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Yields of Wheat Following Potatoes and the Relation of Nitrates in the Soil to These 1
Author(s) -
Welton F. A.,
Morris V. H.
Publication year - 1924
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1924.00021962001600080007x
Subject(s) - agricultural experiment station , relation (database) , mathematics , citation , agronomy , library science , agriculture , agricultural science , computer science , environmental science , geography , biology , database , archaeology
Among farmers the impression is general that the potato crop is a good one after which to sow wheat. The explanation of this belief has been for years, and still is., a topic for lively debate among wheat growers. In the consideration of this or any similar question, it is in order first to inquire if the notion is .true; and if it be true, then secondly, to ask to what cause it may be due. So far as the writers are aware, this feeling among farmers is based, not on experimental evidence, but rather, upon the accumulated observation and experience of multitudes of farmers extending back through the years. Usually when an outstanding yield of wheat is reported, it is found to have been grown after potatoes. The most noteworthy instance of this kind of which the writers have knowledge is one reported by the United States l~ureau .af Crop Estimates (5). According to this Bureau, the highe~ yield of wheat, so far as it has ever been able to -ascertain, is one obtained in 189~ in island County, Washington. It was grown in an 18-acre field and the average yield per acre by weight was ~ ~7.2 bushels. The wheat, according to this report, had been preceded bE three crops of potatoes. Moreover, there is some experimental evidence which indicates that the farmers are correct in their opinion. For example, on the farm of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, some 6oo plots have been used in the production of wheat for more than a quarter of a century. These plots embrace many different rotations, and among them is one in which wheat follows potatoes, the rotation being potatoes, wheat and ~lover. In this series of plots, the more liberally fertilized ones have a higher quarter-of-a-century average yield of wheat than have those included in any other rot.ation on the farm. Moreover, it is believed by former Director Chas. E. Thorne that the most productive plot in the series, Plot ~4, has the highest long-time average yield of wheat recorded anywhere in the world.