Advances in agronomy volume 10

jr

u<

OU_1 58850
CO



OSMANIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

H *** *

Call No.

i 5*/

Author

W CT>VUll^

r"

Ie

^

Accession

6y

NX

3 t) fl

.

w

This book should be returned on or befbr Ahe date

last

V. 16.
.
marked betow.



ADVANCES

IN

AGRONOMY

VOLUME X



ADVANCES

IN

AGRONOMY
Prepared under the Auspices of

tlie

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGRONOMY

VOLUME x
Edited by A.

(i.

University of MicJiigan,

NORMAN

Ann

Arbor, Michigan

ADVISORY BOARD
J.

E.

DAWSON

H.

f.

E.

GIESEKING

K.

W.

P.

MARTIN
II.

W. PEARSON
W. S1MONSON

C. F.

M.

SPRAGUE

TYSDAL

1958

ACADEMIC PRESS INC PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK


Copyright

1958 by Academic Press

Inc.

ALL HIGHIS RESERVED

NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM,
BY PHOTOSTAT, MICROFILM, OR ANY OTHER MEANS,
WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHERS

ACADEMIC PRESS I\C
111 FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORK

library of

Crm^rm

I'RINlfcl) IN

3,

N.

^

Catalog Card Number- 50-5598

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME

W.

X

GHEPIL, Soil Scientist, Western Soil and Water Management Branch,
United States Department of Agriculture, Kansas State College, Man-

S.

hattan, Kansas.

N. T. COLEMAN, Professor of

Soils,

North Carolina State College, Raleigh,

North Carolina.
C.

M. DONALD, Head, Department

of

Agronomy, Waite Agricultural

Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia.

GEORGE H. DUNCAN, Professor Emeritus, Department

of

Agronomy, Uni-

of

Agronomy and

versity df Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.

LEONARD
Soils,

E. ENSMINGER, Soil Chemist,

Alabama

Department

Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama.

A. L. HAFENRICIITER, Plant Materials Technician (West), Soil Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Portland,

Oregon.
II.

and Requirements Section,
and Water Management Research Branch, Agricultural
Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Fort

R. HAISE, Acting Head, Irrigation Practices

Western

Soil

Collins, Colorado.

JACK R. HARLAN, Geneticist, Agricultural Research Service, United States

Department

of Agriculture,
State University, Stillwatcr,

and Professor
Oklahoma.

of

Agronomy, Oklahoma

E. G. HEYNE, Professor of Agronomy, Kansas State College, Manhattan,
Kansas.
J.

G. HIDE, Professor of Soils, Department of
tana State College, Bozeman, Montana.

Agronomy and

Soils,

Mon-

HOWARD

V. JORDAN, Soil Scientist, Eastern Soil and Water Management
Research Branch, Agricultural Research Service, United States De-

partment of Agriculture, State College, Mississippi.
E.

KAMPRATH, Director, Soil Testing Division, North Carolina Stale
College, Raleigh, North Carolina.

J.


CONTRIBUTORS TO VOLUME X

Vi

KNOWLES, Associate Professor

P. F.

of

Agronomy, University

of California,

Davis, California.
A. L. LANG, Professor of Soil Fertility, Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois,

Urbana,

Illinois.

M. M. MORTLAND, Associate Professor

in Soil Science,

Michigan State

University, East Lansing, Michigan.

WERNER

L. NELSON,

corporated,

West

Midwest Manager, American Potash

Institute In-

Lafayette, Indiana.

R. V. OLSON, Head, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State College,
Manhattan, Kansas.
J.

W. PENDLETON,
Urbana,

Assistant Professor of

Agronomy, University

of Illinois,

Illinois.

H, F. RHOADES, Professor of Agronomy, Soils Division, The University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
H. A. RODENHISER, Assistant Administrator, Agricultural Research Service,
United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

STAKMAN, Collaborator, Plant Pest Control Division, Agricultural
Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, and Special Consultant for Agriculture for the Rockefeller Foundation. De-

E. C.

partment of Plant Pathology and Botany, University of Minnesota,
St.

Paul, Minnesota.

GEORGE STANFORD,

Chief, Soils and Fertilizer Research Branch, Division
of Agricultural Relations, Tennessee Valley Authority, Wikon Dam,

Alabama.
C. G. STEPHENS, Head, Soil Survey and Pedology Section, Division of
Soils,

Commonwealth

tion, Adelaide,
S.

