J 2 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



organic matter than the black soils, but very fertile and equally 

 adapted to either maize or wheat. It is on the first of these 

 three types of soil that fertilizers have been found to be most 

 advantageous. Generally speaking, the increase in yield of 

 wheat on the second and third types of soil has not been suffi- 

 cient to pay for the cost of the fertilizers. 



ii6. Effect of Change of Soil on Yield. — The Indiana Station 

 sent seed of Velvet Chaff grown seven consecutive years to 

 four different counties in the State, and the seed received from 

 the crop was sown the next year at the station alongside the 

 seed retained at the station. There were only slight variations 

 in the yield of wheat from the different localities.^ The Mary- 

 land Station found no material difference bet^veen Maryland 

 and Kansas seed with six varieties.'^ Bolley concludes after 

 testing wheat from different parts of North Dakota, repre- 

 senting all kinds of soil, that true varieties under like soil and 

 climatic conditions will approximate a like product without 

 reference to the parent soil.^ The Nebraska Station found 

 that wheat of the same variety from different sections of the 

 country showed considerable variation in the habit of growth, 

 much to the disadvantage of seed grown east of the Missouri 

 River.* At the North Dakota Station the average result of 

 twenty-three tests with home grown seed and with wheat origin- 

 ally from this station but grown at the Minnesota Station from 

 one to nine years, showed a gain of about 2.5 bushels in favor 

 of the home grown seed. ^ 



117. The Use of Fertilizers. — ^Nothing has been more clearly 

 demonstrated than the fact that with an increased amount of 

 fertilizers, the yield does not increase proportionately to the quan- 



1 Ind. Bui. 41. 



2 Md. Bui. 14. 



8 E. S. R. VI (1896), 26S. 



4 Neb. Bui. 72. 



5 N. Dak. Rpt. 1900, pp. 59-97. 



