UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



% BULLETIN No. 625 



*Jfig£|l||^j^ Office of the Secretary 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief JTU-J^vofk 



Washington, D. C. T April 8, 1918 



CROPPING SYSTEMS FOR THE MOISTER PORTION OF EAST- 

 ERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON AND NORTHERN IDAHO. 



By Lee W. Fltjharty, Assistant Agriculturist. 



CONTENTS. 



Page, i 



Clover in the rotation to eliminate summer I Methods of increasing farm profits 4 



tallow 1 | Seeding clover with a nurse crop 6 



Factors influencing farm profits 2 ; Rotation for increasing profits 9 



CLOVER IN THE ROTATION TO ELIMINATE SUMMER FALLOW. 



WITHIN the region adjacent to the Bitter Root and Blue Moun- 

 tains in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho live more than 12,800 

 farmers who operate approximately 1,875,000 acres of improved farm 

 land. The farms on which these farmers live have an annual rainfall 

 of 20 inches or more, and have a black silt loam soil underlaid by a 

 clay-like subsoil which is very retentive of moisture. The land has 

 been devoted to the growing of wheat, oats, and barley, by the 

 summer-fallow system, for more than 30 years. 



A farm survey made in 1915 on 246 farms in a representative por- 

 tion of the above described area showed that 30.2 per cent of the 

 rotation area was idle each season as summer fallow. It is generally 

 conceded that the yields of grain are now smaller than when the land 

 was first brought into cultivation and that the soil is growing more 

 compact and harder to work with each succeeding year. It is gen- 

 erally believed that the practice of summer - fallowing is largely 

 responsible for this condition. 



The amount of land idle as summer fallow and the per acre yield 

 of crops were found to be the most potent factors influencing farm 

 profits. Farms having the most summer fallow made the least profit, 

 while those having the largest per acre yield of crops made the larg- 

 est profits. Any cropping system, therefore, which will increase the 

 per acre yield of crops or do away with summer fallow without 

 decreasing yields should materially increase farm profits. 



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