TILLAGE AND ROTATION EXPERIMENTS AT NEPHI, UTAH. 39 



the previous year. In 1911, however, under favorable conditions, 

 the yields were consistent with the soil moisture. In 1912 there 

 was little difference either in moisture or yield. 



These results indicate that where a good stand is obtained in the fall 

 and little wmterMlling follows, the crops following fallow will yield 

 more than those grown on continuously cropped land. To determine 

 the relative value of the two systems of cropping, the cost of growing 

 a crop and of maintaining a fallow must also be taken into consid- 

 eration. In the vicinity of Nephi, the cost of growing and harvest- 

 ing wheat is about $3 per acre more than the cost of maintaining a 

 fallow throughout the year. This extra cost must be charged 

 against the crop which is obtained in alternate years on the con- 

 tinuously cropped land. On this basis, the 14 bushels greater yield 

 per acre in 10 years from the land continuously cropped have been 

 obtained at a cost of $15, for the $3 extra cost has been incurred 

 five times in the 10 years. This extra cost is greater than the value 

 of the increased yield, which is further evidence that alternate crop- 

 ping and fallowing is preferable to continuous cropping to wheat. 



INTERTILLED CROPS COMPARED WITH FALLOW IN ALTERNATION WITH WINTER 



WHEAT. 



The most direct attempt made at the Nephi substation to find a 

 successful substitute for the alternation of a cereal crop and summer 

 fallow has been in a simple rotation in which winter wheat was 

 grown after fallow and after corn, peas, and potatoes in rotation. 

 As this test has been in progress since 1908 sufficient data have been 

 accumulated to justify consideration at this time. An outline of 

 the rotation is given in Table XVII. 



Table XVII. — Rotation of intertilled crops and fallow alternating with wheat. 



Plat. 



1908 



1909 



1910 



1911 



1912 



1913 



12B 



Wheat 



...do... 



Fallow 



Wheat 



. do 



Fallow 



Wheat 



...do... 





13B 





14B 



...do 



Potatoes 



...do 



...do 





...do 





15B 



...do... 



Wheat 



. do. 



...do 



Fallow 



Peas 



Corn 



Potatoes . . 





12C 



Fallow 



Potatoes 



Wheat.... 



...do 



...do 



Fallow 



Wheat. 



13C 



Do. 



14C 





...do 



...do... 



Do. 



15C 





...do 



Do. 















TREATMENT OP PLATS. 



The four plats which had grown wheat were plowed in the fall of 

 each year to a uniform depth of about 8 inches. The land then 

 received no cultivation until the next spring, when it was double 

 disked or harrowed sufficiently to destroy all weeds and make a good 

 fallow or a good seed bed. The plat to be summer-fallowed was 

 treated normally in the spring and throughout the summer. The 



