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sowing the young plants are semierect to erect, indicating that it originally was a spring variety. The culms are medium large and fairly stiff, with a reddish tinge like the other varieties of this group. The leaves are broad, medium long, and numerous. The heads, or panicles, are midsized, short branched, and very erect. The top spikelets in the heads frequently produce three grains. The kernels of the Fulghum are slightly shorter and not so plump as those of the Red Rustproof variety. They usually are free from the awns (beards) and basal hairs which are so characteristic of Red Rustproof oats. The color of the Fulghum oat is a rich buff, if harvested and thrashed without discoloration from weathering. Under ordinary humid con

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FIG. 1.-Panicles (heads) of three varieties of red oats: (1) Red Rustproof, (2) Burt, and (3) Fulghum. ditions in the Southeastern States the grain of the Fulghum and of the Red Rustproof may be said to be yellowish red and brownish red, respectively.

The Fulghum oat is rarely confused with the Burt. The long slender kernels of the Burt serve to distinguish it clearly from the Fulghum. The Burt also has a taller and more slender stem (culm) and is less uniform in growth and appearance.

Like the other varieties of red oats, the Fulghum is resistant to smut and is also somewhat resistant to leaf rust. Panicles and spikelets of the Fulghum, Red Rustproof, and Burt oats are shown in figures 1 and 2.

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Fulghum Oats.

AREAS WHERE ADAPTED.

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The Fulghum oat, like the other varieties, is adapted to a rather wide range of soil and of climate. It appears, however, to be best adapted to parts of the winter-oat belt of the South and to the southwestern spring-oat section. The indications are that it will eventually become of much more importance for spring than for fall sowing.

This oat is now grown rather extensively from fall sowing in those districts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas in which it is able to compete in yield with the Red Rustproof variety.

The Fulghum probably has a wider adaptation than the Red Rustproof as a spring-sown variety. In those sections in which the Red Rustproof and Burt have been the leading spring-sown varieties it does well. Its value for spring sowing is becoming more apparent each year in much of the northern portion of the cotton belt, including parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas, and in the southern portion of the corn belt, including the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois in addition to Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It is probable that it will prove most useful in Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas. In these States it will replace the Burt, which never has been a satisfactory variety from the standpoint of quality and uniformity.

YIELD.

The value of a new variety of a crop plant depends primarily upon several factors, the most important of which are (1) its adaptability to certain soil and climatic conditions and (2) its yield and quality as compared with old well-established sorts. The results obtained so far with the Fulghum oat from fall sowing and from spring sowing will be considered in the order mentioned.

RESULTS FROM FALL SOWING.

A number of varietal experiments including the Fulghum oat have been conducted by the different agricultural experiment stations in the Southern States during the past few years. The United States Department of Agriculture has conducted experiments with these oats at the Arlington Experimental Farm, Va., near Washington, D. C., and also at several points in Georgia in cooperation with the Georgia State College of Agriculture. A summary of the yield data obtained at 11 experiment stations in 5 Southern States is presented in Table I.

Table I shows that there is no marked difference in yield between the Fulghum and Red Rustproof oats grown at the Arlington Experimental Farm, Va., and at Athens, Ga., where the experiments

have been conducted long enough to be conclusive. At Athens during a 9-year period the Red Rustproof has exceeded the Fulghum by only 1.5 bushels in average yield. However, there is a marked difference in yield in favor of the Red Rustproof at several stations where the experiments have been of sufficient duration to be indicative, if not conclusive. Among these stations are Auburn, Ala., Agricultural College, Miss., and Fayetteville, Ark.

TABLE I.-Average yields of the highest yielding strain of the Fulghum and four other varieties of oats grown from fall seeding during periods varying from one to nine years at eleven experiment stations in five Southern States.

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a The highest average yield in some instances was not made by Red Rustproof as such but by a named strain of it, such as Appler, Cook, Hastings, and Bancroft.

b Five-year average; the yield in 1918 was not comparable.

c Average of 63 check plats.

d Garren, G. M. Results of variety tests of wheat, oats and rye. N. C. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 232, 28 p. 1915.

e Data obtained in cooperation with the Georgia State College of Agriculture of the University of Georgia. f Eight-year average; not grown in 1917.

g Two-year average.

h Three-year average.

i Duggar, J. F., and Cauthen, E. F. Oats; experiments on culture, varieties, and fertilization. Ala. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 173, p. 133. 1913.

Ricks, J. R. Experiments with small grains. Miss. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 171, 12 p. 1915.

k Nelson, Martin, and Osborn, L. W. Report of oats experiments, 1908-1919. Ark. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 165, 32 p. incl. 2 pl. 1920.

At both the Arlington Experimental Farm, Va., in the vicinity of Washington, D. C., and the Agricultural Experiment Station at Fayetteville, Ark., neither the Fulghum nor the Red Rustproof has been able to compete with the more hardy Winter Turf and Culberson varieties. The superiority of these last-mentioned varieties for the northern portion of the winter-oat belt is clearly indicated in the average yields obtained at these stations. Of the red-oat types, the Burt has fallen considerably below both the Fulghum and the Red Rustproof in yield in most instances. It is not a satisfactory variety for fall sowing.

Fulghum Oats.

RESULTS FROM SPRING SOWING.

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It is only within the past few years that the Fulghum oat has begun to attract attention as a spring-sown variety. For this reason comparatively few data on varietal experiments which have included the Fulghum oat are yet available. The Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station was among the first to discover that the Fulghum was of promise as a spring oat in that section. It was first grown in the varietal experiments at that station in 1917 under the name of "Nicholson's Improved Extra-Early Red Rustproof." It was so promising in the early experiments that the station officials decided to distribute it to different sections of the State. Before doing so, however, they desired a shorter name for it. Consequently, a sample was sent to the Office of Cereal Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry for identification and suggestions regarding a suitable name. It was there identified as the Fulghum oat and was accessioned under Cereal Investigations No. 839. Correspondence between Prof. J. H. Parker, of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, and Mr. Robert Nicholson, of Dallas, Tex., from whom the seed was originally obtained, brought out the fact that the seed of this particular strain was obtained from southern Georgia, where the Fulghum originated. This strain of Fulghum is being distributed in Kansas under the name Kansas Fulghum. It was named Kanota by the Kansas station in the summer of 1921 and will be distributed under that name in the future.

Summarized yield data from varietal experiments, including the Fulghum, Red Rustproof, Burt, and several other varieties of oats from spring sowing at Manhattan and Hays, Kans., Columbia, Mo., and Fayetteville, Ark., are presented in Table II.

TABLE II.-Average yields of the highest yielding strain of the Fulghum and five other varieties of oats grown from spring sowing during periods varying from one to four years at four experiment stations in three States in the southwestern spring-oat section.

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a Including selections such as the Albion (Iowa No. 103) and Richland (Iowa No. 105).
b Data obtained in cooperation with the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
c Yield of a hybrid of Burt and Sixty-Day.

d Data obtained in cooperation with the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station.

e Nelson, Martin, and Osborn, L, W. Report of oats experiments, 1908-1919. Ark. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 165, 32 pp. incl. 2 pls. 1920.

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