CROP PRODUCTION IN THE GREAT PLAINS AREA. 15 
only profit shown at these stations from any method under study is 
one of 35 cents per acre from disking corn ground at Belle Fourche. 
This nominal profit has resulted from the low cost of production 
rather than from the amount of yield. The indications are that the 
combination of soil and climatic conditions at these stations is not 
congenial to the growth of barley, nor can the unfavorable conditions 
be overcome by cultural methods. 
Table V also shows that at 10 of the 14 stations under study, 
disked corn ground has been productive of higher yields of barley 
than either fall or spring plowed stubble. At Hettinger and North 
Platte it has been clearly exceeded in yield by each. At Akron it 
has been exceeded in yield by both, but the differences between the 
three are only fractions of a bushel. At Amarillo it has been between 
the two in yield. Its low cost of production has made disking the 
most profitable method under trial at all stations except Hettinger. 
It has been productive of a profit at all stations except Garden City, 
Dathart, and Amarillo. 
Preparing the ground with a lister instead of a plow has been 
practiced at eight stations. At only one station, Judith Basin, have 
the yields been very materially different from those by fall plowing. 
At the other stations, although it has not in all cases given higher 
yields than plowing, owing to a lower cost of preparation, it has 
shown slightly more profit where profits are shown and less loss 
where losses are shown than has resulted from plowing. 
The difference between spring and fall plowing is largely one of 
season. In the average of the 13 stations at which both were under 
trial, there is practically no difference. At only three stations is 
there a difference of over 2 bushels per acre in the yields from the 
two methods. At the four southern stations the advantage has been 
with fall plowing. This is the only consistent territorial difference 
to be noted in the comparison of these two methods, but production 
at these four stations and at Belle Fourche has been at a loss by both 
methods. Spring plowing shows a profit at all other stations and 
fall plowing at all others except Scottsbluff. 
Subsoiling in preparation for the barley crop has been practiced 
at seven stations. At only two of these has the consequent yield 
departed far from that by fall plowing. At the Judith Basin station 
there has been a marked gain and at Akron a marked decrease from 
subsoiling. The cost of the method has been such that it has paid 
a profit at only the Judith Basin station. 
The highest average yields at 11 of the 14 stations have been from 
summer-tilled land. At the Judith Basin station subsoiled land has 
yielded a fraction of a bushel higher. At Dickinson and Edgeley 
the yields on disked corn ground have been appreciably higher than 
on summer-tilled land. While the averages of all the stations are 
