6 BULLETIN" 268, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



is considered, without reference to the previous crop. In the tables 

 for corn, milo, and kafir, the tables show the effect of the previous 

 crop, as well as the effect of the method. Under the headings, "Fall 

 plowed," "Spring plowed," and "Green manured" in the tables for 

 the small grains are shown the average yields obtained from ground 

 so prepared following several different crops, usually wheat, oats, 

 barley, or corn. The disked land has been chiefly corn land. List- 

 ing and subsoiling have been done on land continuously devoted to 

 the crop for which results are presented. The second part of the table 

 shows the comparative profit or loss resulting from growing each 

 crop by the various methods under study. The profits and losses 

 are based on the average yields shown in the first part of the table. 

 The method of computing the cost of production and of valuing 

 the crop has been shown in detail in the publication previously cited. 1 

 The cost is based on a land rental of SI. 60 per acre and an average 

 wage of $2 per day for a man and $1 per day for a horse. With this 

 wage as a basis, the labor cost is computed on the average amount of 

 work required by each method under trial. The cost of production 

 as computed is not offered as being absolute for any locality, either 

 in amount or cost of labor required, but is given as a working basis 

 for the comparison of the results from different methods of prepara- 

 tion. 



SPRING WHEAT. 



The results with spring wheat are summarized in Table II. In 

 the first part of the table are brought together for each station the 

 average yields as grouped for this study under different methods of 

 preparation. In the second part of the table the profit or loss in 

 dollars and cents per acre for the average crop for each method is 

 shown. This digest is based on the yield data presented in the 

 first part of the same table. 



When fall plowing following corn, oats, and wheat is averaged 

 together and compared with spring plowing following the same crops ; 

 the average yields from each of the two methods at 11 of the 14 sta- 

 tions show no material difference for the years averaged. At only 

 three stations — Scottsbluff, Akron, and Hays — are the average dif- 

 ferences greater than 1 bushel per acre. At Hays the advantage is 

 with fall plowing and at the other two stations with spring plowing. 

 At most stations the advantage of one method over the other depends 

 chiefly upon the season. The effect of different times of plowing 

 small grain stubble has been treated in detail in a separate publica- 

 tion. The small difference in the cost of the two methods makes 

 relative profits and losses from them follow closely the differences in 

 yields. 



1 TJ. S. Dept. of Agriculture Bulletin No. 214, entitled "Spring Wheat in the Great Plainsarea: Relation 

 of cultural methods to production," 1915, p. 8-11. 



