EXPERIMENTS WITH OATS.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14667, 16 May 1913, Page 5

EXPERIMENTS WITH OATS.

AT LINCOLN COLLEGE.

Almost exactly a year ago some experiments with different varieties of oats wero initiated at tao Canterbury Agricultural College, the work being ) carried out under tho supervision of Dr. F. \V. the lecturer on at the College. Tlio idea of tho experiment was to try an<l find out what particular variety of oat pave the best all-round results, firstly, as .-1 winter or spring feed, secondly as a yieldor of grain, and, lastly, as straw. ! There were sixteen varieties of onts i sown, as follows:—(1) Black Scotch, ! CJ) Joanpttp. Vi) Algerian, U) Gartens, i (o) iSparrowbili, (0) Potato, (7) Kent : hirlie. (S> Sandy, (9) Island Magee. j Uo> Rl.-.fk Tartar, (11) !*»»■% 12) i i Wh'ie Tartar, (1:5) Black Excelsior. (II) ! r.nuiier. (lo) Danish, (lt>) Canadian. I Tho sowing was done in May, 1912, !in a twenty-live aero paddock, and I the areas of the different varieties of ! o.'ils ranßixl from ono to two acres. Ewes and lar.ibs were turned in about September 12th, and in a very short timo thero was some instructive eri- , denco as to tho like.s and dislikes of I tho sheep. In almost less than a I week, somo of the varieties had been ! eaten down bare to the ground, whilo i others had boon untouched, although, ;to the oyi». they looked excellent feed. ; Tho Gatlon oats had been eaten bare, and tho liking ol the sheep for this I variety was well shown whero other} varieties had accidentally encroached upon the Cartons in drilling, for tho strangers had been left severely alone. Tho Island Mageo received a fair amoiint of attention, bnt tho Black Tartars woro hardly touched. Tho Sandy oat was well eaten clown, Thins wero rather neglected. Kent Birb'o almost untouched, Whit© Tartars wero woU eaien, and the Potato oats had not received much attention. Tho Black Excelsiors had been sown with a thick seeding and a thin seeding (tho former by mistake), and whero tho seeding bad been thick, tho sheep had hardly touched them, but where it was thin it had been fairly well eaten. The Algerian wero well oaten down, and so woro tho Banners, but tho Black Scotch woro hardly touched. Tho Danish were rather neglected, and ko •wero tho Joanetle. Tho Canadian woro not liked very much, and tho Sparrowbills were nearly untouched. Tabulating theso results, it is found that, roughly, the oate may bo placed in tho following order of merit as regards £rccn feed :— Gartons —Eaten bare. Whito Tartars —Well eaten down. Algerians—Well eaten down. Banners —Well eaten down. Sandy—Well eaten down. Island Ma gee—Fairly -well eaten. Black Excelsior (thin)— Fairly well eaten. T>uns —Fair. Potato —Fair. Danish—Fair. Joanettc—Fair. Canadian—lndifferent. Black Excelsior (thick) —Hardly touched. Black Tartar—Hardly touched. Kent Birlie —Hardly touched. . Black iScotch —Hardly touched. Sparrowbills—Practically untouched. Tho above results merely apply to the state of tlto paddock about one week after tho sheep had been turned into it, and may be taken as some evidence an to tho likes of sheep to particular varieties of, oats. Tho next stage" of the experiment was'the finding out of the grain yields of tho different, plots. After eating off,' tho paddock was shut and the crop allowed to oorao away. It was cut and stooked, and, later on, each plot was threshed separately, but as ifc was not found possible, tuvhig /lo the exigencies of other work on the fn.r;m, to get all tha plots in under similar conditions, 7)r. IJilgendorf says that not much reliance c:ui ba placed upon tho ultW mnie yields that were threshed out r.nd wo'jrbed. The following tablo shows how tho results actually panned out: — lilnck Tartars—63l bushels per aero. Gartons —57 bushels per acre. IKins —57 bushels per acre. Other Varieties —From 51 te 65 bushels per ucrc. The last phase of tho experiment is a rather striking one, which may bo fcpen by any ono. passing by tho College at present. To try and find out the . palatabiiity of tho straw, tho straw j from each of the plots was made into j a small stack, the line of sixteen stacks, all named, running parallel with the Lincoln-Snringston read. A herd of] cattle, numbering about twenty or so, ; v-ero turned into tho paddock, and the way they have tackled tho different straw stacks is instructive. They first went for the Black Excelsior, and practically ato that right out; then they turned their attention to tho Algerian rtraw, and demolished that. Then the straw from the Potato and Kent Birlie oats, the stacks of which wero eide-by-sido, was pol'shqd off, tho firsfcnaniod being slightly favoured, and tho Danish was the fifth stack eaten. L>r. Hilgendorf was rather afraid that the cattle, when turned in, would start at ono end of the line, und eat right alons, or that all tlio stacks -would ho patronised almost equally, in .which cas<3 little could bo deduced from the experiment, but, as a matter of fact, tho Black Excelsior straw stack was almost tlio farthest away from tho gate; then tho cattlo came right back along tho lino to the Algerians, which was tho third from tho gate, then to the middle of the line, whero tho Potato and Kent Birlie stacks were, and then almost right to the end, to tho Danish. They were not at all promiscuous in their feeding, and were evidently guided by their likes and dislfkes. As matters stand at present, tho palata-b-lity «f the straw from tho various jtfots, and the state of the stacks, see ids to be as follows: — B!ack Excelsior —Eaten right out. Algerian—Eaten right out. Potato —Practically finished. Kent Birlie —Nearly finished. Danish—Well eaten. Canadian Wei! eaten. Banner —Very fair. Sandy—Very fair. Black Scotch —Fair. Cartons- —Fair. Spcrrowbill—Fair. K!and —Fair. Black Tartar--Fair. Joancttf—Hardiv touched. T)r.iT=—Hardly tonchod. r Whito Tartar —Hardly touched. l«i.st yor , - it was iritended to go on '.villi a similar scries of experiments tin's sfji.son. but ihe. work of s'.'cd-yeleetion i< growing to Mich an extent that it v.i!] probably b<* ioinid impo«siblo to cr.ntiniK" on'tbr-o lines. Nevertheless, what has born done U certainly not without rntorfst. though Dr. Ililgendorf plainly says that he would not c?.re to raak" any <!oSnite statement as to the value of different varieties of cut's on the lyiah of merely ono season's trials.