ROTATION AND CULTURAL METHODS AT EDGELEY, N. DAK. 23 
distribution of the rainfall are such that attempts to overcome the 
controlling influence of rainfall by means of cultural methods de- 
signed to store water in the soil in advance of the growing season 
meet with only limited success. 
Phrased in other words, 15 years of thorough investigation have 
failed to discover any one method or any royal road to the solution 
of the problems of crop production in this section. Success is to be 
attained rather through the application of many small details em- 
braced under the general term of good husbandry. Work must 
be well and timely done. Good seed of the best varieties, free from 
disease, should be sown in good season in a well-prepared seed bed 
free from weeds. 
Whether plowing is done in the fall or the spring may be of mate- 
rial effect in any one year, and so also may differences in the time of 
plowing in the fall, but in the average of a series of years these 
factors are of minor importance provided seeding is not unduly 
delayed. 
Fallow may, be usefully enlisted as an emergency measure for 
cleaning up land that is infested with weeds or in preparing for a 
crop the following season an excess acreage that for any reason it has 
been impossible to utilize for cropping in the current season or on 
which for any reason there may be an early crop failure. Fallow 
does not, however, increase the yield over that on cropped land suf- 
ficiently to warrant giving it any recognized place in a cropping 
system. 
Green manuring is entirely unjustifiable, as it increases the expense 
without increasing the yields. Any crop produced should be har- 
vested, as little or nothing is to be gained by plowing it under. 
The effect of barnyard manure is comparatively small, but it ap- 
pears to be cumulative. The results indicate that one would not be 
compensated for any considerable expense incurred in manuring land 
for field crops, but that he will be paid for disposing of the available 
manure by judiciously applying it to the fields in a systematic rota- 
tion. It should be applied in preparation for the corn crop. 
Corn has not been a strong competitor of the grain crops. In 14 
years it has matured only five good crops of grain, averaging for this 
period a little less than 9 bushels per acre. In addition, it has pro- 
duced an average of about 3,600 pounds of stover or fodder per acre. 
It deserves, however, an important place in the rotation. The yields 
of small grain following it are materially increased over those follow- 
ing small grain and fully equal or even exceed those on fallow. When 
properly handled corn can take the place of fallow in cleaning the 
ground of most weeds. Its inclusion in the cropping system dis- 
tributes labor and team requirements better than unmixed grain farm- 
ing and by preparing the ground for small grain helps to prepare for 
the early seeding of a large acreage. As the most valuable part of the 
average crop is the fodder, it tends to diversification, as live stock is 
necessary in order to consume it on the farm where produced. 
