WINTER-WHEAT PRODUCTION AT FORT HAYS STATION. 11 
than KE, 2.7 bushels more than B, and 7.1 bushels more than A. Con- 
trary to the objection of delay and increased cost raised against E, 
this method is quicker and cheaper even than B. With a given force 
the land can be listed more rapidly than it can be plowed, and conse- 
quently the benefits of early cultivation may be more fully realized 
with this method than with plowing. Except in 1917, when both this 
and the late-plowed plat A were reduced to total failure, it has gen- 
erally stood drought better and longer than B. Plats E and F have 
generally been about the same in this respect, better than the continu- 
ously cropped plowed plats but not as good as the plat on fallow. 
The other method in this series of plats that grow wheat alone is 
alternate wheat and fallow on plats C and D.: In the even years C is 
cropped and D fallowed and in the odd years D is cropped and C fal- 
lowed. By using twice the area of land a crop is thus produced each 
year on fallow for comparison with those obtained by continuous 
cropping. The 14-year average yield from this method is 20.3: bush- 
els. This is practically double the county average, only a fraction 
of a bushel less than double the average from late plowing, less than 50 
per cent increase over early plowing, and only 3 bushels per acre more 
than early listing. The yield of fallow from this method and of 
fallow and of green manure throughout this bulletin is the yield from 
the area actually in crop. In computing the economic value of these 
methods consideration must be given to the fact that an equal area 
in preparation for a crop is producing nothing. 
It notinfrequently happens that the greater water supply and other 
more favorable conditions of this method promote a growth so heavy 
that it suffers from lodging and fungous diseases. When conditions 
do not continue so favorable the heavier vegetative growth of this 
method may demand more water than is availablefrom both that stored 
in the soil and supplied by rain and the damage to it from drought be 
relatively and actually greater than to plats having less growth 
because they started under less favorable conditions. 
The evidence of the plats indicates that on land cropped to wheat 
alone the fallow can not be profitably employed on such acreage as it 
is possible to cultivate early, but that land that can not be prepared 
early might better be fallowed than seeded on a late-plowed poor 
seed bed. The principle of the fallow (cultivation to form a firm, 
moist seed bed and the storages of woter before seeding) is correct, but 
the greater part of its benefits mey be realized by cultivation in the 
period of three months between harvest and seeding. These are 
conclusions based on the averages of 14 years. They may not hold 
true in any one individual year. A heavy rainfall in the fallow 
period and a drought or deficiency of rainfall in the growing period 
favors the fallow. Drought during the fallow period decreases the 
