The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 79

The Plant-Testing Work

The Plant-Testing Work.

A very useful and interesting feature of the experimental work is the area devoted to the testing of different varieties of oats, wheat and barley. Fourteen acres of land are occupied by the several plots devoted to this purpose. The tests are made with the view of ascertaining the comparative merits of the varieties of cereals experimented with in the matter of, firstly, resistance to disease, and secondly, suitability to the soil and climate of the locality. As I paid my visit a little before harvest-time, I had a good opportunity of observing the striking differences in freedom from disease and growth of straw and grain which appeared in the different plots of wheat, barley and oats, grown side by side and under exactly the same treatment. Owing to the wet and cold spring this season, the conditions were favourable to the development of disease in grain crops, and therefore the test was a reliable one in favour of those varieties which had withstood these bad influences and remained free from disease. Of course, as regards suitability for locality, apart from resistance to disease, the nature of the particular season must be allowed for.