76 Progressive Agriculture 



food, either a coarse loose, soil condition carry- 

 ing too low per cent of soil or capillary water, or a 

 compact surface and weeds which have depleted 

 the moisture. 



It is only in recent years that we have realized 

 the wide difference in the crop production of the 

 soil in the same field where only slight differences 

 as to apparent conditions seem to exist and it has 

 led us to plan many experiments, to find out how, 

 if possible, by tillage, this fertility can be made 

 available not only in larger quantities, but more 

 continuous, believing much larger yields can be 

 obtained if we can only understand this better, 

 and|know just what to do. 

 h Under the captions of Spring Tillage, Summer 

 Tillage and Fall Tillage, we have covered the 

 principal points in mechanical work to bring this 

 about, and in this chapter we shall reiterate to 

 some extent. But our main object is to prove 

 here by pictures and explanations that certain 

 soil and moisture conditions do govern as to the 

 quantity of available plant food. 



Cut No. 39 gives one illustration. This very 

 large crop of winter wheat was grown on the C. 

 B. & Q. farm at Holdrege, Nebraska, in the some- 

 what dry year of 1904, on land summer tilled in 

 1903, and seeded September tenth with 25 pounds 

 of seed per acre. 



Note carefully the two especially interesting 

 features of this 40 acre field, height and evenness 

 of stand. The yield was 54| bushels per acre of 

 wheat that weighed 64 pounds to the measured 

 bushel. Fifteen to twenty bushels was the com- 



