NELUENCE OF SEED SELECTTION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 38, Issue 966, 22 May 1908, Page 1

NELUENCE OF SEED SELECTTION.

How necessary it is for a farmer to exercise care in the selection 'sf the seed he commits to the - ground >is beingjncresingly demonstrated the last annual report of the Ontario Agricultural College contains a reminder on the subject. In the course of a series of ! experiments on the influence of seed 1 selection it was found that the large j seeds of oats produced about eight! bushels per acre more than • thei medium sized, seed and the medium j about 7J bushels more than the small j sized seed,' or an advance of over 15 i bushels per acre from the large as compared with the small seed. Averaging the results for each class , of crop,>it was found that the large seed surpassed the small by 19.1 per i cent for the grain crops, 40.3 per cent j for the rape/ and 60.1 per cent for the , root crops." * V ~' " " " In another experiment a comparison was made between plump and shrunk- j en seeds, of barley, spring wheat and winter wheat. In this case, none but . either plump or shrunken seed were j selected and the selections were made i regardless of the size of the kernels, j The same number of L seeds of the ' different selections for each class of i grain was taken, and the different lots ' were sown on plots of uniform size. The average of several years' j results show that' in weight of grain I per measured bushel and yield of both straw ana grain per acre, the large . piump seed "surpassed ihe shru-.ken I seed in eilery in averaging lan the results it wa& lound that i the- plump • sec-u" gave a yieid oi 20.2 per cent more than the shrunken seed., •Unless care isexercised a considerable amount of grain is frequently broken in the process of threshing,,. To ascertain " the. amount of injury done to the germination of trie grain by means of it being broken at the time of thresh--ing, experiments have been conducted "aV'igaSt-six- years, by'sowing- both sound and broken seed of barley, winter wheat and peas. The following gives the average yield of grain per I acre of each selection for each class'bf' crop : —Barley : sound seed, s.3Bbus, , broken seed 46bus, ; winter wheat : , seed, 46.9 bus, broken seed 9.3 bus ; peas : sound seed 29.2 bushels, broken seed 10.2 bus. As the barley near-ly I always breaks crosswise,- the germ is usually left uninjured.' In the case of winter wheat and. peas,- the t grain" ' usually breaks along the crease, and in many cases, the germ is either totally-" partally destroyed.