Scientific

and

Industrial Research Organiza-

South Australia.

WEED, Assistant Professor of Soils, North Carolina State College,
Raleigh, North Carolina.

B.

LEROY H. ZIMMERMAN, Research Agronomist, Agricultural Research
Service, Field Crops Research Branch, United States Department of
Agriculture, and University of California Experiment Station, Davis,
California.


PREFACE
the tenth volume of the series. It

is with feelings of both surthis
Preface
that
isprepared; surprise at the rapid
prise
gratification
passage of years, and gratification that this venture has found wide acceptance. The Editor is much indebted to the many able investigators who

This

is

and

have been willing readily to prepare authoritative reviews of their fields
of interest. Such reviews do indeed advance the whole profession. Ninety
topics have been dealt with in the ten volumes, with little repetition or

From time

to time it is anticipated that there will be desome of the topics treated earlier in order to bring to
the reader an account and evaluation of recent activities. To a degree the
chapter by Nelson and Stanford is of this nature and supplements the
information on fertilizers and fertilizer practices presented by Jones and
Rogers in Volume I.

overlapping.

liberate return to

Perhaps it is also appropriate to repeat that in selecting topics for
review, and in discussing with authors the scope of their contributions,
the interactions and interdependence of crops and soils are always
stressed. In the Preface to Volume I it was further stated that "the edi-

what constitutes agronomy is catholic; they will be
guided in their choice more by what information may be of use to agronomists than by what constitutes agronomy." An example might well be the
fascinating account by Stakman and Rodenhiser of the appearance and
spread of race 15B of wheat stem rust.
In this issue also there is continued the policy of including material
dealing with regional agriculture. There are few areas that present a
greater diversity of agronomic problems than the Great Plains. Olson and
his colleagues have discussed these comprehensively.

Another feature of this series has been the inclusion from time to time
tors' definition of

of longer articles in the general field of soil classification and morphology.
Stephens and Donald have prepared an account of the soils of Australia

and have gone further than the authors of some other papers of this type
by discussing crop responses to major and minor fertilizer elements which
have been spectacular because of the unique character of certain deficiencies therein.

Ann

A. G.

Arbor, Michigan
November, 1958
vii

NORMAN



CONTENTS
Page
Contributors to

Volume

X

v

Preface

vii

AGRONOMIC TRENDS AND PROBLEMS
GREAT PLAINS

IN THE

COORDINATED BY R. V. OLSON
I.

The Great

Plains Area

by R. V. OLSON

3

Field Crops by E. G. HEYNE
III. Pasture and Range Crops by JACK R. HARLAN
IV. Soil Moisture Conservation by J. C. HIDE

8

II.

V. Soil Fertility Problems by H. F.
VI. Irrigation by H. R. HAISE
VII. Wind Erosion Problems by

W.

15

23
36
47
56
62

RHOADES

S.

CHEPIL

References

CHANGING CONCEPTS OF PLANT NUTRIENT
BEHAVIOR AND FERTILIZER USE
BY WERNER
I.

II.

III.

L.

NELSON AND GEORGE STANFORD
68
73
77
91
100
120
123
130
133
135
136

Introduction

Diagnostic Techniques as a Guide
Sources of Nutrients

IV. Fertilizer Placement

V.
VI.

Time of Application and Residual Value
Lime Level and Response to Fertilizers

of Fertilizers

and Fertility
Grower Demands
IX. Economics of Fertilizer Use

VII. Moisture
VIII.

X. In the Future

References

RACE 15B OF WHEAT STEM RUST

AND WHAT
BY
I.

II.

III.

IV.

Why

Race 15B

Is

E. C.

IT

WHAT

IT IS

MEANS

STAKMAN AND H.

A. RODENHISKH

Notorious

The History of Race 15
The Early History of 15B
The Prevalence of Race 15 and 15B, 1918-1949

143
144

145
146


CONTENTS

X

V The
VI.
VII.

The
The

Explosive Spread and Establishment of Race 15B in 1950-1951
Percentage Prevalence of 15B in the United States, 1950-1956
Scientific

and

15B
Wheats

Practical Importance of

VIII. Vicissitudes in Breeding Rust Resistant

in the Past

IX The Stem-Rust-Free Era in Spring Wheat, 1938-1949
X. The Virulence of 15B for Previously Resistant Varieties
XL Problems in Breeding for Resistance to 15B
XII. Increased Complexity in Physiologic Races of Wheat Stem Rust Since
1950
Race 7 of Oat Stem Rust Also Explodes in 1950
XIV. Shifting Populations of Physiologic Races of Other Pathogens, Especially

Crown Rust of Oats
XV. A Three-Pronged Attack on 15B and Other Virulent Races of Ccieal Rust
XVI Conclusion
XIII.

