Progressive Agriculture 77 



mon yield of surrounding fields weighing 58 to 

 sixty pounds per bushel. 



The early spring started off very favorable and 

 all surrounding wheat looked fine but just before 

 heading there came a dry period causing a check 

 in the growth of nearly all fields but this one, 

 because of a more perfect soil condition. It was 

 also because of a surplus of moisture stored by 

 the summer tilling the year before, as we then 

 supposed, more recently however, we have de- 

 cided that this very marked growth was not so 

 much the direct result of the large amount of 

 additional available moisture during the growth 

 of the wheat, but rather what the moisture had 

 done during the summer tilling period and before 

 the wheat was planted, when during midsummer 

 we were able to keep the surface loose and prevent 

 any weed growth whatever. The high per cent 

 of capillary water which supplied the necessary 

 moisture for a heavy bacterial growth or chemical 

 action and made available the large amount of 

 fertility, was undoubtedly the more direct 

 cause of the rank growth shown in the picture 

 than the water itself. 



One square look at this field convinces one that 

 some very unusual condition existed. 



MORE EVIDENCE 



As further proof of the correctness of this 

 theory, note Cut No. 38, a winter wheat field six 

 miles east of Akron, Colorado in 1912. Look 

 closely and observe the high thick stand of the 

 stubble in the foreground, then the numerous 



