The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-01-16

washington, ~. u, Jan. 15.-The
Department of Agriculture, in coop
Grafton with the Utah Agricultural
Experiment Station, will shortly pub.
fish Department Bulletin No. 157,
"Tillage and Rotation Experiments at
Nephi, Utah" This bulletin, which
Is based upon FIVE and ten year OBJ.
servations in the Juab Valley in CEN
trail Utah, where the average annual
precipitation is 1874 inches, should
be OF interest to dry land farmers
generally, and particularly those in
the Great Plains area.
The tests, most of which have been
in progress since 1908, dealt with
stubble treatment Immediately after
harvest; time and depth of piowing I;
cultivation Of fallow; seeding, Guilt
walton, and harvesting the crop; fire.
Quency Of cropping; and diversity of
crops in rotation.
The following IL q summary of the
As pages of the buAetin:
Effect Of Dlffersst Flowing Methods
The average results for five years,
1909 to 1908, inclusive, show that
spring blowing was better than fall
blowing for moisture conservation,
in yield of grain, and in cost of pro,
ducing the crop. Spring blowing
gave an average yield of 1875 bush
els per acre, as compared with 1913
bushels for fail blowing. Owing to
this difference In yield and the low
er cost of producing the crop, spring
blowing gave net acre profit OF
SO 03 more than fall plowms.
The results Of five years show that
there was no advantage in deep
blowing or subsoiling over shallow
blowing SO far as moisture conserv-
alton Is concerned. There was no
material difference in the yields OBJ
tanned from plats plowed at different
depths, varying from to Is inches.
The highest average Yield was OBJ
tanned from plats plowed 10 inches
deep, and the lowest average yield
was from the plats subsoiled lS inch
es deep, while the inch blowing
yielded higher than the Is inch sub
soiling.
One years results from a test of
deep fall blowing and shallow spring
blowing compared with shallow fall
blowing and deep spring blowing
show no difference in soil moisture,
and but slight difference in yield.
The results Of five years expert
ments on fall plowed fallow show
that the moisture of the cultivated
plats remained practically the same
throughout the season, while that of
the uncultivated plats rapidly declin'
ed until by fall 1t was reduced to a
comparatively low point. 1t is prob
bable that weeds and volunteer
grain were important factors In this
loss OF moisture. The average acre
yield of the cultivated plats WAS II
bushels, as compared with 10 bush
els on the uncultivated plats.
The results Of one season on spring
plowed fallow show no difference In
the moisture content Of the plats
cultivated or not cultivated. The
yields, 11.9 and 9.5 bushels per
acre, favor the noncultivated plat.
Time Of Planting
The results of 10 years show no
correlation between the time OF SOW
ing winter wheat and the yield, but
the best yields have usually been
obtained from plats seeded between
September l and October 10. There
was no significant difference between
the average moisture content OF the
plats for any one or for all years.
The chief problem in the time of seed
ing tests of winter wheat now seems
To be a mechanical one involving
some Improvement OF the machinery
used in seeding. 1t Is believed that
this will obviate the necessity OF
waiting for rain before seeding, thus
permitting early seeding. which
seems desirable, and allowing the
crop time enough to make fair
growth before the advent Of winter
Late planting is often followed by
much winter killing, which complete
" offsets the value of any tillage
methods used In preparing the land
and OF the quantity OF moisture
stored In It.
The average result OF FIVE years.