The plots were divided in the summer of 1899, and yields were taken separately from the north and south halves to allow measurement of soil variability.

Before the construction of the dormitory, university officials dispatched workers to carefully move the surface and immediate subsurface soils from six of the ten main plots to a location about one mile west on the OSU agronomy farm.

The subsurface soil from 8 to 16 inches was excavated and transferred to prepared trenches dug in a east-west direction on the agronomy farm".

From 1978 to 1987, this was the last period where moderate increases in grain yield were observed as a result of applying on P versus the check.

Despite the decline in soil organic matter from 4 to 1% grain yields in the check continue to show slight increases, probably due to improved genetics.