14 



view. p a j] irrigation of winter wheat has been found beneficial 

 when the soil lacked moisture for the production of the neces- 

 sary fall growth. One or two irrigations are sufficient for 

 winter wheat in the spring. When the water is applied in 

 the evening, about sunset, the evaporation from the surface 

 of the soil is much less than when it is applied during the day, 

 and it also frequently results in a higher yield of straw and 

 grain. 



WHEAT GROWING IN THE SEMIARID REGIONS. 



Wheat is the principal crop of our semiarid regions. Its 

 successful production there depends largely upon the use of 

 varieties adapted to the conditions and upon cultural methods 

 based largely on soil moisture conservation. Hard spring 

 wheats and winter wheats are grown. The hard spring wheats 

 grown in the northern part of the Great Plains area include 

 the durum wheats and varieties of the common wheats, those of 

 the Bluestem and Fife groups being prominent. The winter 

 wheats produced over the larger part of our semiarid area are 

 represented mainly by hard winter wheats, as Crimean, 

 Kharkov, Turkey, and others cultivated largely in the Great 

 Plains area; the semihard winter wheats grown in the Great 

 Basin region; and the soft winter wheats extensively produced 

 in the Pacific Coast States. 



Cultural operations involve mainly the preparation of the 

 seed bed with a view to furnishing adequate moisture and in 

 the case of winter wheat to provide also protection against 

 unfavorable winter weather. The land for spring wheat 

 should be plowed the preceding summer or fall and afterward 

 given surface cultivation at intervals until seeding time. For 

 winter wheat early and deep fall plowing is desirable in some 

 sections, while in others late and shallow plowing is the more 

 profitable. Much depends on the season and the soil, as 

 seasonal variations give unexpected results and some soils are 

 little responsive to cultural methods. Furrowing with a lister 

 after harvest and leveling the ridges preparatory to seeding 

 is practiced sometimes in preference to plowing and with 

 satisfactory results. Subsoiling in general has not met expec- 

 tations in overcoming drought, increasing yields, or returning 

 profits. Disking corn ground as a soil preparation instead of 

 plowing has given good yields as a rule and, in addition, has 

 reduced the labor cost. Summer tillage, together with crop- 

 ping in alternate years a method in very general use gives 

 comparatively high average yields, but on account of its high 

 labor cost and the production of a crop only every other year 



