134 



DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



been well shown at the Hays Branch Experiment Station where for the 

 past five years four different plats of ground have been cropped to wheat. 

 Two of these plats have been cropped continuously to wheat and the other 

 two plats alternately cropped to wheat and summer-fallowed. One of the 

 continuously cropped plats was plowed each year as soon as the wheat was 

 removed and the seed bed prepared in the best possible manner. By this 

 method, the plowing was done as early in the summer as was possible and 

 still produce a crop of wheat each year. The other plat continuously 

 cropped was plowed about two weeks before seeding and as good a seed bed 

 as possible prepared for the wheat. 



Moisture samples were taken to a depth of six feet on each plat at 

 time of seeding and an accurate record was kept of the grain and straw 

 produced. The results are shown in the accompanying table: 



Note: See next page. 



It will be seen from this table that at time of seeding the summer 

 fallowed ground has each season contained much more moisture than the 

 ground continuously cropped. As an average of five years, the summer 

 fallowed ground contained 4.5 percent more moisture in the surface six 

 feet of soil than the early plowed continuously cropped ground, and 5.9 

 percent more moisture than the continuously cropped late plowed ground. 



The value of the larger quantity of water in the summer-fallowed 

 land is shown by the larger yields of wheat secured from this plat. As an 

 average of five years, alternate cropping and summer fallowing has pro- 

 duced an average annual yield of 21.2 bushels of wheat per acre. This is an 

 increase of 7.4 bushels per acre over continuous cropping where the ground 

 was plowed early in the summer and an increase of 12.4 bushels per acre 

 over late fall plowing. 



In alternate cropping and summer-fallowing, but one crop is secured in 

 two years, thus, twice as much ground is required for the same acreage of 

 wheat as is required when the ground is continuously cropped. Therefore, 

 in order to make the results comparable the yield of wheat on the fallowed 

 ground should be divided by two. If this is done the average yield of wheat 

 on the summer fallowed ground is 10.6 bushels per acre, which is 3.2 

 bushels less than early fall plowing, but 1.8 bushels more than late fall 

 plowing. 



It is, therefore, evident that although but one crop is produced in two 

 years, the* practice of summer-fallowing is more profitable than late fall 

 plowing, and where such a large acreage of wheat is grown that the ground 

 cannot all be properly prepared for the crop early in the season, it will 

 prove profitable to summer fallow a portion of the wheat land. 



In summer-fallowing, it is necessary to sow, harvest and thresh but one 

 crop in two years, so that the cost of producing a crop of wheat on summer 

 fallowed ground will not be twice the cost of producing wheat by the best 

 method of continuous cropping. In fact, when the fallow is properly 

 handled, the cost of producing a crop by summer-fallowing will not greatly 

 exceed the cost of producing a crop by the best method of continuous crop- 

 ping providing the interest on the investment in land is not considered. 



