The Columbus courier. [volume] (Columbus, Luna County, N.M.) 1911-1920, 1915-01-29
EXPERIMENT IN TEXAS
Valuable Light Thrown on Cues
ton Of Following.


Land-oats Show lnerease.
Significant experiments in the prac-
tico Of following land have recently
been conducted by the United States
department OF agriculture al San
Antonio, Tex. These experiments, &C
cording 20 the scientists in charge,
demonstrate that the practice under
such conditions as prevail through
out a large part Of Texas Is not ad-
visable. In no case did the investi-
gators obtain larger crops Of corn or
cotton from biennially cropped land.
On the other hand, biennially cropped
winter oats did show Il slight Increase
This increase. however, 10 proba-
bly, not ~auficient to Offset certain
other economic disadvantages insepa'
rable to fallowed land. While the ex-
periments are not conclusive, still
II is believed that they throw val
liable light upon the whole question
OF following for the purpose Of stor-
ing In the soil an additional supply OF
moisture.
Tho practice OF following varies
widely in different regions. At San
Antonio the following period varied
from sixteen to nineteen months. Ac'
cording to a widespread belief land
cultivated for this period but bear
ing no crop would retain so much
moisture that any crop raised on Il
the following year would benefit ma
teriRlly. Some persons have gone 90
far as to assert that the quantity OF
moisture would be practically double
that in land cropped annually. II
this theory could be substantiated its
Importance TO semiarid regions Ii OBJ
vlous. Unfortunately the results OF
the recent experiments which are con
tained In bulletin No. 151 OF the
United States department OF agricul-
ture. entitled. Experiments in Crop
Production on Fallow Land at San An
tonic, Tex" do not bear out this
contention.
The experiments dealt with three
crops. corn, cotton aud oats. and GOV
cred three years, 1911, 1912 ana
1913. While no explanation is offered
for this totally unexpected result, the
facts speak for themselves. In the
case OF winter oats the biennial cror
shows a very appreciable increase
but II Is still doubtful whether this
increase means real profit. Fallow
land is not only ~unproductive. but its
cultivation actually costs very nearly
as much as does the production OF
a crop.
Together with other practical ex
periments In raising actual crops the
investigators carried on a series Of
measurements designed to determine
the comparative moisture content OF
annually and biennially cropped land
These measurements showed that
there was only a slight difference IN
the moisture content at planting and
harvesting times. whether the land
had been fallow for q long or only o
short period. Fallowed land shows
a somewhat higher moisture in the
plats at planting time for oats but
otherwise the variations we're neg
ligible. Summing the whole matter
up, the investigators state that the
results OF these experiments indicate
that biennial cropping, at least OF
corn, cotton and oats. is not to be
recommended for the San Antonio
region.
In considering the application OF
these experiments to other sections OF
the country IL must be borne in mind
however. that climatic conditions AZ
San Antonio are quite different from
those prevailing IN the dry farming
regions farther north. the mean an
nual rainfall at San Antonio Is re
ported as 26.s3 inches. This would
seem to make crop production fairly
certain. but the rainfall is so unequal
ly distributed and long droughts &c
common that the beneficial effects OF
this rainfall are much diminished
On the other hand, the winters are
mild. the thermometer seldom going
beio,. 10 degrees, aud plant lie can
grow practically throughout the year
When supplied with sufficient mois
ture. the soil produces abundant crops