TILLAGE AND ROTATION EXPERIMENTS AT NEPHI, UTAH. 17 



CULTIVATION OF FALLOW. 



The purpose of the experiments in cultivating fallow land has been 

 to determine the value of cultivation as compared with no cultiva- 

 tion. Very little has been done to determine the relative value of 

 such factors as depth, method, and frequency of cultivation, etc., 

 further than to observe and to note differences whenever they were 

 apparent. These factors are so variable, however, that the notes 

 made do not suggest any established principles. 



Cultivation of Fall-Plowed Fallow. 



Since 1908 two pairs of plats, alternately cropped and fallowed, 

 have been used at Nephi in an endeavor to determine the value of 

 cultivation as compared with no cultivation of fall-plowed fallow. 

 Two adjacent plats were plowed uniformly in the fall of each year, 

 and both were allowed to lie in a rough condition through the follow- 

 ing winter. During the next spring and summer one of these plats 

 received normal cultivation, while the other was not cultivated. 

 Both were seeded uniformly in the fall and the further treatment of 

 the plats was identical. These two plats alternated with two other 

 plats which received the same treatment. 



The cultivated fallow 7 plat was replowed or double disked in the 

 spring after fall plowing, to destroy weeds and volunteer grain. It 

 was then harrowed, and during the succeeding summer it was har- 

 rowed and weeded as often as necessary. At least three harrowings 

 were given the plat — one in the spring, one in the summer, and another 

 just prior to the time of seeding; and the plat was weeded once or 

 twice. On the other plat, weeds and volunteer grain were allowed 

 to grow, but all growth was clipped before it matured, in order to 

 minimize subsequent weed trouble. 



MOISTURE CONTENT OP FALLOW. 



Soil samples were taken from the fallow plats at the beginning, 

 in the middle, and at the end of the season. Six-foot borings were 

 made and the moisture content of each foot section was determined 

 in the usual manner. The data obtained from these determinations 

 are presented in Table VI, which shows the annual and average per- 

 centages of moisture in each foot and the average percentages in the 

 6 feet in the spring, in the summer, and in the fall for both the culti- 

 vated and the uncultivated fallow for the four years 1909 to 1912, 

 inclusive. 



63648°— Bull. 157—15—3 



