4 BULLETIN 1310, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS 
The results which are here reported were obtained on tenth-acre 
plats which are 2 rods wide by 8 rods long with alleys 4 feet wide 
between the plats and roadways 20 feet wide at the ends. Ordinary 
farm machinery was used in working the land, and the various opera- 
tions were as nearly like those of good field practice as possible. The 
plowing, unless otherwise noted, was 7 to 8 inches deep. The fallow 
land was plowed the latter part of May except in one set of plats 
included in the time-of -plowing test. The fall plowing for grain the 
following year was done as soon as there was sufficient moisture to 
work the land after the crop was removed. The spring plowing for 
grain was done as early as the soil conditions permitted. 
The cultivation after plowing fallow was about the same from year 
to year. It was not excessive, but was intended to accomplish the 
following purposes : (1) To prevent the loss of moisture from the soil, 
mainly by preventing weed growth and also possibly decreasing the 
evaporation from the surface foot of soil; (2) to maintain a coarse 
granular mulch that would not blow and would absorb as much of the 
precipitation as possible; and (3) to prepare a seed bed in which the 
crop would germinate readily and make a good early growth. 
Fallow land other than that fall plowed was cultivated once soon 
after plowing. This cultivation was with either a disk set straight or 
with a spike-tooth harrow. Two or three cultivations were given 
after this with a weeder, a spring-tooth harrow, or a duck-foot cul- 
tivator. The early cultivations were thorough, in order to kill all 
weed growth, the weeder being generally used for this purpose, while 
the last cultivation was such as to leave the immediate surface some- 
what ridged and granular. The duck-foot cultivator was the imple- 
ment used for this last cultivation. 
Land that was fall plowed for a crop the following year was left 
rough during the winter. A double disking and a double harrowing 
just before seeding were necessary in preparing a seed bed. Land 
spring plowed for immediate cropping was cultivated soon after plow- 
ing. A double disking and a harrowing were generally given, although 
at times a spring-tooth harrow replaced the disk. 
Standard varieties of each crop were grown, with no change in 
varieties during the period here reported. The following are the 
varieties and rates of seeding per acre: Spring wheat, Peliss, 1 bushel; 
oats, Sixty-Day, \y^ bushels; barley, \Yhite Smyrna, 1}4 bushels; 
and corn, Northwestern Dent, surface planted in drills 44 inches 
apart with the plants approximately 18 inches in the row. In all 
cropping tests there were enough plats so that a crop was grown by 
each method each year. 
RESULTS WITH SMALL GRAINS ON FALLOW, ON DISKED CORN 
GROUND, AND WITH CONTINUOUS CROPPING 
The yields of spring wheat, oats, and barley grown on fallow are 
compared with those grown on disked cornland and those on contin- 
uous grain. The yield given for each method is the average of several 
plats. Some of the yields on fallow are from alternate fallow and 
cropping, and some are from fallow in 3-year and 4-vear rotations. 
To date, there has been little difference between the yields of a crop 
