THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



161 



line marked 'C shows the moisture content of the summer fallowed plot 

 during the season, which remains uniformly higher than the plots on 

 which the crops were grown, but which falls off cons' derably during the 

 drouth in August. After the wheat was cut, the rain in September ma- 

 terially increased the moisture content of the cropped plots, which, late in 

 ihe season contained about 24 per cent, of moisture as compared with 

 30 per cent, in the summer fallowed plot. 



Precipitation. 



"Referring now to the determinations in the snring of 1908, it will 

 be noted that the fallowed plot lost some moisture during the winter 

 and spring, while the cultivated plots remain practically the same. 

 Heavy precipitation during the spring of 1908 brought the moisture con- 

 tent of all the plots up to 37 per cent, which is seen to be considerably 

 above that v^^hich the summer fallow is capable of maintaining during the 

 season, which is in this particular case about 30 per cent. At the end 

 of the season of 1908, the summer fallowed plot is seen to contain about 

 10 per cent more water than the cropped plots. Owing to the increased 

 precipitation of 1908, the effect of the summer fallow upon the yield is 

 not marked. 



Experiment Station. 



"Corresponding moisture determinations under wheat upon the differ- 

 ent tillage plots at the North Platte station are given in chart No.. 6. 

 The soil at North Platte is of a much more open texture and much deeper 

 than the soil at Edgeley. Owing to the wet fall of 1906 all of the plots 

 started out with practically the same moisture content at the beginning 

 of the season of 1907. 



Summer Fallow. 



"The effect of the summer fallow, however, is seen in the increased 

 yield, which in this case is probably due in part to the increased amount, 

 of plant food made available through summer tillage. In the fall of 1907, 

 North Platte was rather dry, so that the effect of the moisture stored 

 up in the summer fallow plots is readily seen in the chart of 1908. The 

 combined effect of increased moisture and plant food in the summer 

 fallowed plot resulted in 1908 in a marked increased yield, although the 

 moisture content at the end of the season was practically the same on 

 all of the plots. The fall of 1908 was very dry as will be seen by refer- 

 ence to the precipitation charts of North Platte, and the amount of mois- 

 ture stored up in the summer fallow, riot 'D,' as the result of this treat- 

 ment is very evident from the diagram. 



Moisture Determinations in Corn. 



"Referring now to the moisture determinations in the corn plots, it 

 will be noted that there is no striking difference in the moisture content 

 in any of the t'llage plots at the beginning of the season of 1907 (Pigs. 

 7 and 8). This is due to the large amount of rain occurring in the fall 

 of 1906 at practically all of the stations, as will bo seen by reference to 



