CEREAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE BELLE FOURCHE FARM, 27 



was from the plats sown October 16. For the three years, 1909, 1910, 

 and 1913, the highest yield was from the August 16 seeding, with that 

 of October 16 second. 



The great variations in seasonal conditions make it difficult to 

 decide the best date for seeding wheat in western South Dakota. If 

 rains occur early and are fairly abundant, early seeding is probably 

 best. It is not always possible to conserve sufficient moisture to 

 insure germination; hence, it is not usually safe to sow in dry soil 

 with the expectation of receiving sufficient rain for germination. 

 The safest rule seems to be to have the ground ready for early seeding, 

 so that the seed may be sown early or late as the conditions seem to 

 indicate. The results obtained on the Belle Fourche Experiment 

 Farm appear to show that sowing as late as November 1 will often 

 give better yields than are obtained from spring wheat. Because the 



Fig. 8.— The winter-wheat nursery on the Belle Fourche Experiment Farm in 1910. 



current season's crop is often not thrashed and ready for sowing in 

 August, it is desirable to carry over a supply of seed, so that the crop 

 may be sown early if it appears to be desirable. 



NURSERY EXPERIMENTS WITH WINTER WHEAT. 



About 600 selected heads of Turkey, Kharkof , and Crimean wheats 

 were sown in head rows in the fall of 1908. Practically all of these 

 were sown in 60-foot rows the following year. As it seemed desir- 

 able to test the best of these selections in field plats as soon as pos- 

 sible, about 35 of them were sown in fiftieth-acre plats in the fall of 

 1910. Because of the extreme drought the next spring and summer 

 no grain was produced. Enough seed was left from the 1909 crop, 

 however, to sow in duplicate 60-foot rows in the fall of 1911. The 

 seed did not germinate until the following spring, and the stand was 

 then so thin that very low yields were obtained. The selections were 



