WINTER-WHEAT PEODUCTIOISr AT FORT HAYS STATIOIST. 11 



than E, 2.7 bushels more than B, and 7.1 bushels more than A. Con- 

 trary to the objection of delay and increased cost raised against E^ 

 this method is quicker and cheaper even than B. With a given force 

 the land can be listed more rapidly than it can be plowed, and conse- 

 quently the benefits of early cultivation may be more fully realized 

 with this method than with plowing. Except in 1917, when both this 

 and the late-plowed plat A were reduced to total failure, it has gen- 

 erally stood drought better and longer than B. Plats E and F have 

 generally been about the same in this respect, better than the continu- 

 ously cropped plowed plats but not as good as the plat on fallow. 



The other method in this series of plats that grow wheat alone is 

 alternate wheat and fallow on plats C and D. In the even years C is 

 cropped and D fallowed and in the odd years D is cropped and C fal- 

 lowed. By using twice the area of land a crop is thus produced each 

 year on fallow for comparison with those obtained by continuous 

 cropping. The 14-year average yield from this method is 20.3 bush- 

 els. This is practically double the county average, only a fraction 

 of a bushel less than double the average from late plowing, less than 50 

 per cent increase over early plowing, and only 3 bushels per acre more 

 than early listing. The yield of fallow from this method and of 

 fallow and of green manure throughout this bulletin is the yield from 

 the area actually in crop. In computing the economic value of these 

 methods consideration must be given to the fact that an equal area 

 in preparation for a crop is producing nothing. 



It not infrequently happens that the greater water supply and other 

 more favorable conditions of this method promote a growth so heavy 

 that it suffers from lodging and fungous diseases. When conditions 

 do not continue so favorable the heavier vegetative growth of this 

 method may demand more water than is available from both that stored 

 in the soil and supplied by rain and the damage to it from drought be 

 relatively and actually greater than to plats having less growth 

 because they started under less favorable conditions. 



The evidence of the plats indicates that on land cropped to wheat 

 alone the fallow can not be profitably employed on such acreage as it 

 is possible to cultivate early, but that land that can not be prepared 

 early might better be fallowed than seeded on a late-plowed poor 

 seed bed. The principle of the fallow (cultivation to form a firm, 

 moist seed bed and the storage of water before seeding) is correct, but 

 the greater part of its benefits may be realized by cultivation in the 

 period of three months between harvest and seeding. These are 

 conclusions based on the averages of 14 years. They may not hold 

 true in any one individual year. A heavy rainfall in the fallow 

 period and a drought or deficiency of rainfall in the growing period 

 favors the fallow. Drought during the fallow period decreases the 



