The first plowing was given the farm in May of 1887, and, with the exception of 1902, the land was invariably plowed in the spring.  With fall plowing the yields would undoubtedly have been better.  The first sowing was made in the fall of 1887, and fall grain was grown during the whole period of observation.  The seed sown in the fall of 1887 came up well, but was winter-killed.  This is ascribed by Senator Barnes to the very dry winter, though it is probable that the soil was not sufficiently well stored with moisture to carry the crop through.  The farm was plowed again in the spring of 1888, and another crop sown in September of the same year.  In the summer of 1889, 22-1/2 bushels of wheat were harvested to the acre.  Encouraged by this good crop Mr. Barnes allowed a volunteer crop to grow that fall and the next summer harvested as a result 15-1/2 bushels of wheat to the acre.  The table shows that only one crop smaller than this was harvested during the whole period of nineteen years, namely, in 1903, when the same thing was done, and one crop was made to follow another without an intervening fallow period.  This observation is an evidence in favor of clean summer fallowing.  The largest crop obtained, 28.9 bushels per acre in 1902, was gathered in a year when the next to the lowest rainfall of the whole period occurred, namely, 11.41 inches.

The precipitation varied during the nineteen years from 10.33 inches to 18.46 inches.  The variation in yield per acre was considerably less than this, not counting the two crops that were grown immediately after another crop.  All in all, the unique record of the Barnes dry-farm shows that through a period of nineteen years, including dry and comparatively wet years, there was absolutely no sign of failure, except in the first year, when probably the soil had not been put in proper condition to support crops.  In passing it maybe mentioned that, according to the records furnished by Senator Barnes, the total cost of operating the farm during the nineteen years was $4887.69; the total income was $10,144.83.  The difference, $5257.14, is a very fair profit on the investment of $1800—­the original cost of the farm.

The Indian Head farm

An equally instructive record is furnished by the experimental farm located at Indian Head in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the northern part of the Great Plains area.  According to Alway, the country is in appearance very much like western Nebraska and Kansas; the climate is distinctly arid, and the precipitation comes mainly in the spring and summer.  It is the only experimental dry-farm in the Great Plains area with records that go back before the dry years of the early ’90’s.  In 1882 the soil of this farm was broken, and it was farmed continuously until 1888, when it was made an experimental farm under government supervision.  The following table shows the yields obtained from the year 1891, when the precipitation records were first kept, to 1909:—­