FIELD CROPS. ' 31 



farms, at least for the present." Fairly good results were secured witb the 

 hemp crop. In alfalfa work it was impossible to distinguish in vegetative 

 habit or yield among Turkestan, Sand Lucern, and Common Utah alfalfa. 

 From 4 to 24 lbs. of seed were used, but on all the farms the lowest rate of 

 seeding gave the best results. Planting in May or early June proved the most 

 satisfactory. For seed production planting in rows or even in hills and intertill- 

 ing proved most desii'able. On the Juab county farm plats plowed in the fall 

 of 1905 and in May, 1906, and seeded in September, 1906. yielded 35.4 and 33 

 bu. of wheat per acre respectively. Two plats devoted to a comparative test of 

 spring and fall plowing at Nephi were practically equal in water content 

 throughout the season. 



" Extensive experiments . . . have not tended to confirm the importance of ex- 

 cessively deep plowing. . . . On the Juab farm where the soil is a heavy clay, 

 there has not been a year when the 8 in. and 10 in. depths have not given better 

 yields than the deep plowings. On the other farms the yields are slightly 

 better for the deeper plowings, but certainly not enough better to warrant the 

 extra expense incurred." 



A rate of seeding test confirmed " the practice in vogue in this State, that of 

 seeding 3 pks. per acre." 



In Juab County wheat gave average yields during the period 1904 to 1908 of 

 26.9 and 18.3 bu. per acre respectively, when planted 1^ in. and from 2i in. to 3 

 in. deep. The author concludes from these experiments and from practical 

 experience " that on heavy clay soils seeding to a depth of from 1 to Is in. 

 gives best results and that even in a sandy loam it is, as a rule, not safe to 

 go beyond 3 in." 



Other tests indicate that drilling one way gives better results than cross 

 drilling or sowing broadcast. Practically no difference appeared in the height 

 of plant, length of head, or yield of grain as a result of cross drilling. " The 

 apparent superiority of the cross-drilled grain was due to the gi-eater number 

 of leaves on the plants." 



A table uidicates that the upper 6 ft. of soil on a fallowed plat properly cul- 

 tivated contained 45 per cent more moisture than did soil that had been cropped 

 for 7 years. Plats " cropped each year gave 73.7 bu. as compared with 

 83.4 bu. for the crop fallowed every other season." At the Juab county farm 

 the average yield of Turkey Red wheat was 20.6 bu. per acre as compared with 

 an average of 15.3 bu. for 4 common varieties. On land plowed in the ordinary 

 way it yielded 18.6 bu. per acre as compared with markedly lower yields after 

 plowing 5 in. and 10 in. deep and subsoiling 15 in. and 18 in. deep on 4 other 

 plats. Sowing September 1 resulted in higher yields than sowing at any earlier 

 or later date. Two winter barleys gave an average yield of 13.1 bu. per acre as 

 compared with 1.2 bu. obtained from spring barleys in 1910. 



The methods pursued and the results obtained in these cultural tests are 

 stated in full and discussed. 



Dry farming: A system of agriculture for countries under a low rainfall, 

 J. A. WiUTSOE {Xew York, 1911, pp. XXII-\-',',o, pi. 1, figs, iii).— Successive 

 chapters discuss dry farming as related to theoretical culture, rainfall areas, 

 meteorology, soils, root systems of plants, the storage of warer in the soil, 

 the regulation of evaporation and transpiration, cultural methods, the selection 

 and composition of crops, the maintenance of soil fertility, farm machinery, 

 and irrigation. The history of dry farming in the United States is outlined, 

 and its present status in different countries of the world is discussed. A 

 bibliography of 84 titles is given. 



References on plant breeding, C. Feuwirth {Jour. Landw., 58 (1910), No. 

 3, pp. 251-271). — ^Abstracts of a number of recent publications are presented. 



