24 



DRY-LAND GR.\TXS IX THE GRE.VT BASIN. 



The yields, in l)u.shels of grain per acre, for six years, are given in 

 Table VIIl. 



Table VIIL— Yield to the acre of irinter wheat j)lanted at Nephi, Utah, at 15-day inter- 

 vals from August 15 to November 1 of each year from 1904 to 1909, inclusive. 



a Grain badly shrunken. 



Factors in early planting. — There are several important points to 

 consider in connection with time of planting. The behavior of the 

 crop is determined largely by the amount of moisture in the soil, par- 

 ticularly in the surface foot, at the time the planting is done and by 

 the temperature. When the grain is planted early — August 15 to 

 September 15 — there are two possible dangers. The first is that the 

 moisture may be sufficient to start the growth of the plants but insuf- 

 ficient to maintain the growth during the long dry periods which 

 commonly occur during September and October. In this case a 

 large number of the plants die from lack of moisture and a thin and 

 irregular stand results. The other danger of early planting is that 

 the plants during their long growing period in the autumn develop 

 too extensive root systems. The result of this is that the crop pro- 

 duces such extensive foliage during the early part of the following 

 summer that by the time the dry weather of June and early July 

 comes the soil moisture is exhausted. The moisture that should 

 have been saved for use in the fruiting period is consumed in the 

 production of foliage. The result is a great deal of straw^ and a rela- 

 tively small quantity of grain, usually shrunken. This was well 

 illustrated by the results in 1909, as shown in Tahle IX. 



Table IX.— Yield to the acre of grain and strair and proportion of grain to straw of win- 

 ter wheat planted at Nephi, Utah, at 15-day intervals from August 15 to November 1, 

 190S. 



[Cir. 61] 



