78 
Research Bulletin No, 3 
1.000 pounds. Tn the production of total ^dry matter the niilo made 
the most economical use of the water, but in that of seed the beans 
made much the most economical use ; but if the cylinder had car- 
ried several times as much soil, thus giving each plant much more 
water, the latter might not have been the case. The yield of total 
dry matter in the case of these cylinders with an initial water 
content similar to what might be expected to the same depth and 
in the same type of subsoil in aummer fallowed fields varied from 
500 to 4,000 pounds per acre. The portion of the free water in the 
surface foot of soil at the time of planting the seed had much less 
Fig. 18. Mexican beans 77 days after planting; experiment of 1910. 
effect on the production of dry matter than had an equal amount 
in the subsoil. 
A very hard crust formed below the mulch in all the planted 
cylinders. 
EXPERIMENT WITH LOESS SOILS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF 
THE TRANSITION REGION. EXPERIMENT OF 1911. 
Loess 1 forms the chief surface deposit of more than half of 
Nebraska, occurring over the whole eastern end and extending 
westward for more than 300 miles. The different parts of this 
formation have been exposed to comparatively uniform tem- 
1 Barbour, E. H. Nebraska Geological Survey, vol. 1, 1903, p. 169. 
