Feb. 24,1923 
Effect of Burning on Vegetation in Kansas Pastures 641 
failed to show, so far, that much higher yields are actually produced on 
unbumed areas. Considering the small difference in yield and the marked 
difference in the number of desirable grasses in favor of the burned plot, 
it can not be concluded that burning has caused any injury to the pasture. 
The last word regarding burning has yet to be written. The results 
secured, as these experiments show, will likely depend not only on seasonal 
conditions but also upon the kind of grasses and other vegetation present, 
and more extensive experiments with a wide variety of conditions will 
be necessary to determine just what may in general be expected of 
burning. 
so 
00 
! 
1 
70 
60 
SO 
40 
- A/64 AS A/AX/MC/Af T6AfP6/rAT£/A£ OAS 0OPA/60 PLOT 
- A/6AA/ A/AX/AU/Af 76A/P6/fArO/f6 O/V //A/0OPA/6O PLO 
. .. -A/£AA/Af/A//Afi/Af r£A/P&M Ti/P60A/Oi/PA/ep P/.0T 
- .~A/£AM Af//y/A/£/Sf r6A/P£**rO¥?e OAS OM6L7PA/60 
r 
/\ 
-- J 
X ^ 
\ 
,# /\ 
/ 
s\ 
- 
s \ 
N 
.A 
% 
\ 
/ 
’ 
/** 
/.• 
»' 
-Ll.il. 
.* ^ 
1 1 1,1 
V 
. 1 1 1 1 , 
111 1 . 
■111 L. 
■ 1 1 1,1 . 
1 1 1 1 
1111 
1.1 J-l. 
1 I. 1 JL. 
1 JLJ.JL 
^O S /O /S 20 25 30. , S /O /S 20 £S 30, ,S /Q t 
A/Ay yt/yvs: 
JV6EK SA/O/A/O 
Fig. 2.— Graph showing weekly mean maximum and minimum temperatures in 1919 at a depth of z inch 
under the surface on burned and unbumed plots. 
SUMMARY 
(1) The data presented in this paper have been obtained in connection 
with pasture investigations conducted by the Kansas Agricultural 
Experiment Station. The experiments discussed were designed to 
study the effect of burning on the vegetation in pastures. 
(2) Areas were burned early each year for comparison with similar 
areas not burned. A number of small quadrats in each area were charted 
three times between the time of burning and July i each year. The 
results show that in the early part of the season there was considerably 
more growth of grasses on burned areas than on those unbumed, thereby 
substantiating the popular opinion that burning causes growth to start 
earlier in the spring. In the second charting there was always more 
vegetation on the burned areas but the difference was not so great as 
in the first charting. The third charting was done when the greater 
part of the season’s growth had been made. The differences found in 
the third charting were slight, showing that as the season advanced the 
vegetation on the unbumed sections tended to catch up with that on the 
burned areas. 
26551—23 - 5 
