River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-04-23
Notes from our Agricultural College.
BY PROF. W. A. HrsRr. MADISON, WIS.

desire lnlOrlndtlOn concerning
the raising of Kaflir corn in thi,
vicinity viii it prove a profitable
crop for fodder? What is your ex
perience with it,"
Kaffir corn is variety of sorghum
which produces stalks without any
sweet juice, but with seeds somewhat
larger than ordinary sorghum seeds
1t has proven valuable plant in the
semi-arid region Of Texas, Kansas
and South Dakota, where it does
better than corn because il will grow
with less moisture. While Kafflr corr
can be grown in Wisconsin, do not
recommend its general use, for the
reason that crop of Indian corn car
be produced with less labor anG
larger returns.
Every farmer who has had ex
periepce in raising sorghum for syruI
knows that the crop is more trouble
some TO grow than corn, because the
young sorghum plants are SO small
when they first spring up that they
are apt TO DC much troubled by weeds
while corn plants are much stronger
and soon get beyond weed troubles
A good crop of Kaffir corn will return
from 80 to 40 bushels of seed per acre
while Indian corn under the same
conditions would give considerably
larger returns. English sparrows
raid the fields of Kafiir corn at the
west, often destroying much of the
crop, while they cannot hurt Indian
corn
Supt. McKerrow of the Institutes
tells me that he tried Kaffir corn
beside Indian corn, and secured only
about one-half as much grain; this
tallies with our experience at the
Station and leads me to advise
farmers in this state to generally pay
no attention to this novelty which is
so much advertised this season. The
same amount of energy spent on
Indian corn will give better returns.
Crimson Cl0Uer.
Probably twenty letters have come
to the Station this spring inquiring
about crimso clover. This plant is
an annual. II sown i'm the spring it
will mature its seed and die, yielding
one or two tons of hay per acre. If
sown in the fall in localities where
the winters are mild, as in Delaware
and North Carolina, it lives over
winter just as winter wheat with us
and runs to seed the following summer
in May. Crimson clover is highly
appreciated by orchardists and
gardeners for enricling the land.
We have tried crimson clover
several times at this Station with
results always in favor of medium red
clover. If farmers will sow red clover
seed by itsetf as they must do with
crimson clover, they will get in all
ordinary years very fair crop of hay
the first season fully as much as from
crimson clover, and the plants will
live over the winter to make full
crop of hay the second summer, while
the crimson clover under the same
conditions will be dead.
Only yesterday L walked over our
patch of crimson clover sown last fall
and could not find single plant
living-all were dead. We will ex-
pertinent further, and If any good
results can be obtained they will be
reported to our Wisconsin readers.
If writing for Delaware or North
Carolina farmers, / should talk
differently about crimson clover.
Raise some good Colts tbiS gear
In farming operations we are apt to
run to extremes. A few years ago
every mare that could raise colt was
bred and the business of horse raising
enlarged as rapidly as possible, both
on farms in the East and especially
on the great plains of the West. AS
a result of this expansion, and because
of the great changes in transportation
due to electricity and the bicycle, the
horse market has been seriously de-
pressed and horsemen much dis
couraged for the last few years. With
the depression has come the destruc-
tion of immense numbers of horses
which were ordinarily saved for work
or breeding. Added to this is the
other fact, and a most important one,
that there has not been over one colt
in the last two years where there were
three few years ago.
While / concede that no one has
the ability to accurately forecast the
future, ask is it not reasonable that
good horses will bring good prices at
no distant day. Conceding all the
claims for electricity and the bicycle,
there is still vast field which must
and can be occupied only by the horse.
Experience ous che western plains
shows that good heavy draft horses
and carriage horses of fine quality can
not be bred with any satisfaction
there, and we are more sure than
ever that horses of this class must
hereafter come from the farms of the
Mississippi valley and eastward.
DO our farmers realize that if they
breed their mares this season it will
still be six years hence, or 1902, before
they will have horses of suitable age
to place on the market. ] believe
that time will show the wisdom OF
breeding every good mare owned in
Wisconsin this season for some
specific purpose, either the production
of /. good draft colt, or one OF the
carriage horse type. Will not our
Wisconsin farmers think seriously or
this matter before the breeding season
is past.
A person who has been studying The
art of being contented came to thi'
philosophic conclusion: A rule con
duciye to contentment is IL you wisl
to have what you want, never wan
what you can't have.