34 DRY-LAND GRAINS IN THE GREAT BASIN. 



valuable dry-land crop, both for forage purposes and for increasing 

 soil fertility. 



CORN. 



Corn has been tested at Nephi for six years. The flint varieties 

 have done considerably better than the dents, but neither has given 

 very promising results. It will be necessary to do a great deal of 

 adaptation and improvement work before a strain that will succeed 

 under the local conditions can be developed. Cool summer nights 

 and early autumn frosts, as well as the heavy soil, seem to oppose the 

 successful growth of corn at the substation. Some success has been 

 had by farmers on the foothills and benches near Nephi and in other 

 parts of Utah where the soil is sandy or gravelly, but on heavy clay 

 soils, similar to those at the substation, corn is not as yet a dependable 

 crop. 



POTATOES. 



The results of the work with potatoes have been very encouraging. 

 They are grown after wheat in substitution for alternate fallowing. 

 In 1909 a yield of 85 bushels of excellent potatoes was obtained. In 

 the variety tests on soil fallowed in 1908 even better yields were ob- 

 tained, the average of 12 varieties being lOOf bushels per acre. The 

 White Peerless and the Irish Cobbler are the most desirable varieties 

 of those tested. The former produced at the rate of 98 bushels per 

 acre and the latter at the rate of 112 bushels per acre in 1909. The 

 average cash value per acre in 1908 and 1909 of the varieties tested 

 was approximately S22. Tests conducted in 1 909 favored planting the 

 tubers about 8 inches deep in rows 3 feet apart, with the hills 2 feet 

 apart in the rows. Potatoes grown on dry land in 1908 produced 

 better results in 1909 than those grown on irrigated land. Potatoes 

 as a dry-land crop, especially as a substitute for alternate fallowing 

 and as a crop to be grown on small fields inconvenient for grain pro- 

 duction, are very strongly recommended. 



SUGAR BEETS. 



Variety tests with sugar beets were made in 1908 and 1909 in coop- 

 eration with the Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry. In 1908 a disease commonly called ''root-rot" 

 destroyed the crop. In 1909 the average yield was only 3,944 pounds 

 per acre. The production of beets on the very dry lands is scarcely 

 likely to become profitable unless it be tried for the purpose of pro- 

 ducing small quantities of stock feed. Farmers are advised not to 

 plant beets on their dry lands unless it be on a small scale until they 

 find that they can raise profitable yields under their particular con- 

 ditions. 



[Cir. 61] 



