Baxter Springs news., 1914-07-23

4 Plot was plowed seven inches
deep August Is. This cost Of prepar-
ing the land was S3.55, the yield to
the acre 32.75 bushels. and the value
Of the crop $26.26. leaving S22.71 to
pay other expenses.
Plot was prepared In the same
manner as plot s, except that 1t was
not worked after plowing until Sep
tember Is. The cost of. preparing the
ground was 65 cents an acre less than
in plot s, and the yield Was four
bushels less.
Plot z was double-disked July Is
and plowed seven inches deep August
Is. The yield was 2s.75 bushels,
worth $23.87. The cost Of preparing
the ground was $4.75 an acre, leav-
ing S19.12 after paying for preparing
the land.
Plot was plowed three inches deep
July Is and produced 21.5 bushels OF
wheat an acre, leaving $3.50 above
the cost Of preparation Of the ground.
Plot 9 was prepared in the same
way as plot 8, except that 1t was
plowed seven inches deep instead OF
three inches. This plot produced S5
bushels an acre, or 1876 bushels more
than plot 8. The value Of the wheat,
less the cost of production, Was al
most double that in plot 8.
Plot 10 was listed July Is and
worked down level soon after to pre-
vent the loss Of moisture. The yield
was 27.75 bushels an acre, worth
S22.24, leaving $1SS9 after paying for
the cost of listing and working the
ground.
Plot II was listed July Is. and the
ridges were split August Is. The yield
was 29.5 bushels an acre or LIS BUSH
els more than in plot 10.
The principal point brought out In
these experiments is that early and
thorough preparation of the ground
pays. OF course, farmer who plows
early and deep cannot grow so many
acres as the man who prepares his
ground carelessly, but he will raise
more wheat and II he rotates his
crops, the wheat will be produced at
less expense. This Is shown by an
other experiment at Manhattan in
1918.
The necessity of having plenty OF
water stored In the soil is shown by
the fact that twenty-bushel crop OF
wheat requires about 600 tons Of wa.
ter to the acre. II this amount is not
stored in the soil or is not supplied
by rain when the crop needs 1t. less
than a twenty-bushel yield will be
produced. On the other hand, good
! crop OF wheat can be grown without
any rain at all during the growing
season, II sufficient water is stored In
the soil before the wheat Is sown.
Land which had just produced a
crop OF oats and had grown crop OF
corn in 1911, was prepared for wheat
in five different ways. The first plot
was plowed three inches deep Sep
tember Is, tho second seven inches
deep August Is. the third three inches
deep July Is, the fourth seven inches
deep July Is, and the fifth twelve
inches deep July Is.
The plot plowed three inches deep
September Is, produced 25.5 bushels
an acre; the one plowed seven inches
deep August 10, produced Al bushels
per acre. The yields Of the other
three plots were practically alike, be-
ing A, 44.67 and A bushels per acre,
respectively. This is nine bushels
more than from ground which had
been prepared in the same way but
which had grown wheat continuously
for several years.
The experiment also shows that
where wheat is grown in rotation with
other crops, 1t is not necessary to
plow so deep as where the wheat Is
grown continuously, since the plot
plowed three inches deep in July prt'-
duced practically as much as those
| plowed seven inches and twelve
inches deep. This is explained by the
fact that the ground was plowed six
inches deep for oats the previous
year, and about eight inches deep for
corn the year before that.