CEREAL EXPERIMENTS AT JUDITH BASIIST SUBSTATION. 21 



The spring-wlieat varieties are sown at the rate of 4 pecks to the 

 acre. The date of seeding has been governed by the cHmatic con- 

 ditions. The best results are obtained from seeding as early as soil 

 and weather conditions in the spring will permit. This date varies, 

 of course, in different years. 



Varietal Experiments in Field Plats. 



ANNUAL results. 



The varietal testing of spring wheat was started in 1908, when 20 

 varieties were grown. They were sown on ground that had been 

 broken in 1907 and the seed bed was not in good tilth when the varie- 

 ties were sown on May 5. The precipitation for June and July was 

 below normal. As a result of the low precipitation and poor seed bed 

 low yields were obtained from all varieties. 



In 1909 the varieties were sown on well-prepared fallow ground. 

 The seeding was not done until May 12. The precipitation that year 

 was above normal and good yields were obtained from all varieties. 



In 1910 the varieties were sown on April 19. The precipitation 

 was below normal; in fact, the seasonal precipitation for 1910 was the 

 lowest recorded since the substation was established. The jaelds of 

 all varieties were low, the average for the 23 varieties tested being 

 11.4 bushels per acre. A surprising fact in this year was that the 

 spring common wheats outyielded the durum varieties. This result 

 was contrary to the general opinion that the durum varieties are more 

 resistant to drought than the spring common wheats. Low yields of 

 durum varieties were obtained at several of the field stations in the 

 Great Plains in 1910. 



In 1911, because of a shortage of summer-fallowed land, the spring- 

 wheat varieties were sown in twentieth-acre plats. The seeding was 

 done April 20 in a well-prepared seed bed. The precipitation in May 

 and June was about normal, but there was only 0.5 inch of rain in 

 July. This was followed by excessive rainfall in August, which came 

 in time to benefit the spring wheats. The total for the month was 

 6.34 inches. All varieties produced good yields and the quality of 

 the grain was good. 



In 1912 the precipitation for June was nearly 2 inches below normal. 

 This was accompanied by rather hot weather. The spring-wheat 

 varieties were just beginning to head on July 12, when they were 

 completely destroyed by a severe hailstorm. While most varieties 

 made some second growth no grain was produced. 



A change was made in the method of testing the spring-wheat 

 varieties in 1913. Instead of seeding them in single tenth-acre or 

 twentieth-acre plats they were sown in fiftieth-acre plats and each 

 variety replicated five times. Seeding was done on April 21 on well- 

 prepared fallow ground. The crop that year was produced under 

 normal conditions. 



