Rates of tillering were studied in 24 varieties of spring and durum wheat and 17 varieties of barley grown in the 1/40 acre varietal plats at University Farm, St. Paul, Minn., in 1931. No differences in the tillering rates of wheat plats were found which could be attributed to genetic differences in the varieties, since the variance between the average tillering rates was not statistically significant. However, a study of the partial correlation between tillering rates in series I and tillering in series II, holding stand constant, indicated that differences in tillering were associated with differences in stand. It is suggested that these differences in stand may have been due to differences in the number of seeds sown on unit areas, since the plats were sown at uniform rates by weight and the varieties varied somewhat in size of seed. No correlation was found between the tillering rates of wheat varieties in these trials and the lodging behavior of the same varieties at Morris in 1930. The 17 varieties of barley differed significantly in rates of tillering. These differences in tillering were not entirely associated with differences in stand. It is believed that these differences may be genetic. The breaking strength of wheat culms was determined by breaking 10 culms from each of the three plats of each variety. The differences in breaking strength were found to be significant. The correlation coefficient between breaking strength and diameter of culm was .537 +/- .148. The breaking strength of the varieties as determined in these trials was compared with the lodging behavior of the same varieties at Morris in 1930 and at four Minnesota stations in 1928, 1929, and 1930. No correlation was found between breaking strength and lodging in either of these comparisons. Three durum varieties included in the study had higher breaking strength, greater diameter of culm, and lower tillering rate than the common wheat varieties.

Varieties of common spring wheat, durum wheat, oats, barley, and flax were grown for periods of 3 and 4 years in both regular variety test plats and nursery rows. Yield data obtained from these two sets of plats were compared from the standpoints of degrees of correlation between them and on the basis of rank agreement. Rather significant correlations were found between the yields of regular variety test and nursery plats. While the values of the coefficients correlation found for most seasons were perhaps not high enough to justify an outright recommendation for the entire substitution of the triplicated nursery row method of testing in favor of the employment of the regular variety test plats of 1/50 to 1/60 of an acre, they show that very accurate yield data can be obtained by the use of nursery plats. The 4-year average yields of seven varieties of common spring wheat from variety test and nursery plats showed a correlation of r = .9520 +/- .0241, and an identical ranking in the two sets of plats. Similar correlations of the yields of 10 varieties of oats gave a value of r = .9065 +/- .0380 with good rank agreement. The values of the correlation coefficients for four separate seasons ranged in common spring wheat from .5692 +/- .1219 to .8140 +/- .0608, with an average value of .7205 +/- .0465; in oats from .3202 +/- .1563 to .7122 +/- .0888, with an average of .5620 +/- .0613; and in barley from .2943 +/- .1647 to .7333 +/- .0865, with an average of .5429 +/- .0512. Three years yield data of durum wheat showed correlations ranging from .4590 +/- .2013 to .7007 +/- .1298 with an average value of .5645 +/- .1003. The yields between the flax variety test plats and nursery showed as light negative correlation of -.0265 +/- .2247 in 1930 when there was a difference of 18 days between the planting dates of the nursery and the variety test plats. In 1931, the value of r = .7042 +/- .1133 resulted from the correlation of the yields of the two sets of flax plats. No doubt the relationships between the yields of the regular variety test and nursery plats would have been even greater than indicated by the figures cited above had it been possible to have had the two set of plats adjacent to each other in all seasons instead as in most years of the comparison at some distance and not infrequently under somewhat different soil conditions. Nevertheless the results indicate that a great deal of significance can be attached to yield data from properly conducted nursery tests.

