6 BULLETIN 901, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
These figures are given to show the average production and maxi- 
mum possibilities of these grain crops. Pound for pound they 
average practically the same, with the maximum possibilities rather 
in favor of oats. They suggest that the choice between these crops 
is determined by the price, and that the one commanding the highest 
price per pound is entitled to have the highest acreage. It may 
be stated as a result of similar work at other stations that this 
relation between spring wheat and oats has been found to hold true 
for the Great Plains as a whole. 
In comparing the results of different methods in the following 
pages attention is called several times to the apparently greater 
response of oats than wheat to certain methods, such as fallow. This 
is probably due to the fact that wheat has on the average suffered 
more than oats from rust. The proportional damage from rust is 
nearly always greatest with those methods that have the heaviest 
and most luxuriant growth and previous to attack the greatest 
potential yield. 
RESULTS OF FALL AND SPRING PLOWING COMPARED. 
The work offers a number of comparisons of the relative merits 
of fall and spring plowing for the several crops. Fall plowing as 
a rule has been done comparatively early. It has been the endeavor, 
however, not to advance its date beyond practical limits. The aver- 
age date of plowing grain stubble is September 12. In 9 of the 14 
years the date has fallen between September 2 and September 13. 
In 2 years the plowing has been done in August and in 2 years it 
has been delayed until October. 
When corn stubble is plowed in the fall it is generally necessary 
to delay it until a late date, as it can not be done until after the 
corn is removed. The average date of plowing corn stubble is 
October 1. Plowing has been done to a good depth, the maximum 
being 8 inches. The depth of spring plowing has been the same 
as that of fall plowing, with the exception of one plat, plat A, with 
each crop, which is continuously cropped and shallow spring plowed. 
When all the evidence on the subject is studied there is found in the 
average of a series of years little or no difference between fall and 
spring plowing for small grains in rotations of corn, wheat, and 
oats when the depth of the plowing has been the same. In continuous 
cropping to small grains shallow spring plowing has averaged from 
1^ to 2J bushels higher than deep fall plowing. This comparison 
at Edgeley is open to question on account of the fact that from time 
to time there has been an accumulation of blown soil in the stubble 
of the continuously spring-plowed plats, which has built them up 
several inches above their original level. Similar results, though, 
have been obtained since 1916 on section 9, where such building up 
has not taken place, and they are not out of keeping with results 
at other stations. 
