Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1902-01-09
SHALLOW SEEDING.
And Compact Soil Give the Best Re-
suits in Flax and
Grass.
Failure Of Flax Crop is Due to Too
Deep Drilling of the
Seed.
Broadcast Seeder or Press Drill is
the Best Says Minnesota
Man.

The grain growers convection at Far
60 is discussing some matters of inter-
est. D. L. Wellman of FraZee, MINI.
writes the Fargo Forum that the
deep seeding of flax seems to have
been mistake and especially was it
shown last year in old fields. Mr..
Wellman says that he has closely
watched four crops of flax on old land
and three have been failures and one
a success, the latter crop being sown
on corn stubble ground which had
been kept free from weeds, and had
had the compactness necessary tc
grow good flax. He says:
"The three failures have been on
twenty-year-old fields with the plow-
ing and seeding done before the mid
die of May. The flax in all cases
started well and was all right, until
it was warm enough to start the pig
con grass or fox tail seeds that were
in the fax was choked out, so that
only a few bolls formed, and the flax
plants that seemed to hold their own,
and headed out well, did not have but
a kernel or two Of flax in the bolls, SO
the whole was cut for hay, and gave
over ton of excellent feed per acre,
and was as nutritious as the best OF
timothy hay, when cut before the
seed ripens.
Two near neighbors tried fax this
year on thirty and forty-2cre. fields,
the flax was total failure, for not one
in hundred seeds grew-from too
deep drilling-but they got a good
crop of fox tail hay.
That the seed was good and that the
planting was too deep is proven by the
fact that there was an old abandoned
log house and door yard, lot acre. in
the forty acre field. The door-yard
was plowed and seeded with the rest
of the field. The old sod Of the door
yard was tough so that the drill shoes
could not plant the seed more than
one-half to one-third as deep as they
would on the soft and loose gronnd of
the rest Of the field.
The door-yard plat was as good and
perfect flax as ever grew, SO, as the
seed proved good, the failure must
have been in too deep planting, and
nothing else, for 50 little Of it ever
showed above ground.
The writer maintains that it is not
necessary to have grains planted deep
to insure good crop and says that
compact soil will be all that is needed
in years Of sufficient rainfall. He con-
tinueS:
How deep to plant flax and other
grains is a difficult question, but
whould not be if the farmers would in
vestigate the drill work on new tough
breaking, where flax does it's best, and
find that the avera &c is not over on
inch deep. With that fact; in sight
too many farmers will plant their flax
three inc2es deep on their old fields of
loose, mellow soils, so as to have it do
well in case of dry weather, while, if
they look back to the time before
drills were invented they would find
that farmers raised as good, or better
crops than now, by narrowing them in
as well as they could.
In we'll prepared seed bed none OF
the grains ever get covered over an
inch deep, while the average covering
would be one half an inch.
Grains that get scattered on the
fields during the harvesting work grow
and thrive on the solid and compact
soil without any covering-as grains
will grow and do well under natures
care with no, or light covering-then
it is but fair to conclude that the
drilling of flax two, three and four
inches deep is detrimental to its
growth and prosperity.
am willing to 60 Oh record to say
that the drill, as used by most farm
ers, for the purpose for which it was
invented and manufactured-to SOW
grains deep-has been an enemy and
made loss to the farmers, and will
be so until they are used so that no
grains are planted over one inch deep.
The drills as used, with chains, give
no assistance in packing the soil,
which is so necessary for quick germ.
ination of the seeds and vigorous
growth OF the plants for good crop
yet they are large. cumbersome i'm