This method of green manuring and rotation of crops will lar_Proceedings of the third National Conservation Congress at Kansas City, Missouri, September 25, 26 and 27, 1911

soil drifting, the control of which is a very serious problem in western

agriculture. Our experience at the Station at Hays has demonstrated

also that large areas in wheat may be protected and largely prevented

from being injured by the drifting of soil within the field itself.

The spreading of straw or coarse manure and packing the straw into the

soil with the subsurface packer was the most effective means employed

for protecting the fields from injury by winds last spring (1911). The

subsurface packing alone helped to prevent the starting of the drifting

soil within the field, but was not very effective in preventing the soil

from adjacent fields from sweeping over the wheat field, but the straw

covered area actually stopped the drifting soil, causing it to lodge, and

thus protected the field beyond the straw barrier.

It is quite as necessary, however, to prevent the drifting of adjacent

fields, as to protect the wheat field itself. This may be done by early

listing or disking of the fall plowed fields and corn or kaffir stubble

fields which are almost sure to drift in a violent wind, when the soil

is very dry at the surface. Disking or other surface cultivation will

prevent drifting of soil for a time, until the looser portion dries out,

then the soil can only be held by deeper cultivation as by listing or

plowing. For putting the surface in the best condition to resist wind

force a long time, I prefer to break the ground with a lister, forming

deeper furrows and higher ridges than may be prepared with the disk or

cultivator.

During the season of 1911, which has been extremely dry and hot, the

wheat on summer fallow at the Station at Hays made a larger growth and

a much better showing in the early part of the season than other wheat,

but before the crop matured the conditions of drouth and heat became so

severe that the wheat was greatly injured, and the summer fallow produced

a little larger yield but a poorer quality of grain than was secured from

other land not summer fallowed.

The yields compare approximately as follows: Summer fallowed, five

bushels per acre. Not summer fallowed, two bushels per acre. In other

localities in Western Kansas where the rain was greater and the condition

less severe, the summer fallow made a better showing.

It was also true last season, at the Western Kansas Station, that the

extra cultivation in preparing the seed-bed was without beneficial

effect, in producing a larger yield of wheat. However, in ordinary

seasons the reverse has usually been true; summer fallow has given

much larger yields than continuous cropping, and early plowing and

extra cultivation have usually given a marked increase in yield in the

comparative tests which have been carried on at the Experiment Stations,

both at Manhattan in Eastern Kansas and also at Hays in the western third

of the state. At the Manhattan Station the careful preparation of the

seed-bed was very effective in increasing the yield of wheat in 1911,

even doubling and trebling the crop. The results of much of this work are

summarized in the succeeding pages.

Three general methods of tillage for preparing the land for winter wheat

are practiced in this state, namely: plowing, listing and disking. There

may be variations of these three methods; as early plowing, shallow

plowing, deep plowing, single listing, double listing, disking without

plowing, disking before plowing, little cultivation after plowing,

frequent cultivation after plowing, etc., and local conditions may

determine which method is the best. That certain methods are superior

to others may be readily shown by comparative trials which have been

carried on at the Kansas Station during the past two years. These

experiments include the several general methods of tillage named above

with variations as described in Table I, which gives the yield of wheat

per acre and other data determined by those experiments. This work was

done at the State Experiment Station at Manhattan, located in the middle

eastern part of the state.

TABLE I.—METHODS OF PREPARING SEED-BED FOR WHEAT.[7]

