26 Nebraska Agricultural Exp. Station, Research Bui. 1 1 
large seed when planted 3 or more inches deep. The disadvantage 
of the small seed increased somewhat irregularly as the depth of 
planting increased. 
Where the stand and yield of wheat were reduced by too deep 
planting, it is apparent that the reduction was not consistently 
proportional to the reserve food content of different grades. 
COMPETITION BETWEEN PLANTS OF CEREAL CROPS 
Most seed of the cereal crops as prepared for planting by the 
farmer is a composite of large, small, and intermediate sizes. It 
is of interest to know the effect of competition upon the relative 
behavior of plants grown from the large and small seed when 
planted thus in close proximity. 
It is also of interest to know the extent to which the principle 
of competition may act as a factor in maintaining or improving 
the yield of cereal crops. Montgomery (1912), in an earlier bulle- 
tin from this Station on ''Competition in Cereals," has suggested 
'' it is possible that the custom of placing in the soil seeds for two or 
three times as many plants as are really necessary to occupy the 
land has resulted in a continuous natural selection of the strongest 
and most productive." Within a variety, there would seem to 
be a continual natural elimination of the least adapted types or 
strains as the result of competition. 
In the investigations which follow, the conclusions are based 
upon the yields of grain and straw, and the number of culms. 
Table 10 — Error in separation of mature wheat crop into individual 
plants 
Kind of crop 
Year 
Total number 
of plants 
examined 
Number of 
incorrect 
separations 
Error in 
separation 
Per cent 
Winter wheat 
1915 
8,640 
553 
6.4 
Spring wheat 
1916 
3,540 
312 
8.8 
The number of plants surviving at harvest time was not 
determined because tests indicated that reliable separations of 
the crop into individual plants could not be made where plants 
of only one variety were grown. In two experiments where 
alternating plants of bearded and beardless varieties of wheat 
were grown 0.5 inch apart in the row, a separation of plants 
based upon the appearance of the roots was made. Following 
this separation, an examination of the heads within a supposedly 
