254 



Journal of Agricultural Research 



Vol. XV. No. 4 



Table I. — Average yield, in bushels per acre, of oats, wheat, and barley harvested from 

 border drill rows spaced 6 inches apart removed from either side of plots 8.5 by 1^2 feet 

 and from, the central ij rows rem,aining after the removal of the border rows 



The actual yield of the outside border rows is for oats 83.5 per cent, 

 for wheat 100.4 per cent, and for barley 123.3 per cent greater than the 

 average for the central 13 rows for the same varieties. For the three 

 crops represented, the outside border rows yielded 102. i per cent higher 

 than the average for the central 13 rows of the same varieties. 



For oats, the inside border rows averaged 23.23 per cent, for barley 

 50.36 per cent, and for wheat 49.29 per cent higher in yield than the 

 average for the central 13 rows. For the three crops there was an average 

 increase of 41 per cent in the yield of the inside border rows as compared 

 with the average of the central 13 rows of the same plots. The outside 

 and inside border rows on either side of each plot, together averaged 143. i 

 per cent higher in yield than the average of the central 13 rows in the same 

 plots. Thus, plants growing in the two outside and two inside border 

 rows on either side of each 18-inch alley, kept reasonably free from weeds, 

 appear to have utilized this area in addition to the space allotted to them 

 within the plots nearly as well as though it had been regularly occupied 

 by three drill rows of pla.nts. This suggests that, within certain limits, 

 width of drill row is a negligible factor in seeding as long as other condi- 

 tions are uniform. The possible effect of the allej^s on the plants farther 

 than 12 inches within the margins of the plots was not determined, but 

 further work is in progress with this object in view. 



The plants in the outside border rows particularly were still somewhat 

 green when those in the interior rows were mature. The oat and barley 

 varieties were harvested as soon as the plants in the interior of the plots 

 were mature. By the time the wheat plots could be harvested the plants 

 in the border rows appeared as mature as those in the central rows. The 

 weights per bushel of the oats and barley from the central 13 rows aver- 

 aged 31.60 and 40.60 pounds, respectively, as compared with 30.08 and 

 39.50 pounds for that from the outside border rows. There was prac- 

 tically no difference in the average weights per bushel of the oats and 

 barley from the inside border rows as compared with that from the central 

 13 rows. No dififerences in weight per bushel were found in the wheat 

 harvested from the three areas of the plots. 



