LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE 305 



not be necessary if the fallow season should prove unusu- 

 ally favorable. 



249. The Place of Summer Tillage. — The sorghum crops 

 and winter wheat are the most dependable dry farming 

 crops for Kansas. These crops must be grown in rota- 

 tion for best results. It is advisable in western Kansas 

 to summerf allow sorghum ground in changing from sorg- 

 hum to wheat unless conditions are unusu'ally favorable. 

 In an unusually wet fall, wheat may be sown on disked 

 sorghum ground, (and in an unusually wet spring, barley 

 miay be sown on disked sorghum ground in the spring. 

 At all other times, it is best to summerf allow sorghum 

 ground for wheat. 



The best method of preparing sorghum ground for 

 wheat is to disk the ground in the spring after the first 

 weeds start. This kills the first crop of weeds and starts 

 other weed seeds germinating. The ground is then plowed 

 before the second growth of weeds becomes too large and 

 in time to finish plowing before harvest. The fallow is 

 usually plowed in late May or early June. It is left with- 

 out work until after wheat harvest which occurs in July. 

 In August and early September, it is worked dbwn and 

 the wheat seeded in late September. Care must be exer- 

 cised not to work the fallow ground more than necessary 

 to kill weedis and to prepare a good seedbed for wheat, 

 otherwise, the surface of the field may be left too smooth 

 and the wheat injured by soil drifting during the winter. 

 When stubble ground is summerfallowed, it is handled 

 in the same manner. It is the usual practice to grow 

 wheat at least three years after fallowing before chang- 

 ing the ground to sorghum. The first year the wheat is 

 on fallowed ground. The second year the crop is 

 drilled in the stubble and the third season, the ground is 

 plowed after harvest and the crop seeded the same fall. 



