TILLAGE AND ROTATION EXPERIMENTS AT NEPHI, UTAH. 



31 



The principal fact brought out by Table XII is that the higher 

 rates of seeding* have given the largest average yields. This is rather 

 contrary to the belief of dry-land farmers in the Great Basin, who 

 fear that heavier seeding than 3 pecks to the acre would be disastrous 

 to the crop in extremely dry seasons. That this view is not well 

 founded is shown by the fact that in 1910 and 1911, the two driest 

 years at Nephi since 1898, the highest rates of seeding gave yields as 

 high as, or much higher than, the lower rates. The results available 

 indicate that a 4-peck or 5-peck rate is the most profitable. 



It is likely that 3 pecks per acre would be sufficient if all seeds sown 

 produced plants that matured, but it has been found at Nephi that 

 the average winter survival among fall-sown cereals is about 65 per 



WELD //V BUSHELS PER AC/?E 

 e /O /2 /4 /6 /a 20 22 



24 26 28 



6.3 



•5> J '&0 



^\/2 6 m?j^,?^ j^//////;y/z?z{ 



^ ^^i^#^ ^^^^^ 



A/0.9M/U'-/' 



y//Ay//Ay//Ay/^^^^ 



Fig. 16.— Diagram comparing the annual and average yields obtained in the spring-cultivation tests 

 of winter wheat at the Nephi substation, 1909 to 1913, inclusive. 



cent, 1 in which case only about 30 pounds of the seed produce plants 

 that mature. 



SPRING CULTIVATION OF WINTER WHEAT. 



Two adjacent plats have been used each year since 1909 for testing 

 the value of spring cultivation of winter wheat compared with no 

 cultivation. These plats were treated uniformly in e^ery other 

 respect. Normal cultivation consists of harrowing the crop, usually 

 with a spike-toothed harrow, as early in the spring as advisable, 

 repeating this operation, if necessary, before the plants are in boot. 



The chief value of spring cultivation, it was thought, would be 

 found in its favorable influence upon the yield of the crop by breaking 

 the crust which usually forms upon the surface of the ground during 

 the winter and early spring. The destruction of this crust was 



1 Cardon, P. V. Cereal investigations at the Nephi substation. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 30, p. 34, 1913. 



