18 DEY-LAND GRAINS IN THE GREAT BASIN. 



moisture, fall-plowed soil will prove more i)rodiiC'tive than soil plowed 

 in the spring. When the land is plowed in the fall and left in a rough, 

 lumpy condition through the winter, the soil is probably much more 

 benefited by weathering agencies than stubble soil can be. This 

 may react favorably on the crop. 



The factor of expense in fall and spring plowing is very important, 

 and unless a considerable difference in j^ield is attributable to one 

 method or the other it will be the principal determining factor in 

 deciding which method is best to follow. Plowing in the fall is ordi- 

 narily more difficult than spring plowing, because the soil is usually 

 dry and hard after the crop is removed. There are advantages 

 in doing the work in the autumn, however, because at that time 

 the farmer is not as a rule so rushed with work as in the spring, and 

 because the price of horse feed is lower in the fall. All things 

 considered, it is probable that the expense of the actual ])lowing is 

 about the same for both methods. Fall-plowed land is more likely to 

 be infested with weeds during the fallow period than spring-plowed 

 land. At the substation in 1909 the fall-plowed i)lat required more 

 than twice as much weeding as the plat plowed in the sj)ring. In 

 fact, the latter was almost entirely free from weeds and volunteer 

 wheat from the time it was plowed, May 15, until planting time. 

 This point, considered by itself, is decidedly in favor of spring plowing. 

 The factor of weediness is successfully met by the Grace Brothers, at 

 Nephi, Utah. They plow their land in the fall in the ordinary way, 

 allow it to lie uncultivated until early June, wdien the weeds and volun- 

 teer wheat are well started, and then give it a very shallow plowing. 

 They usually have little difficulty with weeds after the second plowing, 

 and their grain jaelds are exceptionally good. The expense is no 

 greater than it would be to eradicate the weeds by disking and har- 

 rowing. Whether this method will be successful on other farms is 

 not known, but its success on the Grace farm strongly suggests the 

 advisability of its trial by farmers who have difficulty in keeping their 

 fall-})lowed fallow land clean. 



There are yet several problems to be scientifically worked out 

 before the superiority of fall ])lowing or spring plowing can be posi- 

 tively known. The future behavior of the crops in this test at the 

 substation will doubtless throw considerable light on the question. 

 If it is found that one method produces as high a yield as the other, 

 then the question w^ll have to be settled by each farmer for himself, 

 according to his own conditions and convenience. The most suc- 

 cessful dry farmers in the Mountain States practice fall plowing; the 

 general practice of the substation is to plow in the fall, and the results 

 are satisfactory; so that it is believed in the light of the present 

 knowledge that fall plowing is to be generally preferred. 



[Cir. 61] 



