Germination studies are reported on various farm crops stored for varying periods from 1 to 22 years. The crops were stored in sacks in a dry, unheated room. The germination percentage of wheat, oats, and barley declined slowly for the first 10-year period. From the tenth to the fifteenth year wheat dropped 22.3%, oats 8.1%, and barley 7.7%. The drop was somewhat greater from the fifteenth to the twentieth year as follows: Wheat, 48.4%; oats, 24.4%; and barley, 39.5%. Twenty-one-year-old wheat germinated 12.8%, oats 49.6%, and barley 46.2% of the initial germination. There were indications of varietal differences in germination between six-rowed hulled and two-rowed hulled and naked barley. Rosen rye and Wisconsin Black soybeans did not maintain their viability after the first 5 years. They dropped to almost zero germination by the fifteenth year. Black Amber cane maintained its germination for a 17-year period. Yellow Dent corn gradually declined from the first to the twenty-first year, germinating 32% at the end of the period. A dry, arid climate preserves germination in the farm crops studied so that stocks of wheat, oats, barley, sorghum, and corn can be stored for 20 years and still have enough viable seeds to maintain the stocks.

A study was made of the effect on crop yields of applying 2-12-6 fertilizer by different methods to corn and wheat in a rotation of corn, barley, wheat, and clover grown on Hillsdale sandy loam soil. Some treatments also included manure, heavy applications of fertilizer plowed under for corn, and 0-12-6 fertilizer. Each crop was grown every year. The increases in yield resulting from fertilization are probably greater than they would have been had the experiment been placed on a different field each year as the soil of the untreated or check plots became somewhat less productive as the years passed. In an effort to explain the response of corn to different soil treatments, observations and records were made of the effects of seasonal conditions and of a combination of fertilizer treatment and seasonal conditions on crop growth and yield. Counts were made of the number of corn suckers produced per plot for a number of years and of the number of good and poor ears. Average weights of ears were determined and a relationship worked out between soil treatments, weather conditions, yields, size of ears, and percentage of ear-bearing stalks. Although no fertilizer was applied directly for barley and clover these crops showed noticeable responses to the residues of fertilizer applied to other crops in the rotation. Residues from manure applications produced the greatest increases in clover. Barley yields were materially increased by residues of manure and of heavy application of commercial fertilizer. Seasonal conditions also greatly influence the growth of clover and barley. Manure plowed under resulted in the largest yields of wheat, followed by commercial fertilizer drilled with the seed supplemented with a spring topdressing of manure. Commercial fertilizer drilled with the wheat seed gave better results than that applied broadcast and worked into the soil or that plowed under. Superphosphate used as a reinforcement to manure gave some, but not outstanding, increase in wheat yields. There was a very close relationship between yields of grain and straw in the case of wheat and barley, but no such relationship existed between yields of corn grain and stover. The largest increases in stover yields resulted from applications of manure and from heavy applications of commercial fertilizer, especially fertilizer containing excessive amounts of nitrogen. Moderate applications of fertilizer produced larger yield increases of stover when placed in or near the row than when broadcast or plowed under. The proportion of grain to stover was greatest in corn grown on plots receiving broadcast applications of fertilizer and on plots well fertilized for wheat but receiving no fertilizer for corn. The largest average yield of corn grain was obtained from the plot receiving, 300 pounds of 2-12-6 fertilizer for wheat and a spring top-dressing of 5 tons of manure, with no fertilizer applied for corn. In favorable seasons all fertilizer treatments resulted in increased corn yields, but in unfavorable seasons fertilizer applications were of little and frequently of negative value. Considering the average increases for the 11-year period, the results show little benefit from fertilizer applied directly for corn. Considering the rotation as a whole, there was a net financial gain from all fertilizer treatments. The frequent failure of corn to respond satisfactorily to fertilizer materially reduced the returns for the rotation. The tendency for fertilizer to increase the early growth of corn and to stimulate the production of suckers resulted, in dry years, in smaller ears and a higher percentage of barren stalks. These effects appear to account for the lower yields of grain and higher stover yields on the fertilized plots than on those receiving no fertilizer in unfavorable seasons. From the results it appears that the best way to increase corn yields on this soil type is to fertilize other crops in the rotation rather heavily, making use of green manures or animal manure, and to let the corn draw on the stored fertility. A direct correlation was found between yield in bushels, on the one hand, and size of ear and percentage of ear-bearing plants, or a combination of these two factors, on the other.

1. The precision of the lattice design, with and without recovery of inter-block information, as compared to the randomized complete block design was determined for 22 small grains trials. The average of all tests gave an increase of 9% in precision with recovery of interblock information and a loss of 8% when inter-block information was ignored. 2. Four quadrats harvested from 1/60- or 1/80-acre field plots provided, for the most part, reliable estimates of the yield of the entire plot. The precision of the quadrats as measured by the coefficient of variability is essentially the same as that of the field plots. 3. A good agreement was found for most of the varieties tested when grain yields from rod-row plots were compared with those from field plots and quadrats. 4. Calculations based on the 19 field plot trials showed that increasing the number of replications would be more effective than increasing the number of quadrats per plot as a means of increasing precision. 5. The average precision factors calculated for different numbers of quadrats and replicates were essentially the same for the different cereals, especially for oats, spring wheat, and winter wheat.

Measurements of plant residue fragments in the soil of macroscopic size showed approximately 1 ton of plant residue fragments in the upper 4 inches of normal cultivated soil at Lincoln, Nebr. More than one-half of this amount of plant residue fragments was found in the size group of less than 3 mm and greater than 0.4 mm. Since these soils contained about 40 tons of organic matter per acre, these organic matter fragments constitute only 2.5% of the total organic material of the soil. When alfalfa tops and wheat straw were left at the surface of soil in pot cultures, maintained under controlled moisture and temperature conditions, the alfalfa tops decayed far more rapidly than did the straw. When straw was used as a mulch for a period of 6 months, the 2-ton application had lost two thirds; the 4-ton, one half; and the 8-ton, one third of the added material. Where straw was left on the surface for 18 months, there was little residue left except from the 8-ton application. When 2 tons of cornstalks were applied to the surface, about two thirds of the material was left after 6 months. Some cornstalk residue was left after a period of 18 months. From these data it appears that cornstalks are more resistant to decay than straw. The weight of organic particles remaining in corn land where oats and wheat straw from the two previous crops had been returned was 2,227 pounds where left on the surface and only 308 pounds per acre where the residues were plowed under.

Grain yield and total weight (straw and grain) data are reported for five varieties of wheat grown on three levels of soil fertility on each of three soil types during the 5-year period of 1937-41, inclusive. Analyses of variance for grain yield and total weight by individual years and all seasons together indicate that, on each soil type, the differences due to variety and fertility are significant or highly significant. Differential varietal response in grain yield between the different fertility levels was significant in the majority of cases. For total weight, the variety X fertility level interactions were significant only in 6 of the 17 comparisons. The wheats studied tended to fall into distinct response groups. Some varieties yielded relatively higher on the well-fertilized plots, while others were relatively more efficient when grown on the low-fertility plots. While the variety X fertility level interactions for grain yield are significant, the interactions are not great enough to change yield ranks. Therefore, the same adapted variety would be recommended for all productivity levels of a soil.