10 BULLETIX 1094, U. S. DEPARTMEK-T OF AGEICULTUEE. 



As exhibited in Table o, the lowest yield has been from plat A. 

 This has yielded not only the lowest of any of the plats continuously 

 .cropped to wheat but the lowest of any plat in the field. The seed 

 bed is quite commonly described as loose and lumpy; germination 

 and stand may be poor; winter survival is sometimes poor; growth 

 is not as vigorous as on other plats; and it is one of the first to suffer 

 from drought. Only twice in 14 years has its yield exceeded that 

 of plat B. Its 14-year average yield of 10.5 bushels per acre is prac- 

 tically the same as the Ellis County average of 10.2 bushels for the 

 same period. In exactly half the years its average has exceeded 

 that of the county and in the other half it has been lower. As might 

 be expected, the county average is smoother than that from a single 

 plat or field because it neither descends to the complete failure nor 

 rises to the height of high yields that the latter may experience. 



Plat B, which is plowed one month after harvest, six weeks earlier 

 than A and two months before seeding, has exceeded A in yield every 

 year except 1908 and 1919. While A has a 14-year average of only 



10.5 bushels per acre, the average yield of B for the same period is 



14.6 bushels. This is an increase of 4.1 bushels per acre on account 

 of the earlier plowing and subsequent cultivation. This stores water 

 in the soil which protects to some extent against drought and pre- 

 pares a generally moist and solid seed bed in which germination, fall 

 growth, and winter survival are better than on the late plowing. 



The yield from this method exceeds the county average by 4.4 

 bushels per acre. As it is a very practicable method of preparing 

 wheat stubble for wheat it appears from the comparative results of 

 these two plats alone that the county average should be susceptible 

 of increase. 



Plat E is a duplicate of B in time of plowing and in cultivation after 

 plowing. As has been explained it is in addition subsoded from time 

 to time. Its yield averages 17 bushels per acre, or 2.4 bushels more 

 than B. In following the yield of B it confirms the advantage 

 of early plowing. It also appears to show some advantage from sub- 

 soiling. This increase from subsoding is more marked at Fort Hays 

 than at other dry-land stations and more marked with winter wheat 

 than with other crops. The subject has been treated exhaustively in 

 another publication.^ Subsoding would necessarily delay plowing, and 

 so on a large acreage any increase from it might be neutralized by the 

 poorer returns shown to follow late plowing. 



Plats E and F lie side by side. As already described, plat F is 

 listed instead of being plowed. Its yield follows that of E very closely, 

 sometimes one and sometimes the other having the heavier yield. 

 Its 14-year average is 17.3 bushels per acre. This is 0.3 bushel more 



5 Chilcott, E. C, and Cole, John S. Subsoiling, deep tilling, and soil d^-namiting in the Great Plains. 

 /tj Jour. Agr. Research, V. 14, no. 11. p. 481-521, 4fig. 1918. Literaturecited,p.521. 



