50 
BULLETIN 823, XJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
At the Akron substation, in northeastern Colorado, there is little 
choice between the early and midseason varieties. At the Cheyenne 
Field Station, at an altitude of 6,000 feet, in southeastern Wyoming, 
the midseason varieties of oats have yielded better than the early 
ones. 
RESULTS IN THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS AREA. 
The southern Great Plains include the western or semiarid por- 
tions of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, southeastern Colorado, and 
eastern New Mexico. 
The oat crop is not grown extensively in this area. The early 
red varieties, Eed Rustproof and Burt, and the early yellow varieties, 
Kherson and Sixty-Day, are the most popular. 
Varietal experiments with the Kherson, the Sixty-Day, and other 
oat varieties have been conducted under dry-land conditions at only 
two experiment stations in this section. The Kherson and the 
Sixty-Day varieties have been under test at the Amarillo Cereal 
Field Station, Amarillo, Tex., since 1906. Comparable data are 
available from the Hays Branch Experiment Station, Hays, Kans., 
only since 1913. 
The climate of this section, like that of the northern Great Plains 
area, is generally classed as semiarid. As crop production is largely 
governed by climatic conditions, the altitude, the quantity and 
distribution of the annual precipitation, the normal annual and 
seasonal precipitation, and the mean temperatures for June, July, 
and August at Hays, Kans., and Amarillo, Tex., are shown in Table 
XXXVIII. The general soil type at each station also is shown. 
Table XXXVIII. — Altitude, averaje annual and seasonal precipitation, mean seasonal 
temperatures, and general soil types at the Hays (Kans.) Branch Experiment Station and 
the Amarillo (Tex.) Cereal Field Station 
Alti- 
tude. 
Olimatological data. 
Station. 
Length 
of 
record. 
Average pre- Normal temperature 
cipitation. (°F). 
General soil type. 
Annual. 
Sea- 
sonal, i 
June. 
July. 
August. 
Hays, Kans 
Amarillo, Tex 
Ft. 
2.000 
3,676 
Trs. 
48 
26 
Ins. 
23.16 
20.89 
Ins. 
17.67 
15.67 
2 71.6 
3 72.0 
2 76.8 
^75.3 
2 76.9 
3 75.3 
Silty clay loam. 
Chocolate clay loam. 
i April to September, inclusive. 
TVelvfc-year average. 
Eighteen-year average. 
Table XXXVIII shows that the greater portion of the precipita- 
tion occurs during the growing season, when the need for it is greatest. 
The high mean temperatures and high wind movement cause rapid 
loss of water by evaporation. As oats require more water than any 
other small-grain crop, the conditions just mentioned are not favor- 
able to their best development. 
