The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-05-11
SMALL GRAIN.
BREEDING task.
IS ENLARGED.
State Experiment Stations
Five Years of Activity in
This Reviewed

The small grain breeding pro-
gram conducted by the agronom-
lists of the North Carolina Agri-
cultural Experiment station has
been greatly enlarged during the
past five years, and at the pres
ent time Is extensive in scope.
The improvement program with
wheat, oats and barley now under
way includes the testing of varie-
ties and new selections and the
use of the Adjudication method
for the creation Of new types Of
new combinations. liberalization
is being used more extensively
than formerly rs by this method
the good traits OF two o. more
varieties may be brought together
in one line. Illustrations of this
are seen i'm the combination %
the wintcr-hardircSS 81 one vari-
ETY. of oats and the disease resist
ancc of another. In certain lines
of oats now growing al the Pied
mont Branch Experiment station
farm near StatcSv!llc, i'm rcdcll
county. there are lines which are
carving resistance tO crown rust,
stem rust and smut.
The bulk of this small grain
work is conducted AT the Pied
mont Branch station in coopcra-
ton with the State Department
OF Agriculture. though part o. 1t
is carried on at the Central En-
pertinent station farm at State
college and certain of the tests,
especially those on wlnter-hardl-
ness. at the Mountain Branch
station near Salamanca in Bun
cOmbe county. The work az State
college is largely naturalization and
initial testing, while tests for
adaptation to the central Pied
mont are conducted at StateSville.
The distribution of this work IS
illustrated by the tests with
wheat. At the Central station
there is some new work in which
breeding for resistance 70 leaf
rust is the main objective. There
are in the nursery this year rs
hybridS between local and rust
resistant varieties. These have
been grown for from , 10 Z years
and are available for making new
selections as soon rs space Is
available for testing them. Al
ready several thousand selections
have been made from this mater
ial. Last year 949 new selections
were put out for the first time
for general observation. In addi-
ton TO these l55 are being cay
ried in a preliminary yield test.
A more advanced yield test has
been carried It StatcSville for
some time and certain of the bet
ter lines are now being increaS-
ed. In this group is a new strain
of Fuicastcr, one Of Leap and one
OF Purple Straw. The best OF
these is averaging 10 per cent
greater yield than our standard
varieties.
At the Mountain station there
is under way this year. for the
first time, cooperative. uniform,
winter-hardineSs test. Thirty va
rietieS are being used in this test;
the same set of varieties being
used at Il large number Of other
State experiment stations. Ordi-
narily, wiuter-kiliing of wheat is
not considered as an important
problem in North Carolina, and
vet in the western part of the
state il becomes quite serious in
certain years. especially when
non-hardy varieties are used. IL
is expected that through this test
information will be secured which
will lead TO the use of better
adapted varieties in the mountain
section.
WHEAT ACREAGE DOUBLED
The acreage in wheat in North
Carolina has nearly doubled dur