Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-12-14
AMONG THE FARMERS.
"sr1nD THE PLow,
Maine ;34o Oat.

Maine $40 Oat.
The Maine Agricultural Experiment
Station has been carrying on investIgs.
tions with oats for more than 80 years.
Ten years ago oat breeding studies were
begun. At the present time this work
is In progress both at Highmoor Farm
and ct Aroostook Farm. The great
difference In climatic and soil conditions
between these two regions OF the state
make 1t necessary to carry on this work
at the two farms to large extent inde-
pendently. Any results obtained ct one
farm must at. least be verified ct the
other before recommendations can be
made.
At the beginning of this work on each
farm 1t has been necessary to carry out
variety tests In order to find the varieties
best adapted to the local conditions. In
this work over 80 commercial varieties
have been tested at Highmoor and about
20 varieties at Aroostook.
The next step In this work has been
to attempt to develop new varieties
which would be still better adapted to
our conditions than any of the com.
mercial varieties 30 far obtained. The
first method used In this attempt was
the so-called pure line selections. This
consists In isolating single plants from
some of the better varieties and then
growing the seed OF each plant separate
ly. These strains or pure lines are then
tested for yield, strength of straw, etc.,
and only the best retained.
Several hundred of these pure lines
houa hoan oro-n NJ Arnnat0olr To.,,,
and Highmoor Farm. Twelve of the
most promising Of the pure lines of
these were, selected for distribution
about four years ago. As the Station
could only handle In large amounts
single line Maine $40 was selected az on
the whole being the best. But some of
these other lines, notably Maine 357, are
highly priced by growers In certain Sec
tions of the state.
Maine $40 is pure line selected from
the commercial variety, Irish Victor. 1t
is medium early strain, of high stool
ing power, and possessing an exception
ally stiff straw. 1t has spreading pan.
icle, with somewhat dropping branches,
the main axis extending upright and
being rich In spikelets at the top. 1t
has white to pale yellow grain which
is nearly cylindrical, we'll filled and
bluntly pointed. The glumes are smooth
and lustrous, and practically beardless.
Maine $40 has high kernel weight, q
high weight per bushel, and relatively
low hull percentage. 1t has very stiff
straw, and shows relatively small
amount of variation in the yield. The
yield varies from 65 to s5 bushels per
acre when grown under good field con.
ditions. 1t averaged for three years to
yield 9.3 bushels per acre more than Its
parent variety, Irish Victor.
Maine $40 has been grown BY many
farmers. In 1920 judging from the
amount of seed that is known to have
been sold, several thousand acres were
grown. In tests (not conducted by the
Station) 81 farmers found that they
obtained on the average more than 13
bushels greater yield with Maine $40
than with the oats they had been in the
habit Of growing and which they grew
In demonstrations In comparison with
Maine $40. Doubtless there were at
least 10000 more bushels of oats grown
In Maine In 1920 than would have been
grown II Maine $40 seed had not been
used. II Names whole oat acreage of
about 100000 acres had been sown to
Maine $40, the Increased yields In 1920
alone would have paid the whole cost of
the Maine Agricultural Experiment Sta
tion for the S5 years of its existence.
Obviously 1t is for the interest of any
grower Of oats to improve his seed.
Many of the commercial pure lines are
far better than the seed many farmers
are using. Some of them, like Early
Pearl, stand high as producers. Not all
commercial named varieties are suited
to Maine conditions. The Senator for
instance Is poor yielder in this state.
The Station urges farmers to buy good
oat seed and buy 1t early. The Station
has limited amount of Maine $40 for
sale. All of its growing is free from
weed seeds and has high termination.
As pointed out In recent letter In
this series somatic changes due to euvi.
ronment are not inherited. Hence pure
line oats grown on q field that gave q
small yield will make as good seed as
the same line grown on field giving q
large yield. The superintendent of one
OF the Station farms did not believe this
to be fact. And 80 we grew at that
farm, Just to convince him, Maine $40
oats from fields giving large yields and
fields giving poor crop. No differences
in the crops from the two sources of
seed could be detected.
For any one who has, what he knows
to be, unmixed Maine $40 oats the
Manifestation will make purity and ger.
minstion tests free of charge and will
place the name and address Of the grow
or, the quality of the seed and It's price
in list that will be sent all people writ
Ing the Station for seed oats. The sam
pie should be taken so as to fairly repre-
sent the whole lot of cleaned oats as
they are ready for sale, should be not
less than one pint and should be sent by
parcel post at as early date as practi-
cable to the Maine Agricultural Expert
ment Station, Orono, Maine. The send
or should put his name on the package
and write the Station when the sample
Is sent stating the number of bushels for
sale and the price ssked.-Chas. D.
Woods, Director.
| December Milk Prices.
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