References

Page
146
148
148
149
151
152
154

157
158
159
160

163
164

AUSTRALIAN SOILS AND THEIR
RESPONSES TO FERTILIZERS
BY C. C SIEPHENS AND C. M. DONAID
I
II.

III.

Introduction

The Climate and Land Use of Australia
The Australian Soil Landscape

IV. History of Fertilizer

Use

in Australia

V. Phosphorus and Nitrogen Deficiencies
VI. Deficiencies of Other Major Elements
Element Deficiencies

VII. Trace

VIII. Conclusion

Acknowledgments
Appendix
References

168
169
173

200

205
216
227
250
251
252
253

CASTORBEANS: A NEW OIL CROP
FOR MECHANIZED PRODUCTION
BY LEROY II. ZIMMERMAN
I.

II.

III.

258
261
271
275

Introduction

Botany
Breeding

IV. Production

V. Future for Castorbeans

286
287

References

SAFFLOWER
BY
I.

II.

Introduction
Distribution

P. F.

KNOWLES
290
290


CONTENTS

III.

Adaptation

IV.

Botany and Inheritance

XI

Page
293
296
303
307
310
321
322

V. Cyto-taxonomy
VI. Utilization
VII.

Improvement

VIII. Conclusions

References

REACTIONS OF AMMONIA

IN SOILS

BY M. M. MORTLAND
I.

II.

III.

325
326
327
335
336
342
345
346

Introduction

Mechanisms of Ammonia Sorption
Reactions of

Ammonia

with Soil Constituents

IV. Nonbiological Oxidation of Ammonia
V. Factors Affecting Sorption and Loss in the Soil
VI. Effects of
VII.

Ammonia on

Soil Properties

and Organisms

Summary
References

NEW

GRASSES AND LEGUMES FOR
AND WATER CONSERVATION
BY

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

A. L.

11

SOIL

\FENRICHTER

350
356
363
370
387

Introduction

The
The
The
The

Northeastern Region
Southeastern Region

Great Plains Region

Western Region

401

References

THE ROLE OF SULFUR IN SOIL FERTILITY
BY HOWARD
I.

II.

III.

V.

JORDAN AND L. E. ENSMINGER

Introduction

Role of Sulfur in Plant Metabolism

Crop Requirements

for

Sulfur

IV. Sources of Sulfur for Plants

V. Removal of Sulfur from Soils
VI.
VII.
VIII.

IX.

The

Sulfur Cycle

Crop Responses to Applied Sulfur

New Developments May Change the Supply-Requirement Balance

Summary
References

408
408
413
415
421
423
424
430
431
432


CONTENTS

Xll

CORN PLANT POPULATION
TO
BY G. H. DUNCAN,

IN RELATION

SOIL PRODUCTIVITY
A. L. LANG,

AND

J.

W. PENDLETON
Page

I.

Introduction

Response of the Coin Plant to a High Level of Soil Productivity
III. Plants Gain in Grain-Producing Efficiency as Population Increases
IV. Populations Which Give Maximum Grain Production on Soils of High
II.

Productivity
V. Fertilizing the Soil to Support a High Corn-Plant Population
VI. Changes in Plant Characters Associated with Higher Population Rates
.

.

VII. Distribution of Plants

VIII. Other Factors Affecting Optimum Plant Population
IX. Formulas for Determining the Correct Plant Population

X. Discussion

References

436
436
440
443
446
451
458
465
468
469
47 1

LIMING
BY N.
I.

T.

COLEMAN,

E.

J.

KAMPRAIH, AND

Introduction

Principles Relating to
III. Liming Practices
II.

References

Author Index
Subject Index

Liming

Soils

S. B.

WEED
475
476
510
517
523
540


AGRONOMIC TRENDS AND PROBLEMS
IN

THE GREAT PLAINS

Coordinated by

R.

V. Olson

Department of Agronomy, Kansas State College,
Manhattan, Kansas

Contents

Page
I.

The Great

Plains Area

A. Introduction
B. Climate

II

III.

OLSON

by R. V.

3

....

