Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-07-08
CROPS FROM
SUMMER FALLOW
frrom Montana state CoIlege)

HE results Of nine years Of expert
" , mental work in producing wheat
carried on at the northern Montana
branch station at Havre are con-
tanned in bulletin No. 1877, "Wheat Elk
periments." recently issued by the Mon
Itana experiment station. The bulletin
is by George Morgan. superintendent of
the station and M. A. Bell, IN charge Of
cereal Investigations.
Detailed reports are given in the bull
letin of the results obtained in the pro-
duction of spring and inter wheat on
summer fallow land, disked corn land,
spring plowed land, fall plowed land and
on and that had been cropped contin-
uously. Information also is given on
soils. temperature, rainfall, vino velocity
and rate Of evaporation, all or which are
important factors in crop production. An
appendix gives the results OF wheat va
riety and protein tests.
Summer fallow land produced the best
crops of spring wheat. The holding over
of moisture from one season 10 n next
was strikingly illustrated in 1928 and
| 1924 In 1923 there were more than 16
inches of precipitation and more than
eight inches during June and July. In
| that wear wheat on summer fallowed land
averaged approximately 81 bushels to the
acre and on spring plowed land, ~ push-
els to the acre, showing that IN seasons
OF HDuHQAut aIlu tAlitCl1 Ia AA& AAA
ference In method of production is
slight. However, in 1924 there were but
1852 inches of rainfall during h year
and only 81 inches in July. That year
spring wheat on summer fallow yielded
more than 20 bushels per acre and on
spring plowed land only about IL bush
els per acre. The only possible factor
contributing to this wide difference in
Weld was tina the land summer fallowed
in 1928 carried over some OF the
dant moisture into 1924, whereas, the
crop planted on spring plowed land had
/ only the seasonal supply OF moisture.
Protein content of wheat appears to
be a very variable factor from year to
wear. according to the tests made OF
MARQUIS wheat grown in the variety test
plots st the station. During the dry and
exceptional years from 1917 to 1920 pro-
tein content varied from 14.9 to 1871 per
cent. nj 1920 it jumped to the high hg-
ure of 1876 per cent and from then on
declined steadily each year until 1928
when the low average OF l2.9 per cent
was reached.
Variety tests of spring wheat for the
period 1916 to 1925 indicate that Marquis
leads most other in production by q IA
vorable margin and is we'll ahead from
the standpoint of quality. OF the many
hundred varieties tested out during the
period only IL were Of sufficient promise
10 remain III lie teoe PioeS W yS0S -
more.
Supreme, the hard red spring wheat OF
outstanding promise, was included In the
tests in 1924 and 1925 and in those two
years outyielded Marquis. In 1924 Mar.
uuis averaged 1913 bushels per acre anc
Supreme, 1879, in 1926 Marquis yielded
1874 bushels and Supreme 1873. Two years
is not considered long enough to def
nitely fix the value of a variety but the
showing of Supreme is considered good
enough to give it a place with Marquis
as one of the two leading strains fol
northern Montana.
The bulletin contains a und OF valu-
able information for wheat growers II
northern Montana. The experiments
were carried on along practical lines ano
the results contained in the bulletin pro
vide answers for many problems WIFI
which farmers must deal. Copies may
be obtained without cost from the Mon
tana experiment. station, Bozeman.