Two 50 R. I. R. chicken groups were contrasted, both receiving the same basic-ration differing only in the content of wheat bran or corn cobs meal. One ration had 10% of wheat bran and in the other one the 10% of wheat bran has been substituted by 10% of corn cobs meal. It was found on the final weight a significant advantage of 12,8% with wheat bran. However, the development of chikens receiving corn cobs meal was quite normal.

v | ok | Kirjasto Aj-k | On the relative yields of oats, barley and spring wheat

1. Although exhibiting low cross-fertility, A. trichophorum was successfully crossed with T. vulgare. Individual Agropyron plants differed in their ability to cross with wheat. Two backcross generations were obtained using T. vulgare as the recurrent parent. 2. All F1 plants were self-sterile. Only those plants having A. trichophorum #4 in their parentage were backcross fertile with the wheat. Individual F1 plants in this group also differed in their backcross fertility. 3. A pollen study to determine the percentage of normal pollen was conducted on F1 plants grouped according to their Agropyron parent. The F1 plant having A. trichophorum #4 in their parentage had the highest average percentage of normal pollen of all groups. 4. All first backcross plants examined were triploids (3n chromosome number), evidently produced by the fertilization of an unreduced F1 egg when the backcross was made. By this assumption they are composed of two complements of T. vulgare chromosomes and one complement of A. trichophorum chromosomes. 5. The second backcross generation was composed of the same chromosome complements as the first backcross generation, with the exception that fewer univalents, presumably A. trichophorum chromosomes, were present. 6. The 2n chromosome number and pairing relationship of the parents and the succeeding generations were determined. 7. Abnormalities observed in three generations (F1, first backcross, and second backcross) were noted to have the following trends: The average percentage of normal pollen increased in each generation; the number of micronuclei per quartet increased in the first backcross but decreased in the second backcross; and the number of lagging chromosomes at metaphase I and anaphase I decreased significantly only in the second backcross generation. 8. Phenotypically, the F1 was generally intermediate to the Agropyron and the wheat parent with many characters dominantly Agropyron. After two backcrosses to wheat, the pubescence and perennial habit of the Agropyron parent were still present. In spike type, awn type, and kernel size and shape, the plants resembled the recurrent wheat parent. Self and cross-fertility increased with each generation. Variable reaction to leaf rust was noted with some F1 and backcross plants being highly resistant.

A study was made of the comparative effectiveness of manure and commercial fertilizers on restoring the productivity of subsoils exposed by land leveling operations. The major factors involved in limiting the growth on the subsoils studied were a deficiency of available N and P. Both manure and commercial fertilizers were effective in producing practically normal yields of corn, sugar beets, and spring wheat in a very short time. Rather high rates of application were used. The importance of deep placement of phosphate was demonstrated.

Eleven grass species, representing five use groups, were tested for adaptation to semiarid conditions at high altitude at the Tetonia Branch Station of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station. The trials were conducted on land that had been previously farmed with the wheat-fallow system for approximately 26 years. This system of farming had caused 50% reduction of the soil organic matter. Adaptation of the grasses used in the trial was measured by level and uniformity of total yield, volume weight of soil from each grass plot after the grasses had been established for 6 years, and the total soil organic matter content after the 6-year period. The results of this trial permit the following conclusions: 1. Big bluegrass, pubescent wheatgrass, smooth bromegrass, Fairway crested wheatgrass, and intermediate wheatgrass restored soil organic matter to levels that were not significantly different from the organic matter content of the virgin soil. 2. Soil from all grass plots was significantly higher in organic matter than soil from land that had continued to be farmed with the wheat-fallow system. 3. Sherman big bluegrass produced the highest total yield and resulted in the highest content of soil organic matter. 4. Fairway crested wheatgrass produced a significantly higher content of soil organic matter than the standard strain. 5. Grasses producing fine fibrous roots such as the fine-leaved fescues may not produce the highest amounts of soil organic matter content but there may be a favorable effect on soil structure as evidenced by volume weight of soil. 6. In the bunch-type wheatgrasses, bluebunch wheatgrass was better adapted than either standard or airway strains of crested wheatgrass. 7. Based on uniformity of data, intermediate wheatgrass showed better adaptation than all other species included in the large sod-forming grasses. 8. Hard fescue is better adapted to the site than Chewing's fescue. 9. Orchardgrass, a rapid developing long-lived grass, and a Columbia Basin strain of thickspike wheatgrass were out of their range of adaptation.

This paper describes the results of superimposing certain types of 5 x 5 latin squares on a wheat uniformity trial. The purpose was to investigate the bias in the estimate of error when certain systematic squares (knight's move and diagonal) are chosen and to compare the results under conditions in Brazil with those obtained by Tedin in a similar investigation. The following conclusions are drawn : a) when latin squares are chosen by a random process, as recommended by Fisher, the observed distribution of the variance ratio of "treatments" compared with error is i n agreement with that given by theory; b) the estimation of error variance is biased when systematic squares are employed. In agreement with Tedin, we find that the knight's move square furnishes an overestimate, and the diagonal square an underestimate of error variance. The results show that, under the conditions of our trial, the systematic squares suffer from the same disadvantages which have been noted elsewhere.

Henry Shands of the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation donated 27 3"x4" lantern slides related to farming. Images show experimental fields and farming equipment. There are no dates on the slides.