ROTATION AND CULTURAL METHODS AT EDGELEY, N. DAK. 3 
PRECIPITATION. 
The average annual precipitation at Edgeley for the 19 years from 
1901 to 1919, inclusive, was 18.02 inches. The highest was 28.61 
inches, in 1902, and the lowest 10.85 inches, in 1917. The highest 
precipitation recorded in any one year since the experiments began 
was 22.20 inches, in 1915. 
The average precipitation by months is : January, 0.28 ; February, 
0.33; March, 0.87; April, 1.92; May, 2.71; June, 3.38; July, 2.80; 
August, 2.27; September, 1.70; October, 1.01; November, 0.34; and 
December, 0.41. 
The average seasonal precipitation for the five months of April, 
May, June, July, and August is 13.08 inches, or 72.5 per cent of the 
total annual precipitation. 
EXTENT OF WORK AND CHARACTER OF THE SEASONS. 2 
In the 14 years from 1906 to 1919, inclusive, the following number 
of plat records have become available : Wheat, 485 ; oats, 415 ; barley, 
123 ; corn, 505 ; flax, 14 ; alfalfa, 39 ; brome-grass, 52 ; red clover, 26 ; 
green manure, 98; fallow, 230; total, 1,987. Of this total number, 
1,559 have been crop plats and 328 green-manure and fallow plats. 
The average yields each year from all plats in the main field are 
shown in Table I. For wheat, oats, barley, and corn these averages 
are from a considerable number of plats, embracing a wide range 
of methods. They therefore give a fairly good indication of the 
effect of the season on yields and of the yields that may be expected 
with a wide range of methods, such as are likely to be practiced by 
farmers. The vital question, of course, is how much these averages 
may be increased or the poor years overcome by the choice of 
methods. This will be considered in its proper place. 
The flax yield specified is not a fair showing for the flax crop, as 
it is from a single plat on brome-grass sod. The brome-grass yield 
is the average of two 1-year-old plats and two 2-year-old plats. The 
alfalfa yield is the average of one 1-year-old and one 2-year-old plat. 
The red-clover yield is from one plat in the second year after seeding. 
The year 1906 was a good one, with some lodging and some rust. 
2 Since this manuscript was prepared the 1920 crop results have become available. 
In the main field the average yields were : Wheat, 9.6 bushels ; oats, 47.3 bushels ; 
barley, 25.4 bushels; brome-grass, 2,075 pounds of hay; corn, 2,383 pounds of fodder; 
and the flax, alfalfa, and red clover were failures. The wheat crop was damaged by 
rust, "lodging, and weeds. The damage was generally greatest and yields the lowest on 
those plats that had the greatest growth of straw and at one stage of growth the 
highest potential yield. Drought and hot weather after early grain harvest prevented 
the corn from earing. Flax was destroyed by wilt and dry weather. With all grain 
crops, disked corn ground produced the heaviest or one of the heaviest yields. Yields 
on fallow were especially poor for wheat and below the average for oats and barley. 
The data make no decisive contribution to the knowledge of the effect of manures. 
