14 
The Colorado Experiment Station 
they are used to accomplish the objects of a clean summer fallow, 
about half the usual number of rows of corn are put on the land. 
The method may be illustrated by using corn. Corn is ordinarily 
planted in rows 3j4 feet apart. Where it is desirable to grow 
corn, and still get part of the benefits of a clean summer fallow, 
the corn is planted in rows 7 feet apart. The space between the 
rows is kept cultivated so as to keep down all weeds. About 
three-fourths as much crop may be grown by this method of till¬ 
age as by the thicker planting. Crops such as wheat and other 
small grains after corn grown in this way do just as well as after 
clean summer fallow. This method has a very decided advantage 
over the clean fallow in that a paying crop may be grown. Thus 
the work of keeping the land clear by this method is paid for by 
the crops grown, while the clean summer fallow method produces 
no return the year of the fallow. 
The farming methods which will enable the most crops to be 
produced, and make the best out of the available water with the 
least amount of work, are to be preferred. Many successful dry¬ 
land farmers, especially on the lighter lands, follow a system 
which reduces the amount of plowing and. still conserves mois¬ 
ture and prevents weed growth. For these lighter lands the sug¬ 
gested system is about as follows: The system makes use of a 
partial summer fallow. If we start a description of the system at 
the point where the land has been partially summer tilled, we may 
carry the process thru its logical steps. After the partial sum¬ 
mer tillage, winter wheat is the first crop. When the winter wheat 
is harvested, the land is double disked immediately after the 
binder for the purpose of killing all weeds which spring up and 
to put the surface in good condition to catch rainfall. The next 
spring the land is double disked early to kill all weeds starting. 
If weeds start later, it is disked again and harrowed; after which, 
corn or some other cultivated crop is planted. After corn, small 
grain of some kind is planted, the soil being prepared by disk¬ 
ing and harrowing. The yields of grains after corn are nearly as 
much as after a fallow. When this latter small grain crop is har¬ 
vested, the land is at once double disked. No other treatment is 
given until the next spring. Then, as soon as weeds start, the 
soil is disked to kill weeds, and the better to catch rainfall. In 
June and July the land is plowed thoroly and deeply. It is disked 
and harrowed immediately behind the plow. Upon this plowed 
land, so prepared, winter wheat is planted in September, and the 
sys-tem starts in again where we began. 
Under this system the land is plowed only once in every three 
years. The system produces excellent results on the lighter lands, 
