Kansas Academy of Science, 129 



SOME FACTORS IN THE WINTERKILLING OF 

 GRAIN CROPS. 



S. C. Salmon. 



1\ TORE than 16 percent of the wheat area of Kansas is 

 -1-Vl abandoned each year, i. e., not harvested. There are 

 various causes, such as Hessian fly, green bugs, late seeding, 

 etc. ; but probably more than half, or nearly 10 percent of the 

 total damage, is due to winterkilling. 



The Experiment Station at Manhattan has been investi- 

 gating the causes and possible means for preventing loss from 

 winterkilling for about four years. Many lines of attack have 

 been followed, but the results of two only can be given, one of 

 which promises results of practical importance and the other 

 of perhaps less immediate practical value, but of greater scien- 

 tific interest. 



SEEDING IN FURROWS. 



One result of these studies is a new method of seeding, 

 which, if generally used, apparently would prevent much of 

 the injury that now occurs and permit the growing of winter 

 grains farther north than is now possible. This new method 

 consists in seeding the grain in furrows somewhat like those 

 made by a corn lister, but much smaller and closer together. 

 Sown in this way the grain is protected from wind by the 

 ridges and from the effects of low temperature by the snow 

 which lodges in the furrows. It is injured less by heaving of 

 the soil by alternate thawing and freezing, and is better able 

 to survive drouth because of the roots being deeper in the soil. 

 In dry areas there is less damage from blowing of the soil and 

 there is more certainty of the grain being placed in contact 

 with moist soil. Since it is often difficult to get grain started 

 in the fall in dry areas, this is likely to prove important. 



Our data show very decided protection from seeding in this 

 way. For example, winter oats sown in furrows in 1914 sur- 

 vived 86.5 percent, as compared with 7.5 percent when sowed 

 in the ordinary way. Corresponding figures in 1915 were 

 1 1.9 percent and 33.3 percent; and for winter barley in 1915, 

 •")7.6 percent and 30 percent, and in 1916, 87 percent and zero. 

 Experiments conducted at the Hays Experiment Station in 



I 9— Sci. Acad.— 2163 



