OATS IN THE GREAT PLAINS AREA. 39 
Other seasons have been so unfavorable at some stations that no 
method of cultivation lias been able to produce a crop of oats. Less 
common than either of these arc the seasons when there is just the 
combination of factors nearly or quite to prohibit production by 
some methods while allowing others to produce good crops. When 
the results of a scries of years arc averaged together, as must be 
done in a continuous agriculture, the wide differences obtained in 
exceptional years tend to be much reduced. 
Perhaps the first thing that impresses one in viewing the average 
yields from all stations is the much better adaptation of oats to the 
northern than to the southern section of the Great Plains. There 
is an almost constant decrease in yields from the northern stations 
having cooler, shorter seasons to the southern stations having warmer, 
longer seasons. This decrease is about the same for the heavier yield- 
ing as it is for the lighter yielding methods. This proves that there 
is a lack of adaptation of the crop to the combination of soil and 
climatic conditions existing at the southern stations. The fact that 
all methods fail to produce even fair average yields at these stations 
shows that this lack of adaptation can not be overcome by cultural 
practices. 
General averages for all of the stations mean little, because differ- 
ences in yield obtained at one station may be balanced by differences 
in an opposite direction at another station. 
The division into the two general groups of fall plowing and spring 
plowing is a striking example of such compensation of differences 
and the resulting lack of difference in the general average. With 
the trifling exception of a fraction of a bushel at Edgeley, spring 
plowing at all stations north of Hays has given higher averages than 
fall plowing. At Hays and the stations south of it fall plowing has 
been in about an equal degree better than spring- plowing. The 
greater number of stations represented in the northern group makes 
the general average of averages show a small margin in favor of 
spring plowing. This, however, is of no binding force or value to 
those stations whose results show fall plowing to be the better prac- 
tice for them. 
At all stations north of North Platte disking has been productive 
of higher average yields than either fall plowing or spring plowing. 
At North Platte, Dalhart, and Amarillo it is between the two. At 
Hays it is the same as fall plowing and higher than spring plowing, 
and at Garden City it is higher than either. In the general average 
of all the stations reported it has a yield of 28.3 bushels per acre, 
against 25.8 bushels for spring plowing and 24.4 bushels for fall 
plowing. The great bulk of the land disked is corn ground, as is 
shown in detail in the tables for each station. 
