FOEAGE CROPS IN NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS. 



27 



or strains of the groups they represent, namely, the Grimm, northern- 

 grown common, Kansas common, and Turkestan. 



One of the striking things shown in Table 12 is the small difference 

 in the average yields of hay of the four leading alfalfas. The Grimm 

 variety leads at all the stations except Moccasin, Mont., where it is 

 slightly exceeded by the northern-grown common. As might be 

 expected, the Kansas-grown common strain has been one of the 

 lowest producers. 



Table 12. — Hay yields of the leading commercial varieties of alfalfa sown broad- 

 cast or in close drills at four stations in the northern Great Plains region in 

 stated years. 



[Datain pounds per acre, field cured, except that the material at Moccasin from 1916 to 1922 and at Havre 

 from 1920 to 1922 was air dried.] 



Station and variety. 



1913 



1914 



1915 



1916 



1917 



1918 



1919 



1920 



1921 



1922 



Aver- 

 age. 



Moccasin, Mont.: 



Grimm 



2,300 



2,350 

 2,400 

 2,130 



4,100 



4,600 

 4,400 

 3,650 



3,100 



2,550 

 2,450 

 2,650 



2,275 



2,238 

 2,228 

 2,056 



2,040 



2,320 

 1,910 

 2,110 



600 



254 

 187 

 162 



773 



943 

 773 

 946 



513 



213 

 258 

 233 



3,180 



2,940 

 3,460 



3,590 



2,770 

 2,510 

 3,280 









 

 







125 

 



225 



600 



360 

 300 



3,400_ 



3,400 

 2,740 

 2,410 



2,171 



2,647 

 2,242 

 2,372 



0) 



C 1 ) 

 0) 

 C 1 ) 



2,040 



2,130 

 2,350 



1,855 



1,494 

 1,190 

 2,040 



2,130 



2,400 

 2,043 

 2,106 









 

 



1,410 



1,370 



1,050 



4,125 

 2,712 



2,430 



2,440 

 2,240 

 2,330 



1,019 



1,042 

 978 

 901 



4,140 



2,940 

 3,060 



3,706 



3,250 

 3,637 

 3,131 



2,132 



2,249 

 2,070 

 2 035 



Northern-grown 





Turkestan 



Havre, Mont. : 



Grimm 



426 



Northern-grown 











327 



Kansas 











285 













304 



Sheridan, Wyo.: 



Grimm 











2,274 



Northern-g r o w n 













1,948 

 2,044 



Kansas 













Redfield, S. Dak.;2 

 Grimm 









5,780 



5,240 

 5,080 

 4,860 



3,340 



2,840 

 2,800 

 3,400 



3,685 



Northern-g r own 

 common. 









3,101 

 2,993 



Kansas 









Turkestan 









3, 187 













1 Crop very light and scattered by winds, so that no yields were obtained; not included in the averages. 



2 Yields in 1916 to 1920 from 1914 sowing; yields in 1920 of second cutting only; yield of Grimm alfalfa in 

 1921 represents one cutting from treatment plat sown in 1920; yields of northern-grown common are from 

 uncultivated plat in cultivation test sown in 1917; yields in 1922 are from the variety test sown in 1921, 

 second cutting only. 



Table 12 brings out one important fact. In several instances there 

 are years of deficient rainfall and low yields followed by one or two 

 years of favorable moisture when the yields run very high. This 

 brings the average yield up to what is generally considered as fairly 

 satisfactory, but the lack of dependable yields is one of the big 

 drawbacks to forage-crop production over much of this region. 

 As might naturally be expected, because of the relatively high precipi- 

 tation the best results have been consistently obtained at Redfield. 

 A good crop has been produced there every year since 1916, when the 

 first crop was harvested. The tests at Moccasin have been running 

 since 1913, and during this time the plats have yielded at the rate 

 of more than a ton per acre in all but two years. The crop was a 

 complete failure in 1919, and less than half a ton per acre was har- 

 vested in 1918. At Sheridan between 1918 and 1922 the yields 

 exceeded a ton in three years out of five, and the average for the whole 

 period was slightly more than a ton. At Havre about half the years 

 from 1917 to 1922 have resulted in practical failures, and the yields 