-----------------------------------+------------------------------+

| Yield per Acre, Bushels. |

| |

+------+------+-------+--------+

Methods of Preparation. | 1907-| 1908-| 1910- |Average |

| 1908.| 1909.| 1911. | for |

-----------------------------------+------+------+-------+--------+

Plowed Aug. 15, 7 inches deep | 34.74| 40.12| 27.74| 34.20 |

Plowed July 15, 7 inches deep | 28.84| 35.02| 38.36| 34.07 |

not worked until Sept. 15 | 30.53| 38.12| 23.62| 30.76 |

ridges split Aug. 15 | 28.67| 31.33| 34.35| 29.78 |

ridges harrowed | 20.02| 32.17| 35.07| 29.09 |

Plowed July 15, 3 inches deep | — | — | 33.45| — |

7 inches deep | — | — | 32.68| — |

7 inches deep | 20.11| 30.56| 23.57| 24.75 |

Plowed Sept. 15, 3 inches deep | 21.19| 30.76| 14.46| 22.14 |

Plowed Sept. 15, 7 inches deep | 19.59| 27.98| 15.79| 21.12 |

not plowed | 14.95| 28.24|4.29[8]| 15.83 |

-----------------------------------+------+------+-------+--------+

-----------------------------------+----------------------------------

| Data for 1919-11

| Crop Only.

+------------+--------+------------

Methods of Preparation. | Cost per |Value of| Value of

| Acre for | Crop at| Crop Less

|Preparation.| $0.80 | Cost of

| | per bu.|Preparation.

-----------------------------------+------------+--------+------------

Plowed Aug. 15, 7 inches deep | $3.90 | $22.19 | $18.29

Plowed July 15, 7 inches deep | 4.95 | 30.69 | 25.74

Plowed Aug. 15, 7 inches deep; | | |

not worked until Sept. 15 | 3.55 | 18.89 | 15.34

Listed July 15, 7 inches deep; | | |

ridges split Aug. 15 | 3.75 | 27.48 | 23.73

Listed July 15, 7 inches deep; | | |

ridges harrowed | 3.70 | 28.05 | 24.35

Plowed July 15, 3 inches deep | 4.45 | 26.77 | 22.32

Disked July 15, plowed Aug. 15, | | |

7 inches deep | 4.70 | 26.14 | 21.44

Disked July 15, plowed Sept. 15, | | |

7 inches deep | 4.35 | 18.85 | 14.50

Plowed Sept. 15, 3 inches deep | 3.05 | 11.57 | 8.52

Plowed Sept. 15, 7 inches deep | 3.55 | 12.63 | 9.08

Disked at intervals until seeding; | | |

not plowed | 1.95 | 3.42 | 1.47

-----------------------------------+------------+--------+------------

[7] See Kansas Experiment Station Circular No. 2 and Bulletin No. 176.

[8] Disked only once just previous to sowing wheat.

Much of it was done by myself or under my direction during eight years of

service as agronomist at that station.

Observe that the largest yields have been secured, as an average for the

three years from July and August plowing seven inches deep. The July

listing has ranked next to early plowing, but yielding on the average

nearly five bushels less wheat per acre than early plowing, or a decrease

in yield of 14 per cent. The decrease in yield from listing was less in

the dry year of 1910-11.

All of the higher yielding plots were cultivated at intervals after

plowing or listing with the harrow, disk or Acme. Thus the weeds were

destroyed, the soil was well pulverized and well settled and put into

excellent seed-bed condition by the first of October, when the wheat was

planted.

One or two cultivations after August plowing, at an extra cost of

thirty-five cents to fifty cents per acre, has given an average increase

in the yield of wheat of three and a half bushels per acre. Land disked

before plowing, July 15, and plowed August 15, 1910, gave an increase in

yield of five bushels per acre in 1911.

Deep plowing in July, 1910, gave nearly five bushels more wheat per acre

in 1911 than shallow plowing. As an average for the several seasons, the

September shallow plowing has given a little larger yield than the deeper

plowing.

The beneficial effect of early plowing and of frequent cultivation after

plowing in preparing the seed-bed for fall wheat was most marked in the

dry season of 1910-11, when plowing a month later each time decreased the

yield at the rate of ten and one-half to twelve bushels per acre.

The preparation with the lister has proved to be a little less effective

than early plowing, but has given better results than early disking

followed by plowing a month later. Filling the furrows by harrowing,

versus splitting the lister ridges and leveling with the harrow have

given about equal results. The second listing is not necessary and

makes the preparation somewhat more expensive. Preparing the seed-bed

by listing and harrowing is cheaper than early plowing and frequent

cultivation. The largest yield and largest net income, however, has been

secured from early plowing followed by sufficient cultivation to kill

weeds and maintain a mellow soil mulch.

