Tombstone epitaph., 1915-09-19
CORN ON THE PLAINS
Comparison Is Made of Average
 Yields and Profits.
Much importance is Attached to Fact That Corn Leaves Field In Excel. lent Condition for the Crop
 That Is to Follow.

Experience has shown that corn grown for fodder or the silo is 1t least a safe crop, and perhaps as pro- dnctiye as any that could be grown in the great plains area. The response to the different modes of culture and crop sequence. however. is greater in the southern and central portions of the area than in the northern, accord inc to the new department bulletin. No. 2l9. Some 14 field stations are situated in the great plains area. which covers ten states. Montana. North Da- kota, South Dakota. Wyoming. Ne braska, Colorado. Kansas, Oklahoma. Texas and New Mexico. The climate in this area is often classified as semi arid. but as the variations in humidity from season to season are so great. some years have a relatively high pre- cipltation and may be followed by years of drought Thus climate and the distribution of rainfall play a very important part in determining the size of the corn crop. Necessarily. in bulletin dealing with such a wide eX. panse of territory, deductions when not applied to specific station must be very general.
 Corn growing possesses merit as a preparation Of the land for a crop of small grain. When these two factors. yield of corn or fodder and the infu. ence of the crop on the soil. are com bined in one crop. they make It's growth of double importance. Corn Is the only crop that at present offers this advantage in the great plains area, and which at the same time lends it. self to large acreage and to gen eral farming system. Potatoes as a crop may have the same effect as com mon fallow crop, but do not lend them selves so well to growth on a large acreage.
 Such crops as spring wheat, oats and barley in the great plains area, when following corn. have consistently given higher yields as compared with other methods of preparing a seedbed for these crops. Very often these small grain crops have yielded the highest. or approximately the highest. yield when grown on disked corn land, and when the cost of preparation is con- sidered. this plan was also found to be productive Of the greatest profit. Therefore. in the growing Of corn much importance is attached to the fact that it leaves the field in excel lent condition for the crop following.
 r,fl fp- hrnrruhf n the bulletin is the uniformity in the amount of stover or fodder produced by all methods at the stations in Non- tana and North Dakota.
 Corn on summer-tilled land. espe- cially at the more southern stations of Garden City, Kan. Dalhart and Anna rillo. Tex. showed a marked increase in stoyer yield over other methods of preparing the soil The increase. how ever, was not sufficient to make it the most profitable except at Scottsbluff. Neb.
 Corn as a grain crop has not been produced at a profit at eight of the thirteen stations by any method. But when a value of four dollars per ton is assigned to the stover or fodder. corn has been profitably grown by some method at all but one Of the sta tons.
 No one method of seedbed prepara. ton stands out as essential to the corn production. Thus the prevailing con ditions with relation to farm labor. farm capital, type Of soil and weeds to be dealt with are the prime factors in defermininp differences in nracfica