CHAPTER IX. 

 THE TILLAGE OF STUBBLE LAND 



Land that has borne one or more crops of wheat, oats, 

 barley, rye or flax is commonly spoken of as stubble 

 land. The control of the yield of crops on such fields 

 is one of the most pressing problems in production now 

 facing the grain grower of the open plains. In view of 

 the fact that at least two-thirds of the present cropped 

 acreage of this area is stubble, it would seem that the 

 preparation of this portion of our cultivated land should 

 receive very much greater consideration than it has ever 

 been given before. 



The surplus moisture stored in fallowed land is at 

 least a partial insurance against failure of the next 

 season's crop as a result of drought. The same is true, in 

 a lesser degree, of prairie or sod land that has been 

 "broken" and left unsown till the following year; but 

 on land that has produced one or more crops the soil 

 moisture is largely exhausted, and the next succeeding 

 crop is almost wholly dependent upon the amount that 

 falls as rain or snow after harvest time. Because of this 

 it is probably true that we shall never, on the average, 

 get as good returns from the stubble crop as from that 

 sown on fallow or "breaking" or after "hoed" crops. 

 Nevertheless, much can be done to increase the pro- 

 ductive power of such land. 



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