CEREAL EXPERIMENTS IN MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 3 
While it is known that these crops were grown in Virginia and 
Maryland since early colonial days, they did not come into prominence 
until the last half of the nineteenth century, when the invention of the 
thrashing machine and the self-binder greatly stimulated their pro- 
duction. To-day Virginia and Maryland are not great grain-produc- 
ing sections as compared with the North-Central States, yet wheat, 
oats, barley, and rye are grown to a greater or lesser extent through- 
out these and adjoining States. Of the small grains, winter wheat 
has always been foremost in importance; in fact, its annual produc- 
tion is many times greater than that of all others combined. 
During the 10-year period from 1905 to 1914, inclusive, the acreage 
and production of wheat in Maryland and Virginia have remained 
about stationary. The average production for the former State has 
been about 11,000,000 bushels, and for the latter about 9,000,000 
bushels. The acreage in wheat in the two States, however, has been 
about the same. The fact that the average yield per acre for Virginia 
has been only slightly more than 12 bushels, as compared with about 
16.5 bushels for Maryland, accounts for the greater production in the 
latter State. 
During the same period the relative importance of oats, rye, and 
barley has been in the order named. Rye is grown entirely as a fall- 
sown crop, while oats and barley are grown from both spring and fall 
seeding. 
PHYSICAL FACTORS. 
Information with regard to the physical factors which may influ- 
ence crop experiments is desirable for the interpretation of results. 
For that reason data are given on the soil and climatic conditions at 
College Park and at Arlington Farm. 
SOILS. 
The soil of that particular portion of the Maryland Agricultural 
Experiment Station farm on which the experiments here reported 
were conducted is classed by the United States Bureau of Soils as 
Sassafras sandy loam. It is a medium to fine brown sandy loam of 
sedimentary origin, with an average depth of about 10 inches. The 
subsoil consists of a slightly sandy or rather heavy yellow loam, 
usually 5 or more feet in depth. The subsoil is more retentive of 
water than is usual in this type of soil, so that this section is for the 
most part poorly drained. This general soil type is not difficult to 
cultivate and responds well to good treatment. It is well suited to 
grain growing. 
The soil of the Arlington Farm consists of a very heavy clay loam, 
yellow to brown in color, ranging from 4 to 10 inches in depth. It is 
underlain by a stiff, plastic, red, gray, or purplish clay subsoil of 