Preparing the seed-bed by disking has given the lowest yields and least

income. The disked land has produced on the average each year eighteen

bushels less wheat per acre than early plowing. That is, the well

prepared seed-bed has given 114 per cent the greater yield, or more than

double the yield of the poorly prepared seed-bed, and at very little

greater cost of preparation.

The next lowest yield was produced by late plowing, a week or two before

the wheat was planted. The average decrease in yield from September

plowing compared with July plowing was over twelve bushels per acre per

annum, or early plowing increased the yield fifty-four per cent. In the

drier seasons of 1910-11 the difference was greater, the early plowing

producing more than double the yield received from the late plowing.

“Disking in” wheat in the dry season resulted in an almost complete crop

failure, giving a small yield of only four bushels per acre; compared

with thirty-eight bushels per acre produced by deep early plowing. This

is certainly a marked example of the value of “proper” cultivation in

preparing the seed-bed for wheat.

The seed-bed for corn should be deeper and more mellow than the seed-bed

for wheat, and the early cultivation of the corn land previous to

planting may cause a marked increase in yield, as shown by experiments

which have been recently completed at the Kansas Station. These

experiments relate to different methods of tillage which may be practiced

during the winter or early spring in preparing the seed-bed for corn, and

include deep and shallow plowing, double disking, and listing, namely,

plowing land into ridges with a double mold-board plow or lister.

In these experiments corn has usually been planted in listed furrows,

except that the surface and lister methods of planting have been compared

each year on the plowed plots. Table II gives the yield of shelled corn

per acre secured by the continued practice of the methods described, for

a period of six years. The average yield for three years (1906-08) and

for six years (1903-08) is also given.

TABLE II.—PREPARATION OF SEED-BED FOR CORN.

-------------+----------+-----------------------------------+-----+-----

| | Yield Per Acre in Bushels. | Average

| Method +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ 3 | 6

Treatment. | Planting.|1903 |1904 |1905 |1906 |1907 |1908 |1906-|1903-

| | | | | | | |1908 |1908

-------------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

Disked twice |Listed |68.61|55.12|34.74|70.29|41.30|73.60|61.73|57.28

harrowed |Listed |65.18|50.27|41.48|75.34|44.38|78.80|66.17|59.24

| furrows | — | — |44.00|80.10|49.81|70.40|66.77| —

| ridges |74.28|52.37|40.40|82.29|45.31|74.00|67.20|61.44

Untreated |Listed |64.14|58.35|38.17|68.61|40.87|72.40|60.63|57.09

shallow |Listed |64.26|54.96|40.82|84.23|55.48|76.90|72.20|62.28

-------------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

Average of | |66.69|54.21|39.94|76.81|46.19|74.35|65.78|59.47

-------------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

shallow | planted | — | — |42.40|71.90|46.87|68.40|62.39| —

deep | |73.74|70.95|41.66|81.89|51.28|75.40|69.46|65.79

-------------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

planted | |73.74|70.95|42.03|76.80|49.08|71.90|65.93|65.79

-------------+----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

While the relative yields vary somewhat from year to year, it is very

clear that the early plowing and early listing have given increased

yields of corn, ranging from six to twelve bushels per acre for the three

years, and four to five bushels per acre as an average for six years.

As an average for three years the double disking and harrowing early in

the spring has given an increased yield of five and one-half bushels of

corn per acre. It will be observed that in the above comparison all of

the corn was planted in listed furrows.

Comparing the two methods of planting it appears that the highest yield

for three years was produced by listing in the early shallow plowed land:

The average yield for six years, however, was 3.3 bushels per acre in

favor of the surface method of planting.

The results may be explained by the fact that the seasons of 1904 and

1905 were very wet, hence there was less necessity of conserving soil

moisture, and the early cultivation gave little benefit, while the lister

method of planting was placed at a disadvantage. The method of planting

corn in listed furrows is adapted to dry climate and warm soil. Corn

planted in the bottom of a furrow four to six inches deep develops a

deeper root system than surface planted corn; hence listed corn is not

readily injured by drouth. The effect on the root system is shown by the

study of corn roots made at the Station.[9]

[9] See Bulletins 127 and 147.

