TRIAL WITH OATS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1755, 21 May 1913, Page 10

TRIAL WITH OATS.

SOME .INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS.' About a year ago some experiments with different varieties of oats were initiated at Canterbury Agricultural College, the idea being to try and find out what particular variety of oat gave the test allround' results, firstly as a winter spring food, secondly as a yiehier of grain, ami lastly ns straw. Thero were sixteen varieties of oats sown, as follow:—(1) Black Scotch, (2) Joanette, (3) Algerian, (>f) Gartons, (5) Sparrowbill, (6) Potato, (7) Kent Birlie, IS) Sandy, (!)) Island Magee, (10) Black Tartar, (11) Duns, (12) White Tartar, (13) Black Excelsior, (4) Banner, (15) Danish, (16) Canadian. The sowing was done in May, lt'l2, in a twenty-five acre paddock, and the areas of tho different' varieties of oats ranged from one to two acres. Ewes and lambs were turned in about September 12, an(l in a very short timo there was some instructive evidence as to the likes and dislikes of the sheep. In almost less tlnin a week,.some of tho varieties had been eaten down bare to the ground, while others . had been untouched, although, to the eye, tlioy looked excellent feed.' The Garton oats liad been eaten bare, and the liking of the sheep for this variety was well shown, where other varieties had accidentally encroached .upon tho Gartons in drilling, for'tho strangers had been left severely alone. The Island Magee received a fair amount of attention, but the Black Tartars were hardly touched. The Sandy oat was well eaten down, Duns wero rather neglected, Kent Birlie almost untouched, White Tartars were well eaten, and tho Potato oats had not received much attention. The Black Excelsiors had been sown with a thick seeding and a thin seeding (the former by mistake), and where the seeding had l/cen thick, the sheep had hardly touched them,'but wliero it. was thin it had been fairly well eaten. The Algerian were well eaten down, and so were the Banners, but the Black Scotch were hardly touched. The Danish were rather neglected, and so wero the Joanette. The Canadian were not liked very much, and the Sparrowbills were nearly untouched. Tabulating these res-.ilts, it-is found that, roughly, the oats may be placed in the following order of merit as regards green feed

. Gartons—Eaten bare. . White Tartars—Well eaten\down. Algerians—Well eaten down. \ Banners—Well eaten down. ' Sandv—'Well ftiten down. Island Magee—Fairly well eaten. Black Excelsior (thin)-Fairly well eaten. Diins—Fair. Potato—Fair. Banish—Fair. .Toanctte —Fair. Canadian—lndifferent. Black Excelsior (thick)— Hardly toucned. Black Tartar—Sardly touched. Kent Birlie—Hardly touched. Black Scotch—Hardly touched. - Sparroivbills—Practically untouched. The above results ftierely apply to the stato of the paddock about one week after the sheep had been turned into it, and, may be taken as some evidence as to tho likes of sheep to particular varieties of oats. The next stage of the experiment was the finding out of the 1 grain yields of tho different plots. After eating off, the paddeeb was shut up, and the crop allowed to Come away. It was cut ancl stoolced, and, later on, each plot was threshed separately, but as it was not found possible, owing to the exigencies of other work on the farm, to get all the plots in under similar conditions, Dr. Hilgendorf, under whoso direction the experiments were carried ont, says that not nntch reliance can be placed upon the nltiriiate yields that were threshed out and weighed. The following table- shoiVs how the results actually panned out.—

Black Tartars—63s bushels per acre. Gartons—s7 bushels per acre. Duns—s7 bushels per acre. Other varieties—From 51 to 55 bushels per acre. The last phase of the experiment is a rather striking one. To try and find out the palatability of the straw, the straw from each of tho plots was mado into a small stack, tho line of sixteen stacks, all named, running parallel with the Lincoln-Springston ltoad. A herd of cattle, numbering about twenty or so, were turned into the paddock, and the way tliev have tackled the different straw slacks is instructive. They first went for the Black Excelsior, and practically ate that right out; then they turned their attention to the Algerian straw, and demolislied that. Then the straw from the Potato and Kent Birlie oats, tho stacks of which wero side-by-side, was polished off, the first-named being slightly favoured, and the Danish was the fifth stack eaten. Dr. Hilgendorf was rather afraid that the cattle, when turned in, would start at one end of the line, and cat right along, or that all the stacks would he patronised almost equally, in which case little could bo dcduced from the experiment, but. as a matter of fact, the Black Excelsior straw stack was almost the farthest away from the gate; then the cattle came right back along the Hue to the Algerians, which was tho third fiom th 6 gate, then to the middle of the line, where the Potato and Kent Birlie stacks were, and then almost right to the cud, to the Danish. They were not at all promiscuous in their feeding, and were evidently guided by their likes and dislikes. As matters stand -at present, the palatability of tho straw from the various plots, and the state of 'the stacks, seems to be as follows: — Jilack Excelsior—Eaten right out. Algerian—Eaten right out. Potato—-Practically finished. Kent Birlie—Nearly finished. Danish—Well eaten. Canadian—Weil eaten. Baiiner—Very fair. Sandy—Very fair. Black Scotch—Fair. Gartons—l'aii'._ Sparrawbi 11—Fa i t'. Island -\lagec—l air. Black Tartar—Fair. Joanet.te—Hardly touched. Duns—Hardly touched. White Tartar—Hardly touched.

year it was intended l» go on with a similar series cf experiments this sea>oll, but the work of seed-selection is '-•rowing to such an extent that it will probably be found impossible lc; continue on lines. Nevertheless what has been done already is certainly not without interest, though Dr. Uiljendorf plainIv says that, he would not care to make anv definite statement ns to the value of different varieties of oats on the basis of merely one season's trials.