The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-02-21

must result from such meetings. He
closed by introducing Prof. Failyer
of the State Agricultural College who
spoke on
SOILS AND SOIL TILLAGE.
Prof. Failyer showed in the first
place the fact that all soil is
either broken down rock or decayed
organic matter, and pointed out why
it was scientifically necessary that
the soil should be open and loose and
broken into fine particles in order
that the plant food might be freely
given out. Tillage necessarily has a
great deal to do with keeping the soil
in proper condition, and would be
necessary for the growth of the crop,
even if there were no weeds to be kill
ed. The Professor stated that careful
experiments had demonstrated that
ground which is not plowed loses it's
moisture with twice as great rapidity
as ground that is plowed, and advO-
Gated shallow cultivation for two rea-
sons; first, because the roots are thus
left undisturbed, and, second, because
the moisture is retained longer il held
down by "blanket" of loose, pulver-
lied soil. Prof. Failyer's talk pre-
sented many valuable suggestions.
and brought out an interesting dis
cussion, at the close of which Clar-
ence J. Norton, presented an intense
ly interesting paper on
SUB-SOILING.
Mr. Norton has experimental wide
ly with the sub-soil pillow and
his conclusions and suggestions seem
to us of so much value that we shall
print his paper in full in next weeks
REGISTER, and therefore will not at
tempt any synopsis of it at this time.
KAFFIR CORN.
Hon. l.. b. Pearson is the pioneer in
Allen county in the cultivation of
Kaffir and Jerusalem corn and he
talked instructively about his expert
ence with the various varieties of
both these grains. He has settled
down to the red Kaffir as the best var
iety to raise in this county. 1t yields
all the way from 20 to 40 bushels and
when soaked or ground and fed with
corn or wheat is very greatly relished
by hogs and cattle. Mr.. Pearson by
no means. advocates it as a substitute
for Indian corn but thinks it a valua-
BILE crop for the reason that it is near
Iy certain, no matter how wet or dry
it is.
DIVERSIFIED FARMING.
Hon. E. II. Funston was assigned |
this topic and discussed it for three
quarters of an hour in an Off-hand |
speech that was crowded with sensi- +
BILE and helpful suggestions and wise
advise. While he does not believe
that anybody should put all his eggs
in one basket, he does think that
every farmer ought to have leader,
some one thing that he makes spec
ialty of and which he sticks to year
after year. His own leader is hogs,
and he manages the whole farm with
q direct view to promoting that in
dustry. The key note of success on
the farm is economy and good man
agement.
Owing to the lateness of the hour it
was moved that the lola REGISTER
be requested to publish the paper pre-
pared by J. T. Tredway on 1.-The Hog
and one by Mr.. Norton on
'The Selection of Seed Corn" in lieu
Of having them read before the Insti-
5ute, and the meeting then adjourned,
after passing vote of thanks to those
who had made up the program. The
papers which the REGISTER was re-
Iuested to publish are presented else
where in this paper.