It is quite evident that the best method of preparing the seed-bed

for corn and the best method of planting corn will vary for different

climatic and soil conditions. Yet it is very important that the farmer

test these methods and determine which is the better for his particular

conditions, since the method of seed-bed preparation and the method of

planting may be very important factors in securing large yields.

In the cultivation experiments carried on at the Station during the

past six years the practice has been to “lay the corn by” with a final

cultivation about the first of July. In these experiments the plan has

been to cultivate duplicate plots by four different methods, as follows:

shallow; deep; deep early and shallow late; shallow early and deep late.

The shallow cultivation has been performed with the knife or gopher type

of cultivator, while for the deep cultivation, the six-shovel cultivator

has been used.

The plan has been not to cultivate excessively deep but only medium deep,

three to four inches. The depth of the surface cultivation has averaged

one and one-half to two inches. The corn has usually been cultivated

four times each season, and the practice has been to cultivate by the

same method twice in succession those plots in which the method of

cultivation was changed during the season, that is, certain plots were

cultivated shallow at the first two cultivations and deep at the last two

cultivations, and vice versa. The yield of shelled corn each year and the

average yield for seven years, by the different methods of cultivation,

are given in Table III.

TABLE III.—CULTIVATION EXPERIMENTS WITH CORN, 1903-1909.

----------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------

| Yield of Corn Per Acre, Bushels. | Average

+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ 3 | 7

Cultivating. |1903 |1904 |1905 |1906 |1907 |1908 |1909 |1907- |1903-

| | | | | | | |1909 |1909

----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------

Shallow, |51.65|57.51|45.64|56.19|41.21|75.72|35.1 |50.69 |51.86

Shallow, early; |52.96|57.25|49.68|51.67|42.17|87.12|34.7 |54.66 |53.56

Deep, |50.87|53.98|50.86|50.55|38.73|78.81|33.7 |56.41 |51.07

Deep, early; |53.66|49.62|49.39|50.09|43.11|76.93|31.3 |50.45 |50.30

Wrong time | — | — | — | — | — |79.7 |44.1 |61.9 |

Right time | — | — | — | — | — |82.9 |51.2 |67.0 |

----------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+------

The average yield for the seven years favors the shallow-early-deep-late

cultivation by a little over three bushels per acre per year, when

compared with the deep-early-shallow-late cultivation, which gave the

lowest average yield.

The variation in yield by the different methods of cultivation from year

to year and the nearly uniform average yields for the long period of

seven years, indicate that the method of cultivation practiced, whether

shallow or deep, may not make much difference in the yield of the crop,

provided the cultivation is done well and at the right time.

The factors heretofore described, which have to do with seed germination

and plant growth, are largely controlled by cultivation. There are,

perhaps, no exact rules or methods for cultivating corn, but a farmer

observing the crop and soil conditions, and understanding the principles

of soil cultivation, may vary the manner and practice of cultivation

somewhat to suit the conditions and accomplish the objects desired.

It is very important to cultivate corn at the “right” time. An experiment

which has been carried on for two years in cultivating corn at the

“right” time and the “wrong” time, has resulted as follows:

Average yield for “wrong” time cultivation, 61.9 bushels per acre.

Average yield for “right” time cultivation, sixty-seven bushels per acre,

or six and one-tenth bushels per acre in favor of cultivating the corn at

the “right” time. The “right” time means soon after the rain, when the

weeds have started and the soil is just dry enough to cultivate well; the

wrong time is a week or ten days later, when the weeds have become larger

and the soil is hard and dry and turns over in clods and lumps. It costs

more to cultivate corn at the “wrong” time than at the “right” time,

because of the slower and more difficult work and greater draft of the

cultivator due to unfavorable soil conditions—and yet the “right” time

cultivation increased the yield 10 per cent.