.6
.7

C. Soils
Field Crops by E. C. HEYNE
A. Field Crops of the Region
B.

Sorghums

C.

Wheat

.14

.

A. Present Situation

...
...
Revegetation
and
...
Recent Developments
Range Condition

H.

Fertilizing Native

2.

Irrigated Pastures

3.

4.

Supplemental Crops
Weed and Brush Control

5.

New

Range
.

.

.

.

2.

.

5.

The

6.

.

.

The Utilization of Forage by Ruminants
The Revegetation of Degraded Rangelands

4.

.20
20
.21
.21
.21
21
.22
.

....

Control of Woody Plants
Grass Seed Production

3.

.

.

.

.22

.

...
Grass Seeds
Getting Stands ...

Properties of
Better Ways of

.

Breeding Behavior of Range Grasses
Breeding and Improvement of Grasses
IV. Soil Moisture Conservation by J. C. HIDE
7.

.

.

.

A. Introduction

and Practices

for Moisture Conservation

Efficiency of Summer-Fallow
2. Rainfall Characteristics
1.

4.
5.

Deep

6.

Use of Water

7.

Runoff Control

Percolation

.

.

for Transpiration

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

...
.

....

Stored Moisture and Crop Yields
Weed Control

3.

22

.22
23
.23
.23

8.

B. Present Situation

20

.

.

C. Research Problems
1.

.19

.

.

19

1.

Varieties

.17
.18

.

Practices

15
15

...

.

2.

3. Attitudes

.11
.13

.

.

D. Present Problems, and Future Possibilities
Pasture and Range Crops by JACK R. HARLAN
1.

8

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

24
24
24

.25
.26
26
.26
.

26

2

R.
8.

V.

OLSON

Water Erosion

9.

Evaporation
C. Recent Developments for Moisture Conservation
1.

Climatic Factors

2.

3.

Trash Cover
Plant Stand

.

.

.

4.

Fertilizers

.

.

.

5.

Crop Sequence

.

.

.

.

...

.

.

D. Research Problems
1.

Inducing Rainfall

2.

Dew

3.

.

4.

Evaporation
Instrumentation

5.

Runoff

6.

Snow

7.

Plant

.

Plant Breeding
Fertilizers

...

Equipment
Problems by H. F.

.

.

.

.

.

.

...

10. Tillage

.34
.35
.35
.35

35
.35

.

Growth Pattern

8.

.

.

...

.

....

.

.

.

9.

.

.

.

....

...
...

.

2.

Losses from Dryland Soils
Losses from Irrigated Soils

B. Phosphorus Status of Great Plains Soils
1. Relation to Kind of Soil
2.

36
36

RHOADES

V. Soil Fertility
A. Nitrogen Status of Great Plains Soils
1.

27
27

28
29
31
32
33
33
33
34
34

Relation to Past Cropping and Fertilizer Practices

C. Potassium Status of Great Plains Soils

D. Status of Other Nutrient Elements in Great Plains

Soils

.

.

....

36
37
38
39
39
39

40
41

E. Response of Non-legume Crops to Green Manures and Alfalfa in the

42
42
43
43
43
44

Cropping System
Crop Response to Barnyard Manure
G. Crop Response to Commercial Fertilizers
F.

1.

2.

Row

Crops
Small Grains

3. Alfalfa

and Grasses

H. Factors Influencing the Response of Great Plains Crops to Nitrogen
and Phosphorus Fertilizers
I. Use of Fertilizers in the Great Plains States
J. Research Needs
VI. Irrigation by H. R. HAISE
A. Trends in Irrigated Acreage and Proportion of Crop Value
B. Comparative Yields of Dryland and Irrigated Crops in the Great

....

...

Plains

C. Irrigation Water Supply

...

D. Method of Irrigation
E. Soils Problems Associated with Land Leveling
F. Consumptive Use
G. Research Problems
VII. Wind Erosion Problems by W. S. CIIEPIL
A. Present Situation and Practices

44

.46
.46
47

48
50
51

53
54
56
57


TRENDS AND PROBLEMS IN THE GREAT PLAINS
B. Recent

D. Conclusions
References

59

Developments

C. Research Problems

.

.

.

.

.

I.

O

.....

61
62
62

The Great Plains Area

R.

