10 BULLETIN 1094, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
As exhibited in Table 5, the lowest yield has been from plat A. 
This has yielded not only the lowest of any of the plats continuously 
cropped to wheat but the lowest of any plat in the field. The seed 
bed is quite commonly described as loose and lumpy; germination 
and stand may be poor; winter survival is sometimes poor; growth 
is not as vigorous as on other plats; and it is one of the first to suffer 
from drought. Only twice in 14 years has its yield exceeded that 
of plat B. Its 14-year average yield of 10.5 bushels per acre is prac- 
tically the same as the Ellis County average of 10.2 bushels for the 
same period. In exactly half the years its average has exceeded 
that of the county and in the other half it has been lower. As might 
be expected, the county average is smoother than that from a single 
plat or field because it neither descends to the complete failure nor 
rises to the height of high yields that the latter may experience. 
Plat B, which is plowed one month after harvest, s1x weeks earlier 
than A and two months before seeding, has exceeded A in yield every 
year except 1908 and 1919. While A has a 14-year average of only 
10.5 bushels per acre, the average yield of B for the same period is 
14.6 bushels. This is an increase of 4.1 bushels per acre on account. 
of the earlier plowing and subsequent cultivation. This stores water 
in the soil which protects to some extent against drought and pre- 
pares a generally moist and solid seed bed in which germination, fall 
growth, and winter survival are better than on the late plowing. 
The yield from this method exceeds the county average by 4.4 
bushels per acre. As it is a very practicable method of preparing 
wheat stubble for wheat it appears from the comparative results of 
these two plats alone that the county average should be susceptible 
of increase. : 
Plat E is a duplicate of B in time of plowing and in cultivation after 
plowing. As has been explained it is in addition subsoiled from time 
to time. Its yield averages 17 bushels per acre, or 2.4 bushels more 
than B. In following the yield of B it confirms the advantage 
of early plowing. It also appears to show some advantage from sub- 
soiling. This increase from subsoiling is more marked at Fort Hays 
than at other dry-land stations and more marked with winter wheat 
than with other crops. The subject has been treated exhaustively in 
another publication.® Subsoiling would necessarily delay plowing, and 
so on a large acreage any increase from it might be neutralized by the 
poorer returns shown to follow late plowing. 
Plats EK and F lie side by side. As already described, plat F is 
listed instead of being plowed. Its yield follows that of E very closely, 
sometimes one and sometimes the other having the heavier yield. 
Its 14-year average is 17.3 bushels per acre. This is 0.3 bushel more 
5 Chilcott, E. C.,and Cole, John S. Subsoiling, deep tilling, and soil dynamiting in the Great Plains, 
In Jour. Agr. Research, v. 14,no0.11, p. 481-521, 4fig. 1918. Literaturecited, p. 521. 
