BULLETIN 218, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The study as here made shows the effect of the cropping and cul- 

 tivation of the land in only the one year preceding the growth of the 

 oats. A study of the cost of production by each of the methods under 

 trial and the resulting profit or loss are also given. 



Results are presented from an aggregate of 74 station years, 

 involving an aggregate of 2,115 plat years. By station year is meant 



one year at one sta- 

 tion; by plat year is 

 meant one plat at one 

 station for one year. 

 Such a mass of ma- 

 terial furnishes an in- 

 finite amount of detail 

 for study, but it is the 

 purpose of this bul- 

 letin to consider only 

 the broader bearings 

 and more obvious and 

 important phases of 

 the work, rather than 

 a study of the details. 

 This bulletin, deal- 

 ing with only the one 

 crop, does not afford 

 a measure for judging 

 the agricultural possi- 

 bilities for other crops 

 of any section of the 

 region. The Office of 

 Dry-Land Agriculture 

 of the United States 

 Department of Agri- 

 culture began field 

 work in the investi- 

 gation of methods of 

 crop production in the 

 Great Plains in 1906. 

 The work begun at 

 that time has been 

 constantly added to until 20 stations were in operation in 1914. 

 Data from only 14 of these stations are here presented; those that 

 have records of but one or two years are not included. 



The method of work adopted was that of raising the different crops 

 both in different combinations or systems of rotation and under 



Fig. 1.— Sketch, map of the Great Plains area, which includes parts of 

 ten States and consists of about 400,000 square miles of territory. 

 Its western boundary is indicated by the 5,000-foot contour. The 

 location of each field station within the area is shown by a dot 

 within a circle (Q). 



