DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



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disced and then kept harrowed after each rain, and they received two 

 double discings, two cultivations with a Planet Junior cultivator, and, if 

 my recollection serves me right, seven harrowings. It was very close to 

 that. The tillage was thorough. It was as thorough as anyone could 

 ask for or expect, and as thorough as could have served any purpose 

 whatever. We don't adopt exactly the same method of tillage at all of 

 the stations, because the frequency of tillage depends, of course, upon 

 the rains. Whenever a rain came that crusted it over it- was harrowed, 

 if a longer time elapsed between rains a longer time elapsed between the 

 different harrowings. But in a general way that is what is meant by 

 summer tillage. 



MR. BECK: Was any of this plowing done during the growing 

 season? 



PROF. CFIILCOTT: Yes, the plats were harrowed after the grain 

 came up; at the time of seeding and then after the grain came up; they 

 were harrowed as long as could be done without injuring the plats. 



MR. ELDRIDGE, of Utah: There is another question I would like 

 to ask. I see there is a slight difference in the acreage. Was the plowing 

 about the same period in the field that fixed your 28.3 and your 24 bushels? 



PROF. CHILCOTT: Yes, sir; just as near as possible. The plowing 

 was done on exactly the same day where we were testing these things. 

 I would nqt say it was done all on actually the same day, but not more 

 than two days could possibly have elapsed between the times of plowing. 

 Every precaution is taken to eliminate all of these factors as far as we can. 



MR. ELDRIDGE: I would just say, my reason for asking that ques- 

 tion is, I have, demonstrated that three days' difference in plowing in the 

 field will make a difference of ten bushels per acre in the yield. 



PROF. CHILCOTT: I have no doubt of it. I have no doubt that 

 would occur. 



MR. ELDRIDGE: I don't wish to take your time, but I wish to say 

 that the time of plowing has a great deal to do with it. I know that in 

 plowing there came a snow and the plowing was continued after the 

 snow, and from the very line that the furrow was struck where the snow 

 fell that produced a difference in the yield. 



PROF. CHILCOTT: Yes, I think that is right along the line of 

 what I have said. There are factors. There it was the fall of the season. 

 There was something tangible, that you could go back from results to 

 cause. But there are things that happen that are not so tangible, that 

 we are not able to understand. These are the whipper-snappers of facts — 

 facts that ought not to exist in an orderly universe, but they are there, 

 and we might just as well recognize them, and we will come to the 

 conclusion that we cannot lay down any hard, fast rule to fit all condi- 

 tions. There are lots of things of this kind that are liable to happen, 

 but we can come to a general practice that will fit the general average 

 conditions, and when we find we have got a misfit make the best of it. 

 That is the only way I know of solving the problem. 



