UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 625 
Office of the Secretary 
Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 
W. J. SPILLMAN, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
April 8, 1918 
CROPPING SYSTEMS FOR THE MOISTER PORTION OF EAST 
ERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON AND NORTHERN IDAHO. 
By Lee W. Fluharty, Assistant Agriculturist. 
CONTENTS. 
Clover in the rotation to eliminate summer 
tallow 1 
Factors influencing farm profits 2 
Methods of increasing farm profits 4 
Seeding clover with a nurse crop 6 
Rotation for increasing profits 9 
CLOVER IN THE ROTATION TO ELIMINATE SUMMER FALLOW. 
WITHIN the region adjacent to the Bitter Root and Blue Moun- 
tains in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho live more than 12,800 
farmers who operate approximately 1,875,000 acres of improved farm 
land. The farms on which these farmers live have an annual rainfall 
of 20 inches or more, and have a black silt loam soil underlaid by a 
clay-like subsoil which is very retentive of moisture. The land has 
been devoted to the growing of wheat, oats, and barley, by the 
summer-fallow system, for more than 30 years. 
A farm survey made in 1915 on 246 farms in a representative por- 
tion of the above described area showed that 30.2 per cent of the 
rotation area was idle each season as summer fallow. It is generally 
conceded that the yields of grain are now smaller than when the land 
was first brought into cultivation and that the soil is growing more 
compact and harder to work with each succeeding year. It is gen- 
erally believed that the practice of summer fallowing is largely 
responsible for this condition. 
The amount of land idle as summer fallow and the per acre yield 
of crops were found to be the most potent factors influencing farm 
profits. Farms having the most summer fallow made the least profit, 
while those having the largest per acre yield of crops made the larg- 
est profits. Any cropping system, therefore, which will increase. the 
per acre yield of crops or do away with summer fallow without 
decreasing yields should materially increase farm, profits. 
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