SPRING WHEAT IN THE GREAT PLAINS AREA. 23 



11 were corn ground and 1 was potato ground. Spring plowing has 

 been productive of an average profit of $3.50 and fall plowing of 

 $2.82. Despite the increased yield on summer tillage, the high cost 

 of the method has reduced the profits from it to $2.78 per acre. The 

 still higher cost of preparation and the lower yields from green 

 manuring have contributed to make it show a loss of $4.39 per acre. 



BELLE FOURCHE FIELD STATION. 



The field-station farm near Newell, S. Dak., on the Belle Fourche 

 Reclamation Project, is located on a heavy gumbo clay soil, which 

 is derived from the decomposition of Pierre shale. From the soil at 

 the surface there is a rapid change to broken but undecomposed 

 shale. Near the bottom of the second foot is a comparatively im- 

 pervious layer of soil. The first foot and at least a part of the 

 second foot carry a large proportion of available water. It is prob- 

 able that little use is made of either water or soil below the first 2 

 feet. In spite of the heavy soil and the large quantity of water 

 that can be obtained by the plant from that portion of it near the 

 surface, the shallowness of feeding reduces the quantity of water 

 that can be carried in the soil to about one-half of that available on 

 deeper soils. The result of this is shown in the yields. 



While the results of six years are available from this station, two 

 of them have been years of total failure of the wheat crop. These 

 failures were due to drought so extreme that no methods of culture 

 were able to overcome it. A third year produced some light yields, 

 but the crop was practically a failure for all methods. These three 

 dry years in succession afforded no opportunity to profit from 

 methods calculated to store moisture. The rainfall was so light and 

 its distribution so unfavorable as to make the accumulation of 

 water in the soil impossible. In two other years there was production 

 from all methods, but the yields were light. In only the first year of 

 the series under consideration was the general production heavy. 



Neither in the average of the series nor in any of the years within 

 the series has there been evidenced sufficient difference in production 

 to warrant an extended discussion of the relative merits of the 

 methods under trial. The only partial exception to this statement 

 is to be found in the advantage of summer tillage over other methods 

 in resisting the dry seasons of 1913 and 1914. However, in 1913 it 

 was able to produce only 15.6 bushels per acre, as against an average 

 of 8.7 bushels on fall-plowed land that had been in crop the year 

 before. In 1914 it produced an average of 16.1 bushels per acre, 

 while the production on disked corn land was 10 bushels and on fall- 

 plowed ground only 5.8 bushels per acre. In 1912 all the available 

 water in the soil was used, but in no case was it sufficient to make a 

 crop. 



