Winter Grain in South Dakota

Winter grain, both wheat and rye, have certain apparent advantages over spring grain. These are as follows: 1. They permit division of labor both seeding and harvest. 2. They ripen early and frequently evade drough [sic] hail storms and plant diseases. 3. Under favorable conditions the winter grain out yields spring grain of the same type. Since winter grain possesses these advantages over spring grain it would seem strange at first thought that winter grain is not more generally grown in South Dakota. Upon careful consideration it will be seen that owing to the very fact that winter grain is winter grain, that is, that it must live thru a winter before it can produce a crop, there are certain disadvantages that must be overcome if success is to be attained in the production of these crops. The disadvantages may be listed as follows : 1. There is not always sufficient moisture in the fall to germinate the seed on ordinary stubble or fall plowed land. 2. Blowing soil, snow and ice particles may injure the crowns of the plants and thus destroy them. 3. Rabbits may destroy part or all of the crop in thinly settled sections of the state. 4. An ice sheet or alternate freezing and thawing may destroy the crop, particularly in poorly drained land.