6 



BULLETIX 1094, U. S. DEPAKTMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table 4. — Average yields of uinter vjheat in Ellis, Russell, Rv^h, Rooks, and Trego 

 Counties, Kans., for each decade or partial decade of the 47 -year -period from 1874 to 

 1920, inclusive. 



Decade. 





Average yields per acre (bushels;. 





Ellis. 



Russell. 1 Rush. 



Rooks. 1 Trego. 



Averse. 



1S71 to 1S80 



14.3 



U.8 

 14.9 

 10.7 

 12.6 

 11.3 



12.8 

 14.0 

 7.6 

 9.4 

 9.9 



14.5 

 15.5 

 10.1 

 12.5 

 12.3 





14.1 



l&Sl toli90 



1891 to 1903 



15.8 



9. 5 



11.6 

 10.1 

 8.4 

 10.2 



14.4 

 9.6 



1901 to 1910 



■ 9.3 



10.4 



1911 to 1920 



..■■ 10. 1 



10.8 



1 









In considering acreage it was noted that the year 1891 marked the 

 time when stability was reached in the proportion of wheat to 

 all crops. If the previous period be eliminated and the study of 

 yields is begun with that year, the curve is very different from the one 

 obtained when it is included. In the nineties yields were high, low, 

 and again high. The 10-year average of Ellis County for 1891 to 

 1900, inclusive, was 9.5 bushels per acre. The succeeding averages 

 obtained by including the data of each succeeding year in a new 

 average until a 30-year average is obtained in 1920, do not depart 

 from this by more than 0.5 bushel in either direction. The 24-year 

 and 25-year averages were exactly the same as the 10-year average; 

 the 29-year average was 0.1 bushel lower, and the 30-year average 

 0.1 bushel higher. The average of the five counties parallels that of 

 Ellis very closely. 



It is impossible to recognize any progressive change in yields 

 during this period of 30 years. 



In the early years a lesser area of land was under cultivation, as 

 well as a smaller proportion of it in wheat. The smaller acreage 

 perhaps contributed to more timely work. Undoubtedly the best 

 land as a rule was brought under cultivation first. During the devel- 

 opment period a considerable proportion of the wheat would be 

 seeded on newly broken prairie sod or on land only a few years from 

 sod. Such land is free from the weeds and diseases that foUow a 

 crop after its introduction into a new country. 



With the passage from first development to a stabilized condition 

 on old soil there was a marked drop in yields. The term old soil is 

 intended to express only a relative condition as distinguished from 

 new land which still enjoys the physical effect of the prairie sod and 

 its relative freedom from the weeds and diseases that accompany 

 cropping. The evidence of a number of dry-land experimental 

 farms seems to show this change occurring in from four to seven 

 years on individual 'fields and farms. 



Since the drop that marked the passage to a stabilized condition 

 there has been no measurable change in yields. If the system in 

 itself has resulted in any decrease of yields, such decrease has been 