It is important also to use the best implements, but doing the work well

and at the right time is even more important than the type of cultivator

used. No one type of cultivator can be recommended as superior to others,

but different kinds of cultivators are useful for different work and for

different conditions. The corn grower should have more than one kind of

corn cultivator. I prefer at least two types, one for shallow and one for

deep cultivation. The knife and shovel cultivators serve their purpose

well, but the disk cultivator may be used in place of shovels, and is

especially recommended for use during the early cultivation of listed

corn.

It is possible, as shown by the work at the Station, for the wheat farmer

who will practice the best culture methods, to increase his yield of

winter wheat 50 to 100 per cent by careful and proper preparation of the

seed-bed, with practically no greater cost for cultivation (See Table I.).

The skillful corn grower may readily increase his corn yields five

bushels per acre by a little extra cultivation of the corn land early in

the spring before planting. He may add another five bushels to the crop

by practicing the correct method of planting, which experience has proved

to be the most suitable to his soil and climate. And finally, by the

simple factor of sufficient cultivation of corn at the right time and in

the right way he may still further increase the yield at the rate of ten

bushels per acre.

Thus it is possible for the farmer who is not now doing these things

to add 40 per cent to the average corn yield of his farm by practicing

improved culture methods. The yield of other crops may be likewise

increased, but the farmer should bear in mind this fact: that the

increase in yield by better culture may be secured only by maintaining

the fertility of the land and planting well-bred seed adapted to the soil

and climate.

THE CHURCH IN THE OPEN COUNTRY.

BY WARREN H. WILSON, _Superintendent of the Department of Church and

Country Life of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of

the United States_.

It is my purpose to answer the question, “What is the use of the

church in the open country?” We have some people who call themselves

“spiritual,” who do not believe there is any permanent use of a church.

Their religion consists of an insurance against fire; and as soon as

they get a policy from an evangelist, they have no more use of a church,

certainly not of a strong church. I want to speak to you of the church as

an efficient institution, the builder of rural civilization.

We have other folk who are without land and without ownership of

productive tools; they are under economic pressure; they are our American

poor. They think they cannot afford anything that is not a necessity.

I am here to argue that the church in the open country is a necessity,

especially to the poor.

We have also some theorists, who believe that all rural institutions

should be assembled in towns and villages, and that ultimately the

farmers should reside there, going out every morning to their fields. I

hope the time will never come when American farmers will so live. And I

wish to speak to you of the church in the open country as the conserver

of the soil, of the social life, the family and the school in the country.

The first reason for the existence of the church in the open country is

the fact that “the soil is holy.” Already we are faced with a depleted

soil in some of our richest agricultural states. But when the soil

produces less, the poor will have to pay more for food and for wearing

apparel. We have been warned that the time will come when the workingman

cannot any longer wear wool or eat white bread. I have observed in

the last two years that the clothes which I buy from a tailor who has

supplied me for seventeen years do not any longer attract the moths. The

moth turns up his nose at cotton, and cries for wool. The business of the

farmer and of the sheep raiser is a religious business, because it is

in the interest of the whole people. Whatever makes for the prosperity

of the farmer will enrich and dignify all the people. The church is an

institution essential to good farming, and it should be maintained where

the farmer lives, out in the open fields.

Religion is a valuation of life. It values some things high, and some

low, but it is, in the opinion of a recent scholar of repute, a system of

values. Its highest word is “holy.” The land in which the Hebrews were

settled was called “the Holy Land,” and nowadays the teachers of modern

farming are declaring to the young, “The land is holy.” At a recent

summer school for country ministers a professor lectured upon “the Holy

Land,” meaning Palestine; and a great agriculturist came also to lecture

upon the soil of the state in which the school was held, announcing his

theme as “The Holy Earth.” We are entering a new era in religion, in

which the values of life will be estimated by their services to the poor.

In this consecration of the soil to the interest of the whole people the

church of the open country will have a great place.

Proceedings of the third National Conservation Congress at Kansas City, Missouri, September 25, 26 and 27, 1911 · 第 34 / 45 段

This method of green manuring and rotation of crops will largely prevent