Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-03-07

Inc trouble with Our wheat.
As the Prairie Farmer is ALWAYS In
terested in the subject of wheat-raising,
/ will give its readers some of my ex-
perlence in raising this crop, which dates
back forty-seven wears. Our country
was then comparatively new, and we
had no trouble in raising thirty-five and
forty bushels to the acre; indeed, this
was considered the average crop, though
some farmers raised as high as fifty
bushels and over to the acre. One easel
will mention, that of Reuben Flag,
Esq, of Plainfield. The land where his
crop was raised was rather low and wet
until drained, and before it was plowed
produced large crop of hay. Why l
am so particular in describing the loca-
ton and condition of the land where this
crop OF wheat was raised is, that it goes
far to prove my theory correct, and if
correct there is no reason why we should
not raise equally as large crops now as
we did then.
This was the first crop after breaking
up. Previous to this the tall grass had
been burnt and the ashes leached on the
ground, forming an alkali that had PEN
etrated to quite depth, and for many
years bountiful crops of all kinds were
raised on this ground. But now one
can not be sure of ten bushels of wheat
per acre on this same ground, although
1t has had the benefit. of the barn-yard
fertilizer freely applied.
will here state that / sowed, in the
fan OF 1845, eleven acres of wheat on
ground that had but one crop of sod corn
upon it after breaking up; this yielded
forty-three bushels to the acre, and up
to this time it has been our custom to
burn our straw on the ground. We
were not troubled with worms, weevils
or bugs. You ask why? l answer be-
cause everything grown Was SO impreg-
mated with alkali that insects could not
! live
When the burning over of our prai-
ries, as well as the burning of our straw,
had become thing of the past, then
our crops commenced to fail. We be-
| gan TO increase the stock on our farms,
carefully saving all droppihgs, thor
oughly cleansing our barn-yardS once
a year, and spreading the manure thus
collected upon our land. This increased
the crop of straw materially. but the
berry failed rapidly; insects of all de-
scriptions male their appearance,
claiming their share of the little that
was raised. The correctness of these
statements can be testified to by all the
early settlers, farmers, mean.
! Now for the remedy: Let us bring
! lack our land to the condition we
found it in when we raised large crops,
and free from insects. | would not
have you burn your straw, as we need
that for paper, and also for feed.
Neither could we burn our hay land,
but let us replenish this alkali by lib
eral use of Guick-lime, say four barrels
TO the acre. Sixteen years ago | be-
came so convinced of the practical use
of lime that ! made this offer to all par
ties who would comply with my propo-
sition, to-wit: L would furnish five hum
dreG barrels of lime, no one person to
have over twenty barrels, this to be
sown on folr acres of land and sown to
wheat, with an equal amount of land
sown to wheat that was not lined. In
| pay for which they were to give me one
dollar barrel in one year, or what sur
! plus wheat they raised on the land that
was lined over that which was not
| lined.
But one farmer took advantage of this
ofler-a German living near Wheaton.
He came and got eight barrels of lime;
he sowed that on two acres of land, and
sowed it 10 wheat. At the same time
he also sowed two acres that was not
lined. He told me there was no differ
ence at all in the land-as the four acres
were broken in one year and on one
| piece OF ground, and had been cropped
every year with the same kind OF crop.
! Hn maid p,o for bo linn Hoforo No bo
vested his crop, but gave me the state
ment of it alter he had thrashed his
wheat. He had twenty two bushels and
three pecks of No. l wheat 10 the acre
where the lime was sown. and where
the lime was not used, only between
twelve and thirteen bushels to the acre
and that of an inferior quality. Where
lime was used it was fully two weeks
earlier. Had not the German moved to
Minnesota he would have taken one
hundred barrels the next year.
i have tried lime on corn with re.
markable success, and believe that il
proFusely used, it will save our potato
crop from the bug. We must use
enough to thoroughly impregnate the
| vines.
This is the way would dry slake the
lime: For one acre, take four barrels
of quick lime, wetting with, say ten
pals of water; cover with earth so as to
retain the heat and steam; do not leave
it until it is through steaming and
cracking; keep constantly patting the
earth down as it crac-j, and sow as you
would grain, in grain drill. if you
have One-or it can be thrown quite
evenly with a shovel from wagon.
For top dressing for tame meadow.
use two barrels of lime TO the acre; SOW
it as you would for wheat, and run over
the ground with light harrow, t.
break the grass roots. This does t.
grass what judicious pruning does t.
currant bushes. Where this has beer
tried the result has been satisfactory.
| Eot. D,usrio E01a,,ar