CROP PRODUCTION IN THE GREAT PLAINS AREA. 15 



only profit shown at these stations from any method under study is 

 one of 35 cents per acre from disking corn ground at Belle Fourche. 

 This nominal profit has resulted from the low cost of production 

 rather than from the amount of yield. The indications are that the 

 combination of soil and climatic conditions at these stations is not 

 congenial to the growth of barley, nor can the unfavorable conditions 

 be overcome by cultural methods. 



Table V also shows that at 10 of the 14 stations under study, 

 disked corn ground has been productive of higher yields of barley 

 than either fall or spring plowed stubble. At Hettinger and North 

 Platte it has been clearly exceeded in yield by each. At Akron it 

 has been exceeded in yield by both, but the differences between the 

 three are only fractions of a bushel. At Amarillo it has been between 

 the two in yield. Its low cost of production has made disking the 

 most profitable method under trial at all stations except Hettinger. 

 It has been productive of a profit at all stations except Garden City, 

 Dalhart, and Amarillo. 



Preparing the ground with a lister instead of a plow has been 

 practiced at eight stations. At only one station, Judith Basin, have 

 the 3 T ields been very materially different from those by fall plowing. 

 At the other stations, although it has not in all cases given higher 

 yields than plowing, owing to a lower cost of preparation, it has 

 shown slightly more profit where profits are shown and less loss 

 where losses are shown than has resulted from plowing. 



The difference between spring and fall plowing is largely one of 

 season. In the average of the 13 stations at which both were under 

 trial, there is practically no difference. At only three stations is 

 there a difference of over 2 bushels per acre in the yields from the 

 two methods. At the four southern stations the advantage has been 

 with fall plowing. This is the only consistent territorial difference 

 to be noted in the comparison of these two methods, but production 

 at these four stations and at Belle Fourche has been at a loss by both 

 methods. Spring plowing shows a profit at all other stations and 

 fall plowing at all others except Scottsbluff. 



Subsoiling in preparation for the barley crop has been practiced 

 at seven stations. At only two of these has the consequent yield 

 departed far from that by fall plowing. At the Judith Basin station 

 there has been a marked gain and at Akron a marked decrease from 

 subsoiling. The cost of the method has been such that it has paid 

 a profit at only the Judith Basin station. 



The highest average yields at 1 1 of the 14 stations have been from 

 Blimmer-tilled laud. At the Judith Basin station subsoiled land has 

 yielded a fraction of b bushel higher. At Dickinson and Edgeley 

 the yields on disked corn ground have been appreciably higher than 

 on summer-tilled land. While the averages of all the stations are 



