UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



^S^ BULLETIN No. 



^'\^^^U 



Washington, D. C. 



August 18, 1922 



METHODS OF WINTER- WHEAT PRODUCTION AT 

 THE FORT HAYS BRANCH STATION. 



By John S. Cole, Agriculturist, and A. L. Hallsted, Assistant in Dry-Land Agri- 

 culture, Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



Winter wheat in EUis and adjoining counties 

 in Kansas 



Cooperative experiments in methods of wheat 



production at the Fort Hays branch station. 



Continuous and alternate cropping to 



wheat for 14 years 



Wheat in rotations for 14 years 



Methods of fallow 



Page. ! Page. 



Cooperative experiments, etc.— Continued. 



Wheat in intertilled strips 20 



Growing winter wheat without plowing. 20 



Corn and kafir as preparations for wheat. 23 



Wheat in miscellaneous rotations 24 



Wheat in 3-year rotations of kefir, fallow, 



and wheat 26 



13 



17 Summary. 



WINTER WHEAT IN ELLIS AND ADJOINING COUNTIES IN KANSAS. 



The Fort Hays branch experiment station is located m Ellis 

 County. This county is in the western tier of the solid block of 

 28 counties which with 2 others were designated in the 1901 report 

 of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture ^ as ''million-bushel" 

 counties in wheat production. 



The statistics gathered by the State Board of Agriculture and 

 published in its biennial reports make it possible to follow the history 

 of each crop from the beginning of agriculture in the county and 

 the region and to determine the rotation and cultm-al problems as 

 they present themselves in the accomplished fact of actual practice. 



Elhs County is recorded as containing 900 square miles, or 576,000 

 acres. Since the first attempt was made at cultivation in 1870 

 the area imder the plow has increased until in 1920 the total area 

 for all crops reached 270,867 acres. But with the extension of the 

 cultivated acreage the rate of increase is diminishing. A distinct 

 break in the curve showing the total acres of all crops in the county 

 is noted in 1903. For the 15 years preceding that date the increase 



1 Kansas. State Board of Agriculture. Biennial Report, v. [3-27], 1874-1919-20. Topeka, 1874-1921. 

 107903°— 22 1 



