36 



DBY-LAND GRAINS IN THE GREAT BASIN. 



NUMERICAL SUMMARY OF CROP EXPERIMENTS. 



To give an idea of the volume of the work of the substation the 

 following numerical summary of all th»crop experiments bemg con- 

 ducted is presented in Table XI. 



Table XI. — Number and character of all tests of crops conducted at Nephi, Utah, during 



1909. 



Crop. 



Winter grains 

 Spring grains. 

 Forage crops. . 

 Potatoes 



Number of tests in 19(19. 



Tenth-acre 



and 



fiftii-acre 



plats. 



113 



29 



30 



3 



175 



Rows. 



246 



304 



124 



29 



703 



Total. 



359 



333 



154 



32 



878 



SOIL-MOISTURE INVESTIGATIONS. 



Some very important work that is not included in the foregoing sum- 

 mary is the work done in investigating the behavior of the soil moisture 

 under the various treatments applied to the soil. The work is 

 closely allied to that done in connection with weather phenomena, 

 discussed at the beginning of this report. Both are conducted in 

 cooperation with the Physical Laboratory of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, the apparatus used being furnished by the laboratory. 

 In 1909 moisture studies were made on 29 plats under different treat- 

 ments. Each plat was sampled to a depth of at least 6 feet and 5 

 plats to a depth of 10 feet, the moisture being determined in the 

 soil of each foot. Determinations were made on 942 samples during 

 the season. This work will be of great assistance in determining 

 the best crops to grow and how to grow them. 



EXPERIMENTAL CISTERN. 



The problem of supplying water for domestic use is a serious one on 

 the dry lands. It is not uncommon in the Mountain States for farm- 

 ers to have to haul water frofti 2 to 10 miles for their live stock. This 

 is a great expense, and if it can be eliminated the dry-land farmer will 

 be very much benefited. In 1909 the Phj^sical Laboratory installed 

 at the substation a cement underground cistern having a capacity of 

 about 800 cubic feet. The roofs of the substation buildings were gut- 

 tered so that the rain water falling on them is carried into the cistern. 

 It is thought that the practicability of conserving the water that falls 

 on the roofs can be demonstrated by this experiment. The plan has 



[Cir. 61] 



