BULLETIN 218, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
The study as here made shows the effect of the cropping and cul- 
tivation of the land in only the one year preceding the growth of the 
oats. A study of the cost of production by each of the methods under 
trial and the resulting profit or loss are also given. 
Results are presented from an aggregate of 74 station years, 
involving an aggregate of 2,115 plat years. By station year is meant 
one year at one sta- 
tion; by plat year is 
meant one plat at one 
station for one year. 
Such a mass of ma- 
terial furnishes an in- 
finite amount of detail 
for study, but it is the 
purpose of this bul- 
letin to consider only 
the broader bearings 
and more obvious and 
important phases of 
the work, rather than 
a study of the details. 
This bulletin, deal- 
ing with only the one 
crop, does not afford 
a measure for judging 
the agricultural possi- 
bilities for other crops 
of any section of the 
region. The Office of 
Dry-Land Agriculture 
of the United States 
Department of Agri- 
culture began field 
work in the investi- 
gation of methods of 
crop production in the 
Great Plains in 1906. 
The work begun at 
that time has been 
constantly added to until 20 stations were in operation in 1914. 
Data from only 14 of these stations are here presented; those that 
have records of but one or two years are not included. 
The method of work adopted was that of raising the different crops 
both in different combinations or systems of rotation and under 
Fig. 1. — Sketch map of the Great Plains area, which includes parts of 
ten States and consists of about 400,000 square miles of territory. 
Its western boundary is indicated by the 5, 000-foot contour. The 
location of each field station within the area is shown by a dot 
within a circle (0). 
