FIELD CROPS 



515 



consider the greater possibility of obtaining a crop of emmer in the 

 drier districts. 



It is important to know, if possible, the amount of grain per 

 acre by weight that emmer will furnish compared with other cereals 

 that may be used in stock feeding in order to determine which crop 

 it is most profitable to grow for that purpose when quality is also 

 taken into consideration. The North! Dakota station presents a 

 tabular statement of yields for eight years in pounds per acre of 

 emmer, barley, oats, common wheat, and durum wheat, here repro~ 

 duced as follows: 



Comparative yields in pounds per acre of emmer, barley, oats, 

 and wheat for eight years at Fargo, N. Dak. 



It- is seen that in acre yield emmer exceeded all other cereals ex- 

 cept oats, which exceeded emmer only slightly. The fact should be 

 considered that these results were obtained while using spring emmer 

 in the comparison. As in all other cases where winter grains are 

 compared with spring grains, winter emmer would no doubt give 

 much better yields. 



Value of Winter Emmer as a Field Crop. Winter emmer will 

 be found of much value in a field-cropping system in several ways. 

 Since it is used for stock feeding in the same way as oats or barley, 

 it will be of much use in localities where those crops do not give 

 good results. In a number of the Central, Southern, and Eastern 

 States, where oats do not do so well as in the North and where 

 winter oats would not be hardy, there is considerable demand for 

 a winter cereal to be used as stock feed. This crop should exactly 

 fill that demand. It will ripen earlier than oats, yield better, and 

 may furnish a considerable quantity of fall and winter pasturage 

 when the ground is in condition for turning stock into the field 

 with safety. It will withstand extremes of climate much better 

 than any other cereal. For a large part of the United States, 

 therefore, it may be considered a general-purpose crop so far as 

 climate is concerned, but it will not withstand the winter in the 

 Northern States east of the Rocky Mountains. 



In the Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast region winter emmer 

 will be particularly valuable as a stock feed in dry farming, for 

 the reason that often the drought is too great for ordinary crops of 

 oats and barley, but not sufficient to prevent the production of a 

 fair crop of emmer. It can, therefore, be used as a parallel crop 

 to winter wheat, the emmer being grown for stock feeding and 

 the winter wheat for sale. The best results with winter emmer 

 so far have been obtained in intermountain districts. (F. B. 139, 



