DKY-LAND GRAINS IN THE GREAT BASIN. 9 



THE EXPERIMENTS. 



All the crop work at the substation can be divided into two classes — 

 plat experiments and nursery experiments. It is the object of the 

 l)lat work to make tests of different crops and varieties and of differ- 

 ent methods imder field conditions. In the nurseries tests are made 

 of individual plants on short rows and small plats. The nursery work 

 yields results of a detailed nature, furnishes opportunity for studying 

 plants individually, and makes possible the propagation of very small 

 ([uantities of seed obtained from foreign countries and from different 

 parts of this country. In the nursery facts are discovered which 

 would be obscured in the plats. In short, the nursery work is inten- 

 sive, while the plat work is comparatively extensive. The facts dis- 

 covered in the nursery are ordmarily corroborated by tests in the 

 plats before they are placed before the farmer. A brief discussion of 

 the principal plat experiments being conducted, together with the 

 results obtained, is given below. 



PLAT EXPERIMENTAL METHODS. 



The majority of the plats at the substation are 36 feet wide and 121 

 feet long, containing one-tenth of an acre each. In all the plat work 

 an attempt is made to keep the conditions as nearly as possible like 

 those found in well-kept fields, so that the results will be applicable 

 to large fields. In most of the tests the plats are plowed with an ordi- 

 nary 4-horsc double-disk plow, 15 or 20 plats being plowed at the 

 same time. Only field implements (plows, harrows, disks, and drills) 

 are employed, except occasionally, when a hoe is used to remove 

 small patches of weeds. Ordinarily, however, the plats receive only 

 field treatment. Except where otherwise stated, all plats are plowed 

 as soon as possible after the crop is removed. After being plowed 

 they lie untouched until the following spring. During the next sum- 

 mer they lie fallow, are kept free from weeds, and are well cultivated. 



GRAIN VARIETY TESTS. 



The variety tests include 60 varieties and strains of winter wheat, 1 

 winter oat, 2 winter barleys, 1 winter emmer, 10 spring wheats, 6 

 spring oats, and 3 spring barleys. There are 84 varieties of grain 

 being tested under field conditions in plats. In these tests it is pro- 

 vided, so far as is possible, that all differences in yield and quality shall 

 be due to variety characteristics. All varieties of winter wheat, for 

 example, are treated in the same manner. The seed is all treated 

 with formalin solution to prevent bunt (smut). The varieties are all 

 planted during two or three days — usually about October 1 to 15 — on 

 soil that has lain fallow for one year. This soil all receives the same 

 treatment both before and after the grain is planted. The wheat vari- 

 eties are planted at a uniform rate of 3 pecks per acre, a 10 by 7 disk 

 3883S— Cir. 61—10 2 