V. Olson

Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kansas

A. INTRODUCTION

The Great

Plains of the United States constitute a large segment of

nearly level to gently rolling land interspersed with some rough drainageways and some sand dunes. The area extends through the center of the
nation from the Canadian border to southern Texas. It is bounded on the

west by the Rocky Mountain watershed divide and includes a large portion
of ten states. The exact eastern boundary of the Great Plains is not well
defined and has been delineated in various ways. In general, this boundary approximately corresponds to the zone separating the true prairie,

dominated by tall and mid grasses, from the mixed prairie of short and
grasses, and separating soils which have a zone of lime accumulation
from those which do not. The area currently recognized by the U.S. De1
partment of Agriculture to be the Great Plains area is indicated in Fig. 1.
It is this area to which the discussions in this chapter pertain.
The Great Plains area provides a tremendous force in American agriculture. The ten states in which the Great Plains lie contain about 37 per
cent of the nation's land area and 40 per cent of its cropland. Normally
these states produce about 60 per cent of our wheat and 35 per cent of

mid

our

cattle.

its settlement by adventurous easterners, for the most part less
than one-hundred years ago, the Great Plains area has been confronted
with many agricultural and economic problems. These problems have
stemmed primarily from periods of drought, intense winds, low prices,
and overproduction, interspersed with periods of favorable climate, high

Since

prices, and national or international food shortages. As a result of these
factors there have been many fluctuations in farm income, land use, land

tenure, land prices, rural

and urban population, and general economic well

being.

During periods of favorable weather conditions there has been a tendency for new land to be plowed from its native grass. Throckmorton
(

1955) has estimated that almost nine million acres of grassland and other
1

U.S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Publ. 709, 1956.


R. V.

OLSON

FIG. 1. The Great Plains area with normal annual precipitation in inches
1950) and average annual temperatures ( F., 1899-1938),

(

1921-

stabilized land were broken for cultivation in the Great Plains during the
period 1944 through 1955. Almost an equal acreage of land was returned
to grass during this period. The estimates show a direct relationship be-

tween weather conditions and changes

in grassland acreages.

in 1948, a favorable year, over twice as

much

For instance,

land was broken as was re-

vegetated. In 1955, a drought year, only about 300,000 acres were broken
while about 650,000 were revegetated either by reseeding or by natural
revegetation.

Great Plains there was an influx of
Farmers and investors accustomed to more
humid conditions placed a high value on land, which caused high land
prices and many non-resident or "suitcase" farmers. In less favorable pe-

During the

earlier history of the

settlers in favorable years.


TRENDS AND PROBLEMS IN THE GREAT PLAINS
riods there

was an exodus of people which resulted

in land

5

abandonment.

The only people who remained were those who had developed stable systems of farm and ranch management or those who were financially unable
move.
For the past twenty years many efforts have been made to stabilize
agricultural and economic conditions. Various governmental programs
have been established and agricultural research has been intensified. In
1935 the Great Plains Agricultural Council was established, initially involving only the southern Great Plains. This council meets at least once
to

annually and is composed of representatives of all state and national agricultural agencies of the area. The Great Plains Agricultural Council has
been responsible for many studies and reports on Great Plains problems
and has been instrumental in promoting agricultural adjustments, research,

and governmental action programs.

The impact
ginning to be

of efforts to stabilize conditions in the Great Plains

felt in

many ways. The

best illustration of this fact

is

be-

lies in

the

comparative economic and social effects of the droughts of the 1930's and
the 1950's. While the latter drought did not affect as large an area as the
former, in many areas it was more severe. Yet, partly because of agricultural research and education, and partly, no doubt, because of governmental programs and favorable economic conditions in the nation generally, the effects of the drought of the 1950's have not been nearly as

severe as those of the 1930's.

To many,

the solution to the problems of the Great Plains has seemed

to return all the land to grass and to convert fully to a range agriculture. To the wheat farmer, however, who owns a large acreage of level,
fertile land capable of producing yields of 40 to 45 bushels per acre in
to

be

exceptionally favorable years the solution seems quite different. This
much of the land in the Great Plains is better suited for

farmer feels that

wheat production than any other area of the United States and that unlimited production should be permitted in the years that are favorable for
crop growth. Undoubtedly many cultivated areas of the Great Plains
should be revegetated in the best interests of all concerned. It also seems
is a permanent place for the grain and livestock
a careful manager and who will build up reserves in good
years to carry him over the unfavorable seasons.
The problems mentioned above indicate the great need for agricul-

likely,

farmer

however, that there

who

is

tural research in the Great Plains area.

