The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1896-07-10
FORAGE cnoPs.


How Late Forage Crops Can Ne Sue.
cessfully Cultivated.
The following good article was
awarded the second premium In
prize essay contest Of the Michigan
Farmer, calling for the best written
essay on the subject OF forage crops.
The writer Is Alfred Anderson Of Mus
kegon county Michigan.
What substitute for hay and forage
shall we be able to plant as late as
the 10th of June, with no present pre-
paration for same, and indications OF
. dry season as the last one Of 1882
Whatever rs done must be done in
hurry. The first thing I would do
would be to prepare piece of land
Tor corn, as there Is, ut the above date,
plenty of time for maturing a crop OF
corn. The season OF 1894 I planted
the 9Th day Of June, and from nine
acres harvested 800 bushels OF good
corn.
I would select sandy loan soil,
as there would not be much use of
attempting to prepare clay ground at
this time OF year. Stubble land, or
some that had been recently plowed,
would be more likely to contain more
moisture and give corn q better start
than sod land. But in case could do
no better would pillow sod about six
or seven inches deep, then roll and
drag thoroughly.
With the ground well fitted, would
drill sweet corn in rows about three
feet nine inches apart and about four
or five inches apart in the drill. Gull
tivate and work the same as for q
crop. Then I would look the farm
over for piece Of moist land, q piece
Of low bottom land, or reclaimed
swamp, and SOW some millet, and If
this is harvested at the proper time
before 1t gets too ripe it will make an
excellent article Of hay, especially for
milk cows.
Rye would be the next substitute,
principally for forage, and think
likely it could he made to produce
fodder by sowing as soon as possible
after June 10. AS to the quality of
rye cut for fodder, I think it is nearly
as good as timothy hay. Cut with the
binder just about the time it blossoms.
Rye, think, stands at head of for
age plants. would commence by
sowing the wheat stubble as soon after
harvest as possible, and then in the
corn at the last time of cultivating.
The pastures we will now suppose to
be getting rather short. We are now
past the middle Of July and our first
planting OF fodder corn, which should
have been planted about May 20, will.
soon he ready to commence feeding.
II we have planned our planting
right we may have an abundance Of
corn fodder up to Oct. /, when We
may commence turning in on the rye,
which will show it's worth in the in
creased flow Of milk and with fatter
stock to commence the winter.
For sheep raising, and these dry
seasons, rye is almost indispensable.
furnishing feed the entire season IL
managed rightly, provided the winter
Is open, and the first thing in the
spring when some green feed is need
ed so badly for ewes in lamb. We
may now pasture the rye till about
the LIST Of May, then If we wish to Sc
cure crop or cut for hay and turn
under for green manure, the stock can
be taken of which will give it u
chance to make ample growth for q
crop.
The past few seasons have demon
strated the fact that we cannot de-
pend upon pasture land for our stock.
It matters not how many acres we
have in pasture, when the terrible
drought Of summer strikes It, it is
waste land, 80 that au the use we re-
eeiNe from our pasture land Is about
two months out of the year.
So it seems that the present method
Of pasturing stock is expensive in more
ways than one. First in not receiving
sufficient returns from our land, and
second by losing in quality of our
stock and shrinking of milk in our
dairy herds, which means not only
the present loss Of milk but the future
also.
It seems to me that tile more econ
omical and remunerative way would
be the stabling Of stock through the
summer, thereby keeping more stock
on half the number Of acres. The silo
would, no doubt, ill gap here that
We could not dispense with, IL follow
ing this method.
With the silo and feeding Of stock
throughout the entire year, we could
depend more largely on cultivated
crops such as would be suitable for
ensilage, and the various root crops,
thereby securing ourselves against the
droughts Of summer, and giving us
more tillable land, also an increased
amount Of manure to enrich our soil.
How q Good Crop Was Rnised.
Mr.. ]. A. Baxter, of Waverland,
Kansas, raised 104 bushels of corn per
acre on five acres last winter AS I'm
acre on five acres last season, and in
the March report of the Kansas State
Board Of Agriculture he tells how he
did it, as follows:
The portion of my crop giving yield
Of 104 bushels Of husked, we'll dried
(dfty-six pounds, shelled) corn per acre
was five acres of fifty-seven planted
last year. My land is slightly rolling
prairie and about q fair average Kan
sas soil, with a hard, imprevious sub
soil. The five acres mentioned were
at one end Of a twenty-hve-acre field,
vnossf ~ rvhio1, 1,od hoon In DOfa fooc for