SELECTION OF SEED GRAIN.

Bruce Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 40, 23 May 1910, Page 4

SELECTION OF SEED GRAIN.

SOME USF/FUL HINTS. Tito seasons slip by with astonishing rapidity aiid it will not be very many months before sowing time is with us again, and the question of the selection of the seed jgrnin is one that has to be discussed in the meantime (says a writer in the Wairarapa 'Times'). Among the grains of most interest to tanners is the oat. It is hold by many fanners that locality has a strong iniluonco on this particular cereal, and this should, perhaps, be one of the lirst considerations in selecting seed for the next sowing. Experience has shown, so it is stated, that the best results are obtained from seed introduced from an earlier climate, and front better soils fJiau those in which it is to be sown. Having satisfied himself on this point, the farmer has next to .study its characteristics. This is a matter of considerable difficulty, but the selection is amply repaid, for any trouble he may be put to as to the relative value of the choice made will often make so much difference in the value of crop returns as to nearly pay the rent of the land on which they grew. Drain may be very excellent for milling purposes and yet not be very suitable for sowing. The miller's chief considerations are uniformity, color and weight of sample. Prolific Crops.

The farmer in quest of seed corn has to penetrate deeper into the antecedents of the sample before limii. His rcquiroMients are not met even if the corn he buys is of good weight and uniformly developed. Uniformity and heavy weight are not indicative of prolificacy :n the crop, nor are they signs of its .-(■■ producing capabilities. They have seen proved to bo the opposite, for the .lost milling samples are obtained from .iglit crops, and never from the rich-K-adod eight to ten quarter per acre •rop. The soil may be of the poorest, •nil the crop in unison with its condiion, yet the weight of the oats from them may be good, though the quantity .vill be small. There is an essential inference between the grain from a stunted ear and the grain from a protitle ear. The prolific ear develops the grains in pairs, and in certain varieties n triplets; whereas the stunted ear '.ovolops the grains singly, with the reult in the latter case that then 1 are 10 "bosom pickles," none of the small /rains which mark the prolific ear, and ii this circumstance lies the difference rliat must exist between grains from iroliiie and from stunted ears. The rains from stunted cars are generally

argo, ami in the selecting of seed a mistake is made in going in for big eeti. for almost vvvry seed lias had )'i it the abortive leaf that takes the dace of the bosom pickle in the grain rom the prolific car. Prize parcels are cry apt to have this defect, and such ■areel:- should not be bought for seed if .'Uautity per acre is required. Like • reduces like, and the progeny of such ouki be large seeds, owing to the ab- ■ !:.•.' of a fully-developed bosom pickle, e.it the yield per acre would be small.

•s the seed is from parc.'Ts that only er.Juccd single seed, while the other:;, hough not such a line-looking sample, re from twin-bearing strains. As in :.:;•: live stock department good breeding - noc(.-«-ary to the maintenance of qual■ly and icrcility. so it is equally necosary in the plant life of the farm. Pedigree in plants is quite as important as n animals, and jus+ as cattle or horses :o not always carry tin ir pedigree on "heir backs, so the seeding properties >f oats cannot always be estimated by .he appearance of the sample. Soou", Us'.ful Samples.

Irregularity in size is a feature of the ;ample taken from the crop of prolific Dili's, and the scars on the larger grains of the sample are a sign that twins have predoudnated in the crop. It is, of course, possible to make the grains from a prolilic crop uniform by dressing; bat 'nvostigations have shown that the reaiovii] of the small pickles does not improve the sample for sowing purposes, iilthongli the weight per bushel is in"reascd. Crops of oats showing extra prolific car-bearing as well as the best of results in the threshing have been got by seeding seconds and the small pickles with the refuse seeds of weeds abstracted from the sample. When such are used for seed the farmer was making his selection from the best of ears, if it is desired to produce grain of a uniform quality and size, resorting io thick seeding will give the rosuitj as it naturally operates against prolific reproduction, and is only another proof !)f deterioration instead of an improvement for sccaing purposes. These arc some points worth the farmer's con'"'idei'ation when the duty of seed selection occupies his thoughts; but the most successful way of building up a strain of oats was not in the manner of the show exhibitor, but in selecting heads in the harvest time, Head selecting in the harvest time will improve any variety grown on the farm, and this, perhaps, is the (test method of improvement, as the variety most suitable for the climate and soil of one district may not give the same, results in another. The broad result of these observations is that the conditions of giowth should be inquired into before the purchase of seed and oats is elfected, and the purchaser should satisfy himself that the change of soil and climate, proposed should be conducive to its prosperity in the new locality.