Devils Lake inter-ocean., 1900-02-23


and in large quantities by setting the
binder high and running it over the
grass. If threshed with the machine,
the wind should be entirely shut off.
The mower Is sometimes used to cut
the lower portion of the crop for hay.
after the upper portion has been taken
for seed. The yield of the entire crop
of hay varies much with conditions
It runs all the way from one half ton
to four tons per acre, with about one
and one-half tons probably as an
average. The seed is dear. Good
seed last spring cost about twenty
cents per pound, but If one sows an
acre or two, the next year he will have
plenty of seed without buying.
This grass thickens in the soil by
means Of underground root stalks. It
soon fills the soil therefore with an
immense mass OF roots, but it is not q
very deep feeder. When the bronze
grass sod Is broken, the ground is
therefore filled with grass roots, and
this Is just the conditions for growing
an excellent crop of corn. Whether
the grass should remain unbroken
longer than two years should be deter
mined by the extent of the growth
that it makes for pasture OF for hay.
With this rotation, cropping could 10
ON indefinitely, and food would be pro-
vided for live stock.
SYSTEM OF LIVE STOCK MANAGEMENT.
The precise method or methods by
which the live stock shall be managed
are not 40 easily pointed out. In
northwestern Dakota. and indeed in all
Dakota, the stockman is confronted
with relatively high prices for build
ing material. This makes the question
Of providing shelter costly. Much can
be done, however, to meet this diff
Guilty by making the most of such ma
terials as the country furnishes. These
include straw, marsh hay and sods that
decay slowly. Buildings made of such
materials may not be very handsome
to look upon, but they may suffice tC
protect live stock from cold winds
until buildings more durable can be
erected. And If building sites are
wisely chosen, as on the lee side of a
bluff, for instance, or within grove by
q stream, the comfort of the animals Is
still further enhanced.
Live stock in Dakota, at least in
northwestern Dakota, are not likely to
be kept on the same lines as in the
corn belt for instance, that is to say, it
should rather be made the place for
growing live stock than the place for
finishing it for the market.
GROWING CATTLE.
The growing of cattle should always
form a profitable industry in the area
under consideration, and the further
west, the more profitable relatively
should be the industry become to those
engaged in it, because of the greater
areas of untillable land that furnish
pasture in proportion to the areas that
are tillable. Whether the COWS kept
shall be milked will depend upon con-
ditions. In localities when all the land
is tilable and settlement general, there
are no reasons why creameries should
not be sustained, but in much of the
country the calves would be raised on
the extensive plan, that is to say, they
would suck their dams.
This class of stock should be grown
to the age of eighteen to twenty four
months, and in some instances to a
greater age, then sold to stockers togo
east to be finished there before going
to the block The conditions are not
the best for finishing in Dakota, hence
it is not likely to become great in.
dustry, at least west of the Red River
valley.
Young cattle should not be sold ut
one year to 90 to the ranges further
west. To sell them thus would be a
losing game. When the calves suck
the dams and are sold at one year, two
animals are thus to be kept for year
for the price that the one year old
brings. The second year nearly as
much advance would be made in the
price of the calf at the cost only of its
own feed.
| GROWING SHEEP.
Sheep should be grown with even
greater profit than cattle. The re-
turns are quicker and the first outlay
is less than for cattle. Many advan-
tages result from keeping sheep on
arabic farms as everybody knows who
has studied the question. They help
to maintain fertility as no other kind
of live stock can. They destroy weeds
more cheaply than they can be des-
| CrOyeO III any OCler way. Auu Cuey
bring in returns at least twice year.
In northwestern Dakota there is
usually an opportunity to fatten sheep
in large numbers on the fields which
have produced grain. And if rape
seed of the Dwarf Essex variety is
sown at the rate of at least one pound
per acre along with the grain, the food
for fattening sheep would be greatly
increased without any injury to the
grain. Immense quantities of pasture
may thus be grown except in seasons
extremely dry.
While sheep may thus be fattened
in the fall, it is at least questionable if
the work should be extended into the
winter in western Dakota, for reason s
that will not now be discussed. But
, they may be fattened in the fall as
described and in large numbers.
By thus combining grain and live