Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-01-23
Facts for Our Farmers.

where grain will not ripen. The long,
wavy coat which protects them is
probably owing to the dampness of
the climate in which they were origin
ally grown. Their hides are used to
some extent as robes, similarly to the
hide of the buffalo. The Galloways
are the hardest breed of cattle now
III this country, and they are admir-
ably adapted to our northern states
II is said they are capable of living
and prospecting where and as wild buff
fcountry is mainly confined to Mis-
falo will. Their distribution in this
souri,, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas and Min
nesota, but they are probably most
numerous in Ontario and Nova Scotia
Rye as a Fertilizer.
Somewhere our farm crops must
get three things to insure success:
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash.
Into the constitution of all crops these
three elements must enter. Part of
this will come from the air. Thu ough
cultivation will add to the amount
thus procured. The rest must be
, supplied in some ether way. For in
| stance, it has been estimated that to
produce a good crop of corn we must
have not far from two hundred and
f1fty pounds of nitrogen from some
source or every acre grown. Timothy
requires not far from the same GUAM
tity.
1t is well known that among the
legumes clover takes high rank as a
maker of plant food. Perhaps the fol-
lowing shows about what this plant
will produce in a good year an acre
IN the three valuable elements Nitro
gen, 20 pounds; potash, IT'S pounds;
PHOSPHORUS, fOrty-five pounds. From
this it is plain that little additional is
needed to make clover a perfect plant
food. But there is a trouble about
this. For some years it has been next
to impossible in many parts of the
country to get good crop of clover.
Far more frequently than not we
have failed to get a seeding at all So
it is almost useless to talk about u.s.
ing clover as a fertilizer. There is
none to use. In this condition of
things what is to be done? We can
not produce barnyard manure enough
to keep up the fertility of our land.
and the native qualities have long
since departed
In this dilemma many of our farm
ers are turning to rye. Some idea of
the extent to which this grain is
grown in this country may be gained
from the report recently published of
the harvest of 1900, which shows a
yield of 23,995,927 bushels, valued at
$l2,295,417. Besides the grain how
ever, the straw has a high value being
worth today in the market So to SO a
ton.
Those who have had most expert
ence with rye as fertilizer are most
enthusiastic in it's behalf. They hold
that it is surer to grow than clover,
that it does not exhaust the soil as
that crop does, and that it draws
from earth, air and sky the constitu-
ents most needed in the growth of
corn, potatoes and similar crops. The
present season has seen more rye
soWn in the country probably than at
any other time in the past; and much
OF this acreage will be utilized in the
growth next year of corn and pota-
toes. 1t will be interesting to note
the success this advance in the DIR
suit of leguminous supplies of ferti-
llzer. Surely the time has come
when we must seek fertility some
where else than in the earth itself
Ii rye is a better source of supply
than clover, we must raise rye.-E. L.
Vincent
] Mustard for Cows.