UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
% BULLETIN No. 398 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
October 12, 1916 
CEREAL EXPERIMENTS AT THE JUDITH BASIN 
SUBSTATION, MOCCASIN, MONT. 
By N. C. Donaldson, 
Scientific Assistant, Office of Cereal Investigations. 
(In cooperation with the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station.) 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
Description of the Judith Basin 2 
The Judith Basin substation 9 
Experiments with wheat 14 
Experiments with oats 26 
Page. 
Experiments with barley 31 
Experiments with flax 34 
Comparison of the leading varieties of cereals . 39 
Experiments with minor cereals 39 
Summary 40 
INTRODUCTION. 
Experiments with cereals have been conducted cooperatively since 
1908 at the Judith Basin substation/ Moccasin, Mont., by the Office 
of Cereal Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Industry and the 
Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. The memorandum of 
understanding between the two parties specifies that — 
The objects of these cooperative investigations shall be (1) to improve the cereals 
of the northern Plains region by introducing better varieties than those now grown, 
especially with regard to drought resistance, yield, quality, earliness, etc., and (2) to 
conduct such other experiments as may. seem advisable for thf> accomplishment of 
the greatest possible good to the dry-land interests of the State. 
This bulletin presents briefly the results of these investigations, 
together with such conclusions as they seem to warrant. All experi- 
ments here reported have been conducted under dry-land conditions. 
i The Judith Basin substation was established in 1908 by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station 
in cooperation with the Bureau of Plant Industry. Prof. F. B. Linfield has been director of the State sta- 
tion since the substation was started. Prof. Alfred Atkinson, head of the agronomy department at the 
State station, has had direct charge of the substation for the State. Mr. J. M. Stephens has been superin- 
tendent of the substation since its establishment. " Mr. E. L. Adams was in charge of the experiments with 
cereals from 1909 to 1912. On his transfer to another station in May of the latter year, the writer of this 
bulletin was appointed agent of the Office of Cereal Investigations to take charge of the cooperative cereal 
work and on October 1, 1912, was appointed scientific assistant. 
48601°— Bull. 398—16 1 
