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THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



limits and where everyone attending the greatest show of its kind, must 

 necessarily see the crop of grain. The crop was a success, 38 2-3 bushels 

 of macaroni wheat per acre, beardless barley, 56 bushels per acre, oats 

 not computed on account of smut. The crop was a surprise to almost 

 everyone. The success was due, so some said, to an exceptionally wet 

 season. 



Precipitation. 



'The government records show 17.65 inches of rarn for 1906. But 

 in 1907 I raised good crops one and a half miles east of Cheyenne and 

 demonstrated to everyone willing to visit my farm that season, the great 

 difference between conserving the moisture which fell the previous 

 year and utilizing it, the following season, and growing a crop with one 

 year's moisture. The soil was plowed six inches deep in the spring, har- 

 rowed and seeded and left to depend upon what moisture fell that sea- 

 son for making its crop. In 1907 the precipitation January 1st to July 

 1st, six months, was 5.75 inches (.34 inches in June). The crop sown, 

 oats and barley did, not begin to compare with those sown on ground 

 summer-tilled the previous season and were in fact all but a failure. 



Soil Treatment. 



"My winter grain crop of 1908, I think I may say, was a revelation 

 to all of us — certainly it was to me. This crop was on sod ground plowed 

 five or six inches deep in the fall of 1906, with a steam plow, four 

 gang, 24 discs. It was not plowed very well because the ground was so 

 dry. In the spring of 1907 this land was cross plowed with a mold board 

 plow and disked and harrowed with a steel drag harrow. 



Seeding Methods. 



"Thirteen acres were sown with Turkey Red winter wheat, and two 

 acres with winter rye. I also planted Turked Red wheat on 17.3 acres 

 of sod soil which had been plowed twice in 1907 and harrowed with a 

 disc and steel drag. The above was sown with a double disc drill begin- 

 ning September 15, 1907. 



Precipitation. 



"From September, 1907, to the beginning of May, 1908, there was 

 only a precipitation of 1.5 inches, for practically eight months. The 

 elevation is 6,060 feet. Prof. B. C. Buffum, who had been iii charge of 

 the agricultural department of the Wyoming University for fifteen years, 

 visited my crops in the spring and after we had thoroughly examined 

 the wheat and rye, alfalfa and brome grass fields, turned to me and 

 said he was very much disappointed. When I asked why, he replied: 

 'All of your crops ought to be dead and they are not.' 



Average Results. . - ^ 



" 'Twas true these crops were very much alive. I threshed 44.5 

 bushels of rye and a little over 35 bushels of wheat per acre. My ex- 

 perience in raising these crops and various others, such as spring wheat, 

 oats, barley, emmer (commonly called spelts), Canadian field peas, p6- 



