Quincy Gray originated as a selection from a cross of Victoria-Norton X Red Rustproof at Quincy, Fla., where it was released for commercial production in the early 1940's. The cross had been made at the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Station. Quincy Gray is a late-maturing,

short, stiff-strawed, grayish-white oat, somewhat intermediate between red and common oats in grain characters but with very little winter resistance. It is also known as Quincy No. 2 and Quincy White. Quincy Gray resists crown rust and smut, but is of much less economic importance than Quincy Red. It is grown only to a limited extent in north Florida and adjoining southern Georgia and Alabama.

Verde was selected from a backcross involving Red Rustproof and Victoria-Richland. The original hybrid material from the cross made at Aberdeen, Idaho, in 1934, was sent to College Station, Tex., in 1935. Verde is resistant to both rusts and smuts. It is rather typical of the Red Rustproof type of oats, but is earlier in maturity. Verde was distributed in the fall of 1944.

Verde is recommended for growing only in southern Texas, because it is not sufficiently hardy to be grown in central Texas. The chief value of Verde oats is for pasture and as the raw material for the manufacture of dried green-grass food and pharmaceutical products. When the oats are to be dried green, the leaves are clipped periodically while they are young.

Camellia is the only named variety of commercial red oats developed for the South from Bond crosses. It originated from a Bond-Alber cross made in 1933, from which numerous selections were tested at Ames, Iowa, for resistance to crown rust and smut. These were later sent to the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station for testing. The selection Louisiana 629, which proved to be outstanding for yield and resistance to crown rust, was later named Camellia and distributed to farmers. It is similar to the Bond parent in most plant characters, except that the grains are somewhat larger. Camellia is even more resistant to crown rust than is Bond and also carries resistance to some oat smuts. It is not yet fully uniform in plant characters. Nevertheless, Camellia has made oat production feasible in a region in which very little small grain of any kind had been grown previously.

Thus the offspring of Victoria have markedly improved the economic status of oats as a farm crop. They have given the farmer a larger supply of feed grain at a lower cost and have provided a surplus of grain to sell. Losses from epidemics of crown rust and other diseases have been greatly reduced and, generally, higher yields of oats of superior quality are now being harvested.

Furthermore, the new disease-resistant varieties developed from Bond crosses and now being distributed give promise of making oats a still more satisfactory crop. They are more resistant to the rusts, higher yielding, and of better quality and, above all, have a much stiffer straw. They are exceedingly well adapted for combine harvesting, something farmers have been wanting for a long time.

However, in 1946 the varieties originating as offspring of Victoria suffered somewhat from the attacks of a new Helminthosporium blight. Whether this disease will continue to damage these varieties remains to be seen. It has been designated as a new species of Helminthosporium, and has been found on timothy and certain other grasses. Fortunately, the new varieties developed from Bond crosses are resistant to this disease; hence, they are being increased and distributed as rapidly as possible for commercial production. In 1946, these new varieties from Bond crosses continued to be outstanding for yield, quality, disease resistance, and stiffness of straw in nearly all tests conducted in the northern part of the United States. In brief, they give every indication of eclipsing and replacing the yet relatively new and history-making varieties originating from the Victoria-Richland cross.

Despite these outstanding accomplishments in oat improvement, there is need to do still more breeding, because hitherto unknown or relatively unimportant races of smuts and rusts are becoming more prevalent. Other destructive diseases are appearing that may jeopardize the value and usefulness of these epoch-making varieties. Fortunately, varieties and strains with basic resistance to these new rusts, smuts, and other diseases are available for breeding purposes.

THE AUTHOR

T. R. Stanton is senior agronomist in charge of oat investigations in the Division of Cereal Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. He is the author or co-author of many bulletins and articles on oats. Dr. Stanton is a graduate of the University of Maryland. In recognition of his epochal work in oat improvement, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Agriculture from Iowa State College in 1945.