72 Progressive Agriculture 



front field with 30 pounds per acre. Mr. Moyer 

 gave this front field the best care possible as he 

 was still trying to satisfy himself whether it paid 

 to summer till or not. The summer tilled field 

 produced 47f bushels per acre and the front field 

 only 16| bushels per acre, or slightly more than 

 one-third. This result, in face of a rainfall con- 

 siderably below normal convinced Mr. Moyer 

 that Colorado prairies like her mountains have 

 plenty of gold but to get it in liberal quantities 

 it was necessary to learn better when and how to 

 till the soil. 



Cut No. 31 shows Mr. Moyer's field of summer 

 tilled wheat after it was cut in the hot dry year of 

 1913. This field of 15 acres averaged 34 bushels 

 per acre, with plenty of fields in the surrounding 

 country going from 8 to 12 bushels per acre. 



Cut No. 32 is Mr. Moyer's 1915 crop on land 

 summer tilled in 1914, 51| bushels per acre. 

 Don't forget that this is fully double that of the 

 majority of wheat fields around Yuma and also 

 that the rainfall recorded from the first of April 

 to the cutting of this crop is more than double any 

 other year. Then why does this summer tilled 

 field produce so much more unless there is some- 

 thing in the theory of increased fertility from 

 summer tilling? Then, again remember that Mr. 

 Moyer's high yield in 1915 with its heavy rainfall 

 is only 4 bushels more than in 1914 with less than 

 half the rain. Is it the weather or tillage? 



This No. 32, is a close second to No. 39, a 

 summer tilled field grown in the dry year of 1904 

 at Holdrege, Nebraska and yielding 54| bushels 



