BULLETIN OF THE 



H 



No. 157 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wrn. A. Taylor, Chief. 

 January 21, 1915. 



TILLAGE AND ROTATION EXPERIMENTS AT NEPHI, 



UTAH. 1 



By P. V. Cardon, 



Scientific Assistant, Office of Cereal Investigations. 

 (In cooperation with the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



The experimental work at the Nephi (Utah) substation has been 

 conducted cooperatively since 1907 by the Office of Cereal Investiga- 

 tions of the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Utah Agricultural 

 Experiment Station. The memorandum of understanding between 

 these two parties specifies that "the objects of these cooperative 

 investigations shall be (1) to improve the cereals of the intermountain 

 region by introducing or producing better varieties than those now 

 grown, especially with regard to drought resistance, yield, quality, 

 earliness, etc. ; (2) to conduct such other experiments as might seem 

 advisable for the accomplishment of the greatest possible good to 

 the dry-land interests of the State." Most of the experiments 

 which have been conducted have dealt directly with cereal investi- 

 gations as specified in the first clause of the memorandum of under- 

 standing; but, as provided in clause 2 of this memorandum, a num- 

 ber of experiments have been carried on with methods of tillage 

 and with minor dry-land crops. 



A preliminary report of all the work at Nephi was published in 

 1910. 2 This report was rather general in its nature, owing to the 



1 The Nephi substation was established in 1903 by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. From 

 that time until July 1, 1907, it was operated as one of several "county farms" located at various points 

 in the State. Prof. L. A. Merrill, agronomist of the Utah station, directed the work from 1903 to 1905. 

 Thereafter until 1907 it was under the direction of Prof. W. M. Jardine, agronomist of the Utah station. 

 On July 1, 1907, cooperation between the Utah experiment station and the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 was effected, and Mr. F. D. Farrell, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, was placed in charge of the 

 substation. He was succeeded on March 15, 1910, by Mr. P. V. Cardon. From the time of the establish- 

 ment of the station until July 1, 1912, at which time he was succeeded by Mr. A. D. Ellison, Mr. Stephen 

 Boswell was foreman. From 1907 to 1912 the State of Utah has been represented through Prof. L. A. Merrill, 

 agronomist in charge of arid farms. On July 1, 1913, Mr. Ellison succeeded Mr. Cardon as superintendent, 

 and Dr. F. S. Harris, agronomist of the Utah station, succeeded Prof. Merrill. 



2 Farrell, F. D. Dry-land grains in the Great Basin. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Cir. 61, 39 p., 

 2 pi., 1910. 



Note. — This bulletin should be of interest to agronomists and to dry-land farmers, particularly in the 

 Great Basin area. 



63648°— Bull. 157—15 1 



