DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



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plats and rotations of a single station, hut also between those of all the 

 stations. In this way practically all of the various methods of agricultural 

 practice in common use in the area, as well as those which have been advo- 

 cated and advertised as "new" are being thoroughly tested under rigidly 

 scientific methods, which should give thoroughly reliable quantitive values 

 for each and every practice. The mass of data already obtained is far too 

 great to give in detail at this time, but nevertheless the investigations have 

 not extended over a sufficient length of time to warrant us in drawing def- 

 inite conclusions, although some very suggestive results have been obtained. 

 I do not wish to call attention to these suggestions at this time, but rather 

 wish to point out some of the difficulties in the way of obtaining reliable 

 data, and some of the dangers involved in drawing conclusions from a too 

 limited field of observation. For this purpose I have tabulated the results 

 of the yields of spring wheat from the plats in the various rotations at 

 North Platte, Nebraska. I have selected this station for several reasons. 

 First, it is very nearly in the geographical center of the Great Plains Area 

 and therefore represents the average conditions of the area. Second, the 

 land upon which the plats are located is very uniform and representative 

 of a very considerable extent of upland in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. 

 It is what is known to geologists as loess. Third, the work is in charge of 

 one of our most accurate and painstaking investigators, Mr. W. W. Burr, 

 a graduate of the University of Nebraska, who has been in charge of this 

 work for the last two years. I have selected the spring wheat crop rather 

 than oats, barley, corn, or any of the other forage crops, because it is more 

 generally grown throughout the area than any of the others. I think there- 

 fore that we can safely assume that the accuracy of the work and the con- 

 sequent reliability of the results will compare favorably with those of any 

 other investigations along similar lines. 



