UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
JfW^^-TU 
BULLETIN No. 991 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
October 17, 1921 
CROP ROTATION AND CULTURAL METHODS AT 
EDGELEY, N. DAK, 
By John S. Cole, Agriculturist, Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
History of the investigation 1 
Soil 2 
Precipitation 3 
Extent of work and character of the 
seasons — 3 
Results of fall and spring plowing 
compared , 6 
Disking compared with plowing corn 
ground in preparation for wheat 
and oats 7 
Coin ground compared with small- 
grain stubble for wheat and oats_ 10 
Page. 
Grain stubble compared with fallow. 10 
Corn ground compared with fallow 
as a preparation for small grains. 12 
Manured compared with unmanured 
fallow 14 
Green manure compared with bare 
fallow i 14 
Sod crops 17 
The effect of the season on yields 19 
Continuous cropping compared with 
rotation 22 
Conclusions 22 
HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. 
The Edgeley substation of the North Dakota Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station is one unit in a group of 24 field stations at which 
the Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations has established 
coordinated cooperative experiments in crop rotations and cultiva- 
tion methods on the Great Plains. 
The station at Edgeley is farther east than any of the other sta- 
tions on the northern Great Plains. The rainfall is somewhat heavier 
and there is greater liability to damage from rust than at stations 
1 The Office of Dry-Land Agriculture was organized in 1905, with E. C Chilcott as 
agriculturist in charge, who pJanned, outlined, and instituted these investigations and 
still has general supervision of them. This bulletin has been prepared under his direc- 
tion. These investigations have had the active cooperation and support of the officials 
of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station for the entire fifteen years. O. A. 
Thompson has be<>n superintendent of the Edgeley substation since its establishment in 
1903, and since 1918 he has had immediate cbarge of the cooperative investigations. The 
following assistants in Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations have been detailed by the 
United States Department of Agriculture to the station, in immediate charge of the co- 
operative work, during the years indicated : E. F. Chilcott, 1906 to 1908 ; C. H. Plath, 
1909 to 1912 ; and R. S. Towle, 1913 to 1918. 
56615°— 21— Bull. 991 1 
