SPRING CEREALS AT M0R0, OREG. 13 



fallow. This alternation has been followed almost without excep- 

 tion in the varietal experiments at the substation. The station 

 crops have been produced by the methods in general use by the farm- 

 ers in this section, and the yields reported are about those which 

 ordinarily may be expected. The land is plowed 7 to 8 inches deep 

 in April, an early spring disking usually being given prior to plowing. 

 Immediately after plowing, the ground is harrowed once with a 

 spike-tooth harrow, and another harrowing is given when weed 

 growth starts. Later in the season, in order to eradicate weeds, the 

 plats are cultivated with a weeder, locally known as a bar weeder. 

 If necessary, this implement is used again later, the aim being to 

 keep the fallow ground free from weeds. In order to accomplish 





Fig. 7. — Plats or the rotation experiments at the Moro substation, showing summer-fallow land in almost 

 ideal condition in the foreground and small grains and corn in the background. Photographed in July, 

 1914. 



this it sometimes has been necessary to cultivate so frequently that 

 the soil has been too finely pulverized. The soil at the substation, 

 if cultivated too much, may become so compacted after the winter 

 snows and rains that much of the precipitation of winter and early 

 spring is lost as run-ofT instead of being absorbed. Figure 6 shows 

 the bar weeder hi operation, and figure 7 shows the condition in 

 which the fallow is usually kept during the summer months. 



Just prior to seeding spring grains, the ground is double disked 

 and then harrowed once. Seeding is done with a disk drill, and no 

 cultivation is given after seeding. 



The land in the vicinity of the substation is infested with several 

 weeds that have been found difficult to control in the experimental 

 plats . The two most troublesome in spring grains are the Russian 

 thistle (Salsola pestifer) and tumbleweed (Amaranihus graecizans). 

 Where good stands of grain are obtained the latter weed is -rarely 

 found, but the Russian thistle sometimes has been troublesome, 

 especially in early-sown spring grain and in grain with thin stands. 



