36 BULLETIN 218, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
AMARILLO FIELD STATION. 
The soil at Amarillo, Tex., is a heavy clay silt. It is of the type 
locally known as " tight land" or ' l short-grass land." While the evi- 
dence is not as complete as could be desired, it appears that the storage 
of water and the development of the feeding roots of the crop are 
interfered with by a comparatively impervious layer of soil -in the 
third foot. The soil above this, however, is competent to take care 
of all the water that it has been possible to store, even under a system 
of alternate cropping. 
The results of six years are available from Amarillo. The year 
1910 was lost by reason of an enforced change in the location of the 
station. In three of the six years yields have been fair and in three 
they have been very poor. 
Only one method of preparation — summer tillage — has departed 
very far in its results from the general average. The average yield 
by this method has been 27.6 bushels per acre. The extreme range 
in the average of all other methods is from 13.2 bushels on spring- 
plowed wheat stubble to 1&4 bushels on peas as green manure and 
on fall plowing after barley. There is little profit in discussing differ- 
ences within so narrow a range of yields. 
It may be noted that fall plowing of either wheat or oat stubble 
has been better than spring plowing of either. Subsoiling has not 
been productive of yields as high as those by fall plowing similar 
stubble. Furrowing with a lister and leaving the ground rough 
through the winter has been practically as good as plowing. 
Disking corn ground has given about the same results as plowing 
it. Disked milo and kaflr ground have given markedly poorer results 
than corn ground. 
The yields following green manure have corresponded closely to 
those following a harvested crop rather than to those following sum- 
mer tillage. 
When the cost of production is considered in connection with the 
value of the average crops produced by different methods, it is seen 
that the more expensive methods — summer tillage, subsoiling, and 
green manuring — have been the cause of losses ranging from $2.39 
to $9.17. Fall plowing, spring plowing, and listing also show small 
losses. The low cost of preparation of disked land has resulted in its 
showing a profit of $0.24 per acre. 
