IB 
K13 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUR 
,i45£3t&%^ 
In Cooperation with the 
North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1293 
Washington, D. C. 
April, 1925 
TILLAGE AND ROTATION EXPERIMENTS AT DICKINSON, HETTINGER, 
AND WILLISTON, N. DAK. 
By Lekoy Moomaw. Superintendent of the Dickinson Substation of the North 
Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and Associate Agronomist, Office 
of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
Climatic conditions of the region 2 
Precipitation 2 
Evaporation 3 
Temperature 4 
Soils 4 
L'lan of the experiments 5 
Results of the experiments 5 
Average yields 5 
Results with fall plowing and 
spring plowing compared 7 
Eesults on fallow and follow- 
ing small grains compared 9 
Results on disked and on plowed 
com ground compared 11 
Page 
Results of the experiments — Contd. 
Results on fallow compared witlh 
those on disked corn ground _ 11 
Results on fallow compared with 
those on disked potato ground- 13 
Results on manured fallow com- 
pared with those on unma- 
nured fallow 13 
Results with wheat on disked 
stubble. 14 
Results with green manures 14 
Results with sod crops 16 
Results with continuous crop- 
ping 19 
Summary 21 
INTRODUCTION 
This bulletin presents a summary of the results of tillage and rota- 
tion experiments conducted in western North Dakota by the Office of 
Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations of the Bureau of Plant Indus- 
try in cooperation with the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment 
Station at the latters substations at Dickinson, Hettinger, and Wil- 
1 The Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations was organized in 1905, with E. C. 
Chilcott in charge, who planned this work and continues to direct it. The men who have 
been in charge of the work at the stations covered by this report are as follows: At 
Dickinson, O. J. Grace, 1907-1909 : J. C. Thysell, 1910-191S ; and the writer since 1919. 
At Hettinger, H. C. McKinstrv, 1911-1914; A. J. Ogaard, 1915-1917; and U. J. Downey, 
191S-1922. At Williston, W. O. Whitcomb, 1909-1912; A. J. Ogaard. 1913-14; and C. TI. 
Ruzicka, 1915-1920. Each of these men has contributed to this bulletin by keeping the 
necessary records and writing annual reports. John S. Cole, Agronomist, lias aided l>.v 
revising 'the manuscript. 
18519—25 1 
