10 BULLETIN 33, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
CONDITIONS OF THE PLAT EXPERIMENTS. 
DIMENSIONS OF THE PLATS. 
Most of the field tests were conducted on tenth-acre plats. These 
plats are mostly 24 feet wide by 181.5 feet long, though a few are 
33 feet wide and 132 feet long. In some years, on account of lack 
of space or seed, the plats were one-twentieth acre in size, measuring 
12 by 181.5 feet cr 16.5 by 132 feet. The plats lay side by side in 
series, which extend both north and south and east and west. They 
are separated within the series by 3-foot alleys, while the series are 
separated by 16.5-foot roads. Each plat is thus bounded on the sides 
by a 3-foot alley and on the ends by a 16.5 foot road. A general view 
of the plats is shown in figure 3. 
Fic. 3.—General view of the varietal plats of cereals at the Dickinson substation in 
1910. 
TREATMENT OF THE PLATS. 
For the first year’s planting the land had been broken from virgin 
soul the previous spring and backset cr else worked down well with 
disk and harrow and kept free from weeds throughout the season. 
The following spring most cf the land was double disked and har- 
rowed. In all cases, sufficient spring cultivation was given to put the 
land in good tilth and keep down the weeds. The treatment of the 
plats for each succeeding year is given in the discussion of each crop. 
Cultivated crops (corn or potatoes) are grown in alternate years on 
the plats used for the experiments with cereals. This system gives 
nearly as good results as would be given by a system of alternate 
cropping and fallowing. and much better results than continuous 
cropping to cereals. For the cultivated crop the land is spring 
plowed to a depth of about 8 inches, disked, and harrowed. The 
plats are harrowed at least once after planting to corn or potatoes, 
and frequent cultivations are given during the season, thus keeping 
them free from weeds. After removing the crop in the fall the land 
is usually harrowed. 
