UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 991 j 



4 



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Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR Chief 



jC5r4L%> 



Washington, D. C. 



October 17, 1921 



CROP ROTATION AND CULTURAL METHODS AT 

 EDGELEY, N. DAK, 



By John S. Cole, Agriculturist, Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations. 1 



CONTENTS. 



History of the investigation 



Soil 



Precipitation 



Extent of work and character of the 

 seasons — 



Results of fall and spring plowing 

 compared , 



Disking compared with plowing corn 

 ground in preparation for wheat 

 and oats 



Corn ground compared with small- 

 grain stubble for wheat and oats.: 



Page. 

 1 

 2 

 3 



10 



Page. 



Grain stubble compared with fallow. 10 

 Corn ground compared with fallow 



as a preparation for small grains. 12 

 Manured compared with unmanured 



fallow 14 



Green manure compared with bare 



fallow i 14 



Sod crops 17 



The effect of the season on yields 19 



Continuous cropping compared with 



rotation 22 



Conclusions 22 



HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. 



The Edgeley substation of the North Dakota Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station is one unit in a group of 24 field stations at which 

 the Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations has established 

 coordinated cooperative experiments in crop rotations and cultiva- 

 tion methods on the Great Plains. 



The station at Edgeley is farther east than any of the other sta- 

 tions on the northern Great Plains. The rainfall is somewhat heavier 

 and there is greater liability to damage from rust than at stations 



1 The Office of Dry-Land Agriculture was organized in 1905, with E. C. Chilcott as 

 agriculturist in charge, who planned, outlined, and instituted these investigations and 

 still has general supervision of them. This bulletin has been prepared under his direc- 

 tion. These investigations have had the active cooperation and support of the officials 

 of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station for the entire fifteen years. O. A. 

 Thompson has been superintendent of the Edgeley substation since its establishment in 

 1903, and since 1918 he has had immediate charge of the cooperative investigations. The 

 following assistants in Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations have been detailed by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture to the station, in immediate charge of the co- 

 operative work, during the years indicated : E. P. Chilcott, 1906 to 1908 ; C. H. Plath, 

 1909 to 1912 ; and R. S. Towle, 1913 to 1918. 

 56615°— 21— Bull. 991 1 



