UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 268 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



s\Jp''&mru 



Washington, D. C. 



July 20, 1915. 



CROP PRODUCTION IN THE GREAT PLAINS AREA 



RELATION OF CULTURAL METHODS TO YIELDS. 



By E. C. Chilcott, Agriculturist in Charge, and J. S. Cole and W. W. Burr, 



Assistants, Office of Dry-Land Agriculture. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Climatic features of the Great Plains 3 



Soils of the Great Plains 5 



Crops and cultural methods 5 



Results of methods tested with various crops. 5 



Page. 



Tillage practices 21 



Accessory tillage 24 



Regional adaptation of crops 26 



Conclusions 27 



INTRODUCTION. 



This bulletin presents a summary of data obtained relative to the 

 effect of cultural methods upon crop production in the Great Plains 

 area. Six department bulletins have recently been published by 

 the Office of Dry-Land Agri culture, dealing largely with this subject. 

 In these are treated separately the effect of cultural methods upon 

 the production of spring wheat, of oats, of corn, of barley, and of 

 corn, milo, and kafir, and one deals with the effects of the time of 

 plowing. The experimental results are presented in these bulletins in 

 much greater detail than is possible in the present bulletin, and the 

 reader is referred to them for the details of these investigations. 1 



The investigations upon which these conclusions are based were 

 conducted at 14 field stations, located at Moccasin and Huntley, 

 Mont.; Williston, Dickinson, Hettinger, and Edgeley, N. Dak.; Belle 

 Fourche, S. Dak.: North Platte and Scottsbluff, Nebr.; Akron, Colo.; 

 Hays and (iar<l<n City, Kans. ; and Amarillo and Dalhart, Tex. 



1 Bei; bulletin ->t the 1'niu-d States Department of Act iVultnro bearing numbers and titles as follows: 



■: '., "Spring wheat In Hie Cheat Plain* area: Relation of cultural methods to production." No. 218, 



u OtA in the Great I'lains area: Relation of nil Inn I method: lo production." No. 21!), "Corn in the Groat 



Platan area: Relation ol cultural method i to production." No. 222, "Barley In the Great Plains area: 

 Relation of cultural method! to production." No. 242, "Com, milo, and kafir In the southern Greal Plains 

 area: Relation of cultural methodi to production." No, 2.".:;, "The effect of different times of plowing 



Hnall-grain Itubble in eastern Colorado." 



N'-tk. This bulletin i intended for oil *i,o are Interested In the agricultural po slbillties ol the Great 



Plain* area. 



96012 BU1L268 15- — 1 



