Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-07-18
INCREASING GRAIN CROPS.
Drain the Wet Places ON Your Farm and
Mamma the pAnr lnea-

Drain the Wet Places Your Farm and
Manure the Poor Ones.
Standing with a group of farmers In
a hilly portion OF Portage County. !
remarked: wheat in this vicinity
will exceed an average this year. "
"Why SOP" l was asked. because
the hills and hillsides have no bare
places. | have seen that ten-acre
field with at least an acre altogether
of hillsides entirely bare. when the
valleys were covered with luxuriant
growth. That deficiency reduced the
average two bushels per acre on an
eighteen-bushel yield. or. in other
words, nine acres produced $50 bush
els, while one acre produced nothing.
The actual yield of the bearing portion
was therefore twenty bushels per acre.
Now, it would pay to get something off
that barren acre which is plOwed,
sown and passed over by the reapers
all for nothing" One listener replied:
sin bad winter the snow blows OF
the tops of the knobs and the wheat ia
winter-killed. why not take meas
ures to prevent it by top dressing and
mulching with straw as the berry-men
doP" WELL" answered one, 1.-THE
manure washes down and l prefer to
put it where it will stay and
trust to clover for the hill-tops. "
Another said he preferred to mulch
his sheep-sheds with his straw; another
got off the hackneyed remark that it
doesn't pay to take too much pains
with eighty-cent wheat WELL"
replied, II have known two very sue
eessful, money-making farmers who
practiced covering exposed hillsides
with thin mulch of straw in Decem-
Der and thought it paid. A ton and q
half of straw is sufficient for an acre,
and if the crop is saved half the straw
will be returned, while the value OF
the seed wheat win pay for the re-
mainder, and whatever wheat is
harvested more than the seed is clear
gain, less the cost of shocking, draw
ing and threshing."
Besides this. the mulch keeps the
surface moist in spring, and sometimes
insures a catch of clover that other
wise might fail. AS regards wastage
of manure there is very little loss II it
is well narrowed in. Far too many
farmers give too little thought to the
most economical use of manure; too
often it is left to hired men, who begin
on one side of the field and put it on in
uniform quantities, regardless of
the needs of particular portions.
1t will pay every farmer to
occasionally go through his growing
crops and carefully note where they
are least vigorous, and remedy the
matter at the first opportunity.
know one farmer who sometimes top
dresses the poor spots in his cornfield
either just before or just after plant
ing. with marked effect upon places
so treated. | shall topdress newly
set strawberry patch after compliant
ing, because the team could not be
spared TO do it sooner, drawing on
fine manure in light wagon, strad-
ding the rows Yesterday | asked
successful wheat grower how he man.
aged to have uniform stand OF wheat
when the fields of his near neighbors
were spotted and bare in places. "Oh,
that's easy" he said; II drain the
wet places and manure the poor ones"
! know a four-acre field that has
conical knoll in the center that under
q fOpmap Ownapshin bnra 1fftla IN moth
ing. Now it produces two tons OF
clover per acre. 1t was brought up
by stacking a couple of tons of hay on
the summit and feeding it out to sheep
in the mild weather OF early winter.
The owner of hilly farm once said to
me: 81 put all my manure On the
hills; the valleys seem able to go it
alone. IL. b. Pierce. In N. Y.
Tribune.