Data are presented showing the changes that have occurred in the nitrogen and organic carbon contents of fertility plat soils devoted to both continuous and rotative cropping at the Ohio Experiment Station. These data are analyzed and inferences drawn regarding the comparative effects of different crops and the influence of the size of crop. An attempt is made to differentiate between the effects of cultural practices and those of crop residues. The effects of manure are divided into those arising from the residues of the larger crops grown and those representing residues from the manure itself. It is estimated that a single year's cropping to the various crops has increased or decreased the organic carbon content of the soil by the following percentages of the total amount present in the soil: corn, -3.12; wheat, 1.44; oats, -1.41; hay in 5-year rotation (timothy predominating), +1.36.; hay in 3-year rotation (clover), + 3.25. The corresponding values for nitrogen are: corn, -2.97; wheat, -1.56; oats, -1.45; hay in 5-year rotation, +0.64; hay in 3-year rotation, +2.87. The amounts of both organic carbon and nitrogen in fertilized plats of the 5-year rotation experiment were found after 32 years cropping to be highly and positively correlated with the total crop production of these plats. The regressions were apparently linear and from the corresponding equations the amounts of nitrogen and carbon calculated for zero crop production were interpreted as the quantities that would have been found had the same cultural practices been employed but no residues whatever returned. The data of White for fertility plats of the Pennsylvania Experiment Station were found to show a similar relation, indicating a fairly constant contribution of organic matter per unit of crops produced irrespective of the yield. By comparing the composition of fertilized and unfertilized plat soils of the Ohio experiments, it is concluded that residues from the corn crop were of little value in conserving soil nitrogen or organic matter, those from oats were notably effective, and those from wheat intermediate in value. Of the nitrogen and organic carbon conserved during 32 years in the soil of a liberally manured plat in the 5-year rotation, it was estimated that about one-half on the limed end and three-fifths on the unlimed end was attributable to residues from the larger crops grown, the remainder being residual from the manure itself.

The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format. | A.- Poisonous weeds, which are liable to find their way into wheat and cause poisoning in human beings are discussed. B.- Circumstances favouring bread poisoning, the effect of the process of preparing and baking bread of the toxicity of weeds contained in the meal, and the cause of death in Senecio poisoning are discussed. C.- It would seem advisable to proclaim species of Senecio growing on cultivated lands as noxious weeds in addition to enforcing Regulation 12 (7) of the Food, Drugs, and Disinfectants Act, No. 13 of 1929.

Two years' growth data on cereal crops and flax are presented to show that the construction and analysis of growth curves may yield information that can be used to good advantage to supplement yield data from plat experiments, especially insofar as such curves may furnish an index on the basis of which the different seasons encountered in the course of the experiment may be evaluated. Growth curves were constructed from data obtained from weekly height measurements of winter wheat, spring wheat, oats, barley, and flax. The growth curves of the various crops grown were analyzed from the standpoints of (a) symmetry shown, (b) maximum height attained (c) interval of time from emergence to attainment of greatest height, and (d) on the basis of the generalized or average slope of the curves produced. Attempts were made to evaluate the slopes of the growth curves produced by the employment of Robertson's growth equation. It was found that the differences in the calculated values of K (the constant) in any variety, since all of the curves encountered deviated from the symmetrical, were so great that but little significance could be attached to the averages of the separate values obtained for different values of t (the time factor). The fitting of the growth data to straight line trends by the method of least squares gave the most reliable and workable means of expressing the general slope of growth curves of crop plants. By the employment of this method the growth curve of Turkey 144 showed an average slope of 4.50 for the unfavorable growing season of 1931 when it yielded but 2.9 bushels per acre as against a slope of 8.48 and a yield of 20.2 bushels in the more favorable season of 1932. The curve for Ceres, a spring wheat, showed slopes of 5.95 and 11.01 for these same respective seasons. The fact that the growth curves of all of the spring sown cereal crops measured exhibited very similar slopes for the respective seasons emphasizes the point that the values designating the slopes of the curves produced may be used to good advantage, if not for the direct evaluation of two or more seasons, then at least to supplement meteorological data of the seasons encountered in the course of particular field plat experiments. Since the compilation of growth data is completed in the cereal crops at or near the heading stage, it cannot provide an index of seasonal conditions during the ripening period, consequently a complete correlation between one value summarizing growth data and shaped especially during the vegetative period of development of the plant and final yield performance cannot be expected in all seasons. Nevertheless, the data presented show rather conclusively that the types of curves produced by plants with similar habits of growth, such as spring sown cereal crops, are more indicative of the seasonal conditions shaping such growth curves, especially those factors determining the slope of these curves, than of the genetic differences of the crops or varieties grown. The growth curves here dealt with and the equations given for the straight line trends were used strictly to give information to supplement yield data and as a means of expressing the general slope of the curves. They were not and should not be employed for purposes of predicting final yields or ultimate height of plants prior to the completion of growth. The primary object of this investigation was not to clothe the rather unsymmetrical growth curves produced with the dignity of a mathematical formula or to obtain a particularly close fit between the produced curves and an exponential equation involving two or more variables, but rather to express the general slope of these curves in an understandable and practical manner. Mathematically formulated curves, except where provisions are made to allow for the changing values of constants employed for the various phases of the growth cycle, are symmetrical. The processes concerned in organic growth are too complex to