26 BULLETIN 398, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
In 1909, when there was considerable winterkilling of the winter 
wheats, the spring wheats produced the larger yields. In 1910 and 
1911, which were both years of drought, the winter varieties out- 
yielded the spring wheats. In 1913 and 1914 the yields were about 
equal. In 1915, when the rainfall was abnormally high, the winter 
wheats yielded 6 to 7 bushels more than the spring varieties. For the 
six years the average yield of the best winter wheat is 7.8 bushels 
higher than that of the best spring wheat. It should be remembered 
that the yields of winter wheat in 1913, 1914, and 1915 are from acre 
plats, while those of spring wheat are from replicated fiftieth-acre 
plats. 
The growing of winter wheat is to be recommended in the Judith 
Basin and generally in Montana wherever it is practicable, because the 
Fig. 9.— Heads of representative varieties of some of the important groups of wheat: 1, Turkey; 2, 
Fife; 3, Preston (bearded spring); 4, bluestem; and 5, durum. 
average yield is higher than that of spring wheat. In a very dry year 
it may yield from three to four times as much as the spring varieties. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH OATS. 
Xext to wheat, oats are the most important cereal crop in Montana. 
In 1915 the area sown to oats in the State was estimated at 600.000 
acres, with an average yield of 52 bushels per acre. Oats are not 
grown as a cash crop like wheat, but for feeding. The yields obtained 
at Moccasin are quite satisfactory and show that oats usually can be 
successfully grown on the dry lands of the State. 
In the varietal tests at Moccasin the small-kerneled early oats have 
been sown at the rate of 4 pecks per acre. Seeding tests show but 
little difference in the results obtained from the 4-peck and 5-peck 
rates. In dry years, however, the lower rate of seeding gives the best 
yields. The larger kerneled varieties are sown at the rate of 5 pecks 
per acre. In a date-of-seeding test the best results were obtained 
