6 BULLETIN 901, XL S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



These figures are given to show the average production and maxi- 

 mum possibilities of these grain crops. Pound for pound they 

 average practically the same, with the maximum possibilities rather 

 in favor of oats. They suggest that the choice between these crops 

 is determined by the price, and that the one commanding the highest 

 price per pound is entitled to have the highest acreage. It may 

 be stated as a result of similar work at other stations that this 

 relation between spring wheat and oats has been found to hold true 

 for the Great Plains as a whole. 



In comparing the results of different methods in the following 

 pages attention is called several times to the apparently greater 

 response of oats than wheat to certain methods, such as fallow. This 

 is probably due to the fact that wheat has on the average suffered 

 more than oats from rust. The proportional damage from rust is 

 nearly always greatest with those methods that have the heaviest 

 and most luxuriant growth and previous to attack the greatest 

 potential yield. 



RESULTS OF FALL AND SPRING PLOWING COMPARED. 



The work offers a number of comparisons of the relative merits 

 of fall and spring plowing for the several crops. Fall plowing as 

 a rule has been done comparatively early. It has been the endeavor, 

 however, not to advance its date beyond practical limits. The aver- 

 age date of plowing grain stubble is September 12. In 9 of the 14 

 years the date has fallen between September 2 and September 13. 

 In 2 years the plowing has been done in August and in 2 years it 

 has been delayed until October. 



When corn stubble is plowed in the fall it is generally necessary 

 to delay it until a late date, as it can not be done until after the 

 corn is removed. The average date of plowing corn stubble is 

 October 1. Plowing has been done to a good depth, the maximum 

 being 8 inches. The depth of spring plowing has been the same 

 as that of fall plowing, with the exception of one plat, plat A, with 

 each crop, which is continuously cropped and shallow spring plowed. 

 When all the evidence on the subject is studied there is found in the 

 average of a series of years little or no difference between fall and 

 spring plowing for small grains in rotations of corn, wheat, and 

 oats when the depth of the ploAving has been the same. In continuous 

 cropping to small grains shallow spring plowing has averaged from 

 1^ to 2^ bushels higher than deep fall plowing. This comparison 

 at Edgeley is open to question on account of the fact that from time 

 to time there has been an accumulation of blown soil in the stubble 

 of the continuously spring-plowed plats, which has built them up 

 several inches above their original level. Similar results, though, 

 have been obtained since 1916 on section 9, where such building up 

 has not taken place, and they are not out of keeping with results 

 at other stations. 



