30 BULLETIN" 214, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The best average yield for the six years from any one method of 

 treatment is 14.9 bushels per acre from corn ground plowed in the 

 spring before seeding to wheat. This is closely approached by sum- 

 mer tillage, with an average yield of 14.6 bushels per acre. The next 

 highest yield, 13.3 bushels per acre, has been from corn ground plowed 

 m the fall before seeding to wheat. 



Disked corn ground has yielded an average of 11.2 bushels per acre. 

 This yield is exceeded by nine-tenths of a bushel per acre by wheat 

 following wheat on spring plowing. 



Spring plowing has been productive of markedly heavier crops than 

 fall plowing, irrespective of whether it was corn, wheat, or oat stubble 

 that was plowed. 



Furrowing with a lister and leaving the ground rough through the 

 winter has given results practically the same as fall plowing similar 

 stubble. 



Subsoiling has been done at the expense of a decrease in the yields 

 every year except the first, when its increase over similar stubble 

 plowed at the same time was only 0.9 bushel per acre. 



Green manuring has given about the same yields as land from 

 which a crop was harvested. Of the different crops used for green 

 manure rye has been the best and sweet clover the poorest, as judged 

 by the yields obtained immediately following them. 



When the cost of production is considered in connection with the 

 yields obtained from different methods, the arrangement as presented 

 shows a profit of $3.09 per acre from disked corn ground and $2.52 

 from spring plowing. Fall plowing and listed land both show merely 

 nominal profits of a few cents per acre. Subsoiling and summer 

 tillage show losses of $1.99 and $1.28, respectively. The high cost 

 of green manure has increased the loss from it to $7.68 per acre. A 

 more detailed presentation would show that the greater part of the 

 profit from both spring and fall plowing was from corn ground. 



HAYS FIELD STATION. 



The soil on which the experimental work has been conducted at 

 Hays, Kans., is a heavy silt loam. Penetration of water to the lower 

 depths is slow. The very compact zone in the third foot offers 

 marked resistance both to the downward passage of water and to the 

 development of roots. While the evidence is not as complete as 

 might be desired, it appears that the proportion of water that can be 

 stored hi the soil is comparatively high. 



The results of five years are available from the Hays station, the 

 crop of 1909 having been lost through a hail storm that destroyed it 

 before maturity. Only two years have been productive of fair crops. 

 The year 1914 has not been considered in computing averages. In- 

 dications are that under ordinary farm conditions yields might have 



