absolute yield in 1919 was severely
cut down by the dry weather in the
early part OF the summer, the rela-
tive yield of the medium early strains
originally selected from Aroostook
oats was "a per cent higher than that
OF the strain from the central part of
the State.
These results clearly show that the
:meoium early strains have consist
entity outyielded the early strains.
They further indicate that some of
the medium early strains selected
from local Aroostook oat varieties
are not only equal to but. at least un-
der the growing conditions Of 1919
even surpass the strains DEVELOPED in
the central part of the State.
| The medium early varieties were
found to outyield the early varieties
oy to IL bushels per acre. This very
isignif1cant superiority speaks strong
~ for the adoption of medium early
varieties. Against this ADVANTAGE
stands out the later maturity of
these varieties by to DAYS as COM
pared with the early varieties. How
ever, If the oats are sown between
the 10th and 18th OF May, as is gem
orally possible under Aroostook cor
oitions, the crop is sure to mature
carly enough so that under nronsr
management it will be harvested and
hauled in before the preparations for
the harvest Of even the earliest pota-
toes begin. Our experience at the
Aroostook Farm. where 50 to 3,
acres OF the medium early Maine $40
oats are annually grown, is that this
crop Is hauled in and even threshed
out considerable time before the
beginning Of the potato harvest. NOT
withstanding the fact that the hand.
ling Of this crop which is entirely
used for seed. involves more care and
time than under ordinary farm con.
ditions
It may, therefore. be concluded
that the medium early oat varieties
I are superior in point Of yield to the
Tighter early varieties. and that they
can be grown without interfering
! 10 hor..o~<