BULLETIN OF THE 



eMIMffAWMf 



No. 218 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Wm. A. Taylor, Chief 

 May 28, 1915. 



OATS IN THE GREAT PLAINS AREA: RELATION OF CULTURAL 

 METHODS TO PRODUCTION. 



By E. C. Chilcott, Agriculturist in Charge, and J. S. Cole and W. W. Burr, 

 Assistants, Office of Dry-Land Agriculture. 1 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

 Introduction 1 



Area included in these investigations 3 



Climatic conditions 3 



General plan of the investigations 4 



Tage. 



Comparison of cultural methods 8 



Results at the several stations 11 



General discussion of results 38 



Conclusions 41 



INTRODUCTION. 



This bulletin contains a study of the yields of oats from different 

 methods of cultivation and seed-bed preparation at fourteen field 

 stations on the Great Plains. 



1 All of the members of the scientific staff of the Office of Dry-Land Agriculture have contributed 

 more or less to this paper by having charge of field investigations and by assisting in the preparation of 

 data for records or for publication. The scientific staff as at present constituted consists of the fol- 

 lowing members, named in the order of length of service: W. W. Burr, Denver, Colo.; E. F. Chilcott, 

 Woodward, Okla.; O. J. Grace, Akron, Colo.; J. S. Cole, Denver, Colo.; J. M. Stephens, Moccasin, Mont.; 

 A. L. Hallsted, Hays, Kans.; O. R. Mathews, Belle Fourche, S. Dak.; J. C. Thysell, Dickinson, N. Dak.; 

 M. Pfaender, Mandan, N. Dak.; H. C. McKinstry, Hettinger, N. Dak.; W. M. Osborn, North Platte, 

 Nebr.; W. D. Griggs, Dalhart, Tex.; C. A. Burmeister, Amarillo, Tex.; J. E. Mundell, Big Spring, Tex.; 

 F. L. Kelso, Ardmore, S. Dak.; W. A. Peterson, Mandan, N. Dak.; J. T. Sarvis, Ardmore, S. Dak.; G. W. 

 Morgan, Huntley, Mont.; J. H. Jacobson, Mitchell, Nebr.; H. G. Smith, Tucumcari, N. Mcx.; L.N. 

 Jensen, Woodward, Okla.; J. G. Lill, Garden City, Kans.; R. S. Towle, Edgeley, N. Dak.; A. J. Ogaard, 

 Williston, N. Dak.; C. B. Brown, Dalhart, Tex.; L. D. Willey, Archer, Wyo.; J. B. Kuska, Colby, Kans.; 

 and A. E. Seamans, Akron, Colo. 



The following-named men have held positions on the scientific staff of the Office of Dry- Land Agriculture 

 during the past nine years, but have resigned or have been transferred to other offices of the Department of 

 Agriculture: Sylvester Balz, F. L. Kennard, J. E. Payne, L. E. Hazen, C. A. Jensen, H. R. Reed, W. O. 

 Whitcomb, C. H. Plath, F. Knorr, and R. W. Edwards. 



The data here reported from the stations in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Montana have been 

 obtained in cooperation with the agricultural experiment stations of their respective States. In South 

 Dakota, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico the stations are operated by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Field, office, and laboratory facilities, teams, and implements have been provided by the Office of Western 

 Irrigation Agriculture, at Huntley, Mont., Belle Fourche, S. Dak., and Mitchell, Nebr., and by the Office 

 of Cereal Investigations at Amarillo, Tex. , and Archer, Wyo. The Biophysical Laboratory has cooperated 

 in obtaining the meteorological data reported. 



Note. — This bulletin is intended for all who are interested in the agricultural possibilities of the Great 

 Plains area. 



87674°— Bull. 21S— 15 



-1 



