The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-04-14

trade brings 1t down through Hungary
where 1t falls into the hands of the
Hungarian Jew seed dealers where 1t
Is mixed with fescues and other cheap
er seeds that are valueless where
bronze grass Is desired. also showed
In my previous article that there are
no less than II different varieties of
the bromes which we have tried and
found wanting The worst thing
about some of these worthless bromes
is that their seed and even sometimes
their foliage resembles the genuine
BrOmus inermis SO closely that it is
almost impossible for experts even to
tell from the seed itself whether it is
genuine or not. Moreover, after the
former article appeared in the agri-
cultural press l received many sam
pies of seed that came from nearly
every western and southern state and
nearly every one was not true to
name. One farmer from Virginia
sent me sample of orchard grass
seed pure and simple that had been
sold him for bronze grass. Nearly
every hay grass was found in the SAM
pies sent.
Now for the financial side of the
question. l have taken no account of
the straw obtained from the seed
stalks, but have learned better than
to throw ii away. l have found that
this straw will carry my work horses
through the idle season about as we'll
as prairie hay / should estimate
roughly that it is worth about three
fourths the price of prairie hay. But
leaving the straw out of the account
entirely my ledger balances up at the
end of the second period of three
years as follows. making no change
also for unexpected barnyard manure:
To making so tons Of hay at 81. $500
so loads barn yeard manure
at 0UC. ~
200 lbs. nitrate soda ..........
Threshing and cleaning seed =. Is
Rent three years at 81 ....... GO
IOtdl 1E1S
The credit side of the ledger reads
as follows:
4th yearly is tons hay at $40. $3.50
so bushels seed at S2.10. ....... 105
5th Yearly is tons hay at IS -. 100
so bushels seed, at $2.10 ........ 105
9Th yearly 20 tons hay at 81 go. $40
120 bushels seed at $40 ..... 252
Total $S72
This gives net profit on the 10.
acres for three years of $685. or for
that time a profit per acre of 5000,
or an average yearly profit of about
$21.5O. The land cost me originally
$3.50 per acre. In my former article
l showed that the average profit per
acre for the first three years was
$3.50. Has the field paid? If the
reader will make few figures he will
soon see that this one field has nearly
returned the purchase price of $40
acres of my quarter-section in six
years.
But some might object that the
average farmer would not care to save
the seed. have been providing for
just such an objection. So l have
made another experiment with bronze
grass and alfalfa on an. hdjoining
field. sowed this field to Turkestan
alfalfa, using no soil inoculations and
obtained thin stand. One day when
Secretary Wilson of the United States
department of agriculture was riding
over my farm with me, he said:
Professor, you folks out West must
learn to make every square inch of
your land produce something. There
is natural tendency in the semi-arid
regions for vegetation to grow too
thin on the ground. Can't you put
something with that, alfalfa that will
make every inch of that field bring
you some return?"
To this 1 replied that I could. And
promised him that would SOW
bronze grass among those alfalfa
plants. And 1 did. disked it up and
sowed bronze grass which is COM
paratively shallow feeder with the
deep-rooted alfalfa, and this year that
combination gave tons of hay per acre