The challenge

is

especially great

agronomy since the problems are so closely related to the

production of cultivated and range crops. In the later sections of this chapter the authors point out specific agronomic problems and the present
in the field of

status of research

on these problems.


6

R. V.

B.

OLSON

CLIMATE

The average annual temperature and normal amount of precipitation
shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that tempera-

for the Great Plains area are

tures increase steadily
cast to west.
fall is

Of

from north

to south

and

rainfall decreases

particular significance to agriculture

is

from

the fact that rain-

low throughout the Plains. Thorn thwaite ( 1941 ) classifies the eastern
subhumid climatic type and the

part of this area as normally having a dry
western portion as being semiarid.

Because of variations in the movement of moist or dry and hot or cold
masses over the region, the Great Plains area is subject to extreme climatic variations. These are even more detrimental to agriculture than the
low average rainfall. Tropical air masses, which normally flow northward
over the Plains and meet cold air masses, usually come from the dry plaair

teau of Mexico and result in little precipitation. Occasionally, however,
moist air from the Gulf of Mexico swerves westward from its usual northeastern path, resulting in heavy precipitation in the Plains. According to
Thorn thwaite (1941) severe rainstorms anywhere in the Plains may bring
as much as a third of the average annual precipitation in a single day or

a fifth in a single hour. On the other hand, periods as long as 120 days may
occur during which no rain falls. Hailstorms are also common during the
summer months. Precipitation throughout the area is greatest in spring

and early summer and least in winter.
Extreme variations in annual precipitation occur tliroughout the area.
Palmer (1957) has classified the year-by-year climate for 60 stations in
the Great Plains over a forty-year period according to climatic types. Data
for five representative locations are shown in Table I. These data illustrate
the great variability of climatic conditions. At each location the rainfall
surpasses that of a semiarid climate frequently enough to encourage the
development of a cultivated agriculture. Ensuing periods of semiarid or
arid climate may prove disastrous to agricultural endeavors.
Even a brief discussion of the climate of the Great Plains would not be
complete without mentioning wind movements which hasten evapo-transpiration and cause soil erosion. Zingg (1950, 1953) has studied wind records in the central Great Plains. Average wind velocities are considerably
greater in the Plains than in the area to the east. In Kansas, for instance,
wind velocities are almost twice as great in the western portion of the
state as in the eastern portion. In the central Plains the greatest wind
velocities usually occur in April, which has an average wind velocity of
about 8.5 miles per hour at a 2-foot height. Velocities of 28 miles per

hour for a duration of one hour may be expected every two years and
velocities of 43 miles per hour for a duration of one hour may be expected


TRENDS AND PROBLEMS IN THE GREAT PLAINS

TABLE

I

Climatic Variability at Five Locations

m the Great Plains'

1

Per cent of years having indicated climatic type

Data from Palmer

(1957).

The

level of atmospheric wind movement tends to be
higher during periods of drought than during periods of favorable pre-

every

fifty years.

cipitation.

C. SOILS

The eastern edge of the Great Plains region as defined in Fig. 1 closely
corresponds in the northern portion to the eastern edge of the Chestnut
soils. In the central Plains it follows the boundary between the Prairie

(Brunizem)

soils

and the Chernozem

soils.

In the South this line follows

the eastern edge of the Reddish Chestnut soils. The western portion of
the Great Plains region, where lower rainfall conditions exist, has Brown

occupying most of the area with Reddish Brown soils occurring in
Texas and the southern part of New Mexico. All of the zonal soils of the
region thus have developed under low rainfall conditions and have a calcium carbonate accumulation zone at some point in the soil profile. In
general this zone is formed closer to the surface as the climate becomes
soils

drier.

In fact,

soils in

the extreme western portion

may have

calcareous

surface horizons.

In addition to the zonal
exist

soils,

throughout the region.

several azonal

Wide

and intrazonal

soil

groups

belts of alluvial soils occur along the

and Arkansas River systems. Saline and sodic
and dry sands also are present in various sections.
of the Great Plains have developed from a variety of parent

Missouri, Platte, Kansas,
(alkali) soils, lithosols

The

soils

present beneath soils in parts of the three northern
Loess deposits are widespread throughout the Great
Plains and provide the parent material for many of the soils. Calcareous

materials. Glacial

till is

states of the region.

clays, lacustrine deposits, neolian sands, alluvium, clay shales, limestones,


8

E. G.

HEYNE

and sandstones form parent materials for soils in various places, Thorp
et al. (1949) have discussed the parent materials and soils of the northern
Great Plains in more detail and North Central Regional Publication 76
soils in the four Great Plains states in that region.
of
desirability
basing land-use adjustments in the Great Plains on
soil characteristics has been widely accepted. Lack of adequate soil survey

(1958) describes the

The

information has hindered this practice. As of January

1,

1957, there

were

only 18 counties in the Great Plains area with completed recent standard
soil surveys. As a step in hastening the completion of soil surveys the U.S.
of Agriculture in 1956 began accelerating its soil survey acover the southern half of the Great Plains where the most critical

Department
tivities

wind erosion conditions

existed in 1954

and 1955.

