Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-03-13

| destroyed Win narrow, DUE When II
gets three inches high the roots are
three inches long and the harrow can
not kill them, but will cultivate them
SO that they will grow the better. q
| To raise a crop of corn and keep II
clean requires the frequent working OF
soil the same as a summer fallow. and
the benefit in cleaning out the weed
Iseed is the same, and the corn crop
will pay well, and more, too, for all
the work and care put on the field.
The chances are that the summer
fallow field and the cornfeld will
raise more bushels of wheat than
would be raised if the fields had been
sown to grain the two years, at much
less expense. I: IN
The summer fallow or corn; crop has
now given us a chance to put in
operation one of the most important
matters Of good farming, and that is
seeding down to clovers and timothy,
or any other grasses. ts} 81
This seeding down to cloyers to in
CT ease the fertility Of the farms is of
ten times more Importance to increase
the yield of crops per acre than lots of
good seed grain talk. There was a
great deal written and said last win
ter about using only plump and
sound" seed wheat, warning the farm
ers that rusted and salrunken wheat
for seed would surely mean another
crop failure-for the poor. and weak
kernels would not grow to strong
plants. IT, !s2s@2s
Wishing to know the facts,I made
a test Of No. 4 CAS- pounds) wheat, by
putting some garden soil in box,
packing it solid and compact, and scat
tered the kernels on top. wet 1t we'll,
and covered it with four or five thick
nesses of cloths, also wet. This was
ON April 10. On April 20 100 per cent
was sprouted, ON April 81 the sprouts
we're raising the cloth, SO took it off.
The skins of the kernels all. lay in
sight, the roots having gone down in;
the soil. On April 81 the plants were;
eight inches high, and the box was
broken up to see what the roots had
done, and found that there was as
much, or more, root than top. $s5
That was conclusive proof that the
germ does not need or use the nour-
ishment of a good fat kernel for a
week or two to grow and thrive well,
for In this case the roots and top
We're not fed by the kernel only long
enough to get a start in Life. There
was very little nourishunent in the
kernel to start with. The plants got
their food from the soil and air.
The packed soil in the box in the
test shows the value and necessity Of
a solid and compact seed bed for get
ting a vigorous growth Of grain or
grass plants, and that solid and COM
pact condition of the soil lis just what
| is got by the frequent working Of the
Hand during the season on a summer
fallow or the. cornfield
| The cornield should not be plowed
after the corn is gathered, for that
would destroy all the compactness
gained in the workings. during the
season. In the spring the field should
be worked with the spring tooth cult
vator, both ways, not with the disk,
for that Is too much like blowing
makes too much loose soil.
Some one will say, i must pIow it to
turn under a few Weeds.that grew and
got ripe in spite of me. Such persons
should be told that to p1ow it would
bring on the top some soil that was
full of weed seeds pIoWed down years
before. and that they had burned the
SOIL that had millions of weed seeds
grown and killed from To ploW 1t,
the following crop would have Just as
many weeds as 1t would If none had
been killed in working the corn.
The common farm weed seeds that
are plUwed down from five r., S ,siy