EXPERIMENT STATION BULIjETINS. 335 



Fig. No. 9. Rod rows of pedigreed oats developed at the Station. Twenty-nine strains were tested 



in 1920. 



WINTER WHEAT. 



In making a study of the winter wheat crop in the Upper Peninsula it is 

 impressive to note that two conditions are found, namely, in certain instances, 

 soft red winter wheat is being produced of as good a quality and yield as 

 is to be found anywhere in the State, in fact, the second prize winning sam- 

 ple in the Soft Red Winter Wheat Class at the Chicago International Grain 

 and Hay Show, 1919, was won by Red Rock wheat, grown in the Upper 

 Peninsula. This, in itself, speaks for the qualit}^ of wheat that can be pro- 

 duced. On the other hand, many fields visited were poor stands owing to 

 the way in which they had been planted and handled, though of good qual- 

 ity they would not pay for harvesting, because of the poor stand. 



On close examination, it is found that those farmers who are meeting with 

 success in the growing of soft red winter wheat are those who make a special 

 effort to have their wheat ground well prepared, usually sowing it on ground 

 that has been summer fallowed and getting it planted fairly early, preferably 

 the last two weeks in August. The ones who have met with the most fail- 

 ures are those who have removed some other crop and then hurriedly pre- 

 pared the seed bed and sown their wheat rather late in the fall. 



To try and check-up on just what influence preparation of seed bed and 

 time of planting have to do with the success or failure of growing soft red 

 winter wheat in the Upper Peninsula, a plat of land was laid off and summer 

 fallowed in the summer of 1919. Incidentally this piece of ground was knee 

 high with quack grass when first plowed under in June, and we will have the 

 opportunity of seeing what effect summer fallow has in the ultimate control 

 of quack grass. Twelve different plats about one week apart in time of 

 seeding were sown on this fallow land. The first plat was sown on August 

 3th and the last one on November 2nd, representing the earliest and latest 

 1 ates of practice planting. August 13th to 29th gave the better yield and 

 quality of grain. A portion of this same plat of land was utilized for the 

 time of planting test for spring wheat. This will give some data on whether 

 mnter or spring wheat is best to grow under Upper Peninsula conditions. 