Because of the nearly level to gently rolling topography of the Great
Plains much of the region is easily cultivated and well adapted to largescale farming. Although several large areas of soils with sandy surfaces
exist, the greatest portion of the Plains has surface soils of finer textures
that are less subject to wind erosion. Soils are generally uniform and large

fields may have only one or two soil types present. Data taken from the

1954 Census of Agriculture show that 83.2 per cent of the land of the enten states in which the Great Plains arc located is in farms. Of the

tire

more than 588 million acres in farms 30.8 per cent is cropland, 62.8 per cent
is pasture, and 6.4 per cent is woodland. Comparable figures for the Great
Plains area only have not been compiled but, if available, would probably
show a higher portion of the land as cropland since most areas west of the
Plains are either mountainous or have drier climates and are used as range
land.

II.

E.

Field

Crops

G. Heyne

Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kansas

A. FlKLD CROPS OF

THE REGION

The quest for gold in the sixteenth century brought Coronado into the

Southern Great Plains. This "gold" was discovered in the form of the field
crops of the Great Plains in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It can
be mined every year, generally in profitable quantities, and should be
available for many years to come, providing adequate soil management is
practiced. Economic utilization of farm lands in the Great Plains has con-

tinued because of parallel progress in better soil management, improved
farm machinery, and use of adapted and improved field crops. Each of


TRENDS AND PROBLEMS IN THE GREAT PLAINS
these three subjects

farming in

is

this region

9

an interesting development as pertaining to modern
but only a few comments will be made on the latter

subject.
All the field crops that

have been grown or now are being produced

in

the Great Plains are plant introductions. Most of the area was originally
covered with tall grasses in the east which give place to short grasses in
the west.

Much

of the lands

which had

soil of

reasonable depth and were

We

are aware that too much
not too sandy have been turned by the plow.
from
the
native
land
been
broken
has
vegetation. However, many
marginal
of these areas have proved suitable for the production of drought-resistant

wheat and sorghum. These are grown annually in the more
and alternated with fallow in the drier and marginal areas.
are "gold," as exemplified by ripening wheat fields.

crops, such as

humid

area,

They truly
Some of these imported crops grown
corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye,

broomcorn), the

sorghum

(

in the

Great Plains include cotton,

including grain, forage, grass and

millets, alfalfa, swcetclover, field

peas and beans, cow-

peas, vetch, sugarbeets, potatoes, sunflowers, castorbeans, and safflowers.
Wheat is grown throughout the entire region; cotton and sorghum predominate on the Caprock area of Texas in the south, sorghum and wheat in the
area immediately north, corn and wheat in the central portion, and wheat
and flax are perhaps the more important crops in the north. At one time

northwestern Kansas was the largest export center of corn in that state and
the nearby areas of northeastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska
were large producing centers. Corn now has found its place largely in cen-

Nebraska, especially under irrigation, and is grown as far north as
Montana. Sugarbeets thrive under irrigation in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas. Alfalfa does well throughout the region on
both dry land and under irrigation and in years of favorable weather conditions, large quantities of seed are harvested in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
College text books on field crops (Martin and Leonard, 1949) give
more information than adequately can be presented in this discussion. The
ten Great Plains states have an abundance of cultivated acres and produce
a large volume of cereals, hay, seeds, sugar, and fiber annually. Percentage
of United States acreage and production of some of the important field
crops of the ten states in which the Great Plains are located are given in
Table II. In the ten-year period 1945-1954, over half of the nation's wheat,
sorghum, and flax and about one-third or more of the alfalfa seed, cotton,
barley and sugarbeets were produced in this region. Acre yields were
lower than the United States average as can be observed in comparing the
percentage of United States acreage with the percentage of production. In
all cases the acreage percentage is higher than production percentage. This
tral