The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1908-09-25
ARE LEARNING kALE.
Oregon Farmers Overcome Prejudice
of Long Standing.


From the Oregon Agricultural College. CorvaIli..
Kale is one of the best talking crops
in Oregon. When the Oregon booster
wants to prove that Oregon is the
best dairy state i'll the union he has
to talk kale. Unless he knows what
kale will do to the milk bucket he has
not qualified as booster. 1t is called
the thousand-headed kale, and the
botanist knows it as brassica eleracea,
but it is the plain kale of four letters
that does the talking. The strange
thing is that it has only been during
the last two or three years that it
has had an audience, though it is
nearly thirty years old in the William
ette valley. 1t has tried to talk all
those years, but the people wouldn't
listen when it sought recognition.
"We never heard it talk" they in
sisted, 'back in Iowa and New York
Back there cows produce milk with
out kale, and guess. they will have
to here" That is tradition. 1t took
thirty years for kale to get an audi
ence in this state and live down ira
dition.
The dairymen of New York under.
stand what green succulent food
means to the dairy COW, and they
build expensive silos, buy expensive
machinery, and grow fertility-robbing
corn, which they irrigate with their
sweat, in order that the farmer dur
ing the long winter months may have
an excuse for milking his cows. The
Oregonian needs no expensive silos
to remind the cow of the good old
summer time. Kalel A thousand
blessings on the thousand headed
kale! 1t is making Oregon the
greatest dairy state in the union.
When grown under favorable con
ditions kale will yield 40 tons per
acre Of green feed, and its chief value
is as soiling crop during the fall
and winter Splendid results are be-
ing secured by feeding kale and vetch
hay to dairy cows, without any grain
or mill feed. Dr. Withycombe, of the
Agricultural College, says that Is
pounds of vetch hay and 40 pounds
of kale day is practically balanced
ration for a dairy cow Mr. w. L.
Wilson, of Banks, Or, says: II re-
ceived $207 from IA cows in the month
of December, and fed them nothing
but kale, turnips and vetch hay The
man who feeds chop would have to
make $237 to clear as much as | do.
] have not had a speck of mill feed in
the barn all winter"
Mr. Byron Hunter, of Corvallis,
has, as assistant agriculturist of the
bureau of plant industry, u S. depart
ment of agriculture, made a special
study of the forage crops of Western
Oregon, and in Bulletin No. 81, pub
lished jointly by the Oregon Expert
ment Station and the Department of
Agriculture, has the following to say
about kale, which is timely:
Methods of Sowing fall and
winter use kale is usually sown in
drills on we'll prepared and drained
soil as soon after the 18th of March
as the season will permit This fur
nishes plants for transplanting in
June and July. The land used for
transplanting is well manured and
plowed two or three times between
the first of March and the fret of
June With the land in perfect tilth
1t is plowed again with 12-inch plow
about the first of June, and the young
kale plants dropped into every third
furrow about two and half to three
feet apart. This places about one
plant on every square yard The roots
of the plants are placed where the
next furrow covers them, leaving the
tops uncovered The plants that are
plowed in during the day in this way
are rolled in the evening of the same
day to pack the ground. Two or
three civilizations are all that can
usually be given, for the plants will
soon touch in the row, if they do we'll.
Any plants that fail to grow may be
replaced by hand. Some growers
prefer to plant the seed in hills, and
when the plants are large enough thin
them to one plant in hill. Others
put kale out just as cabbaoe is usually
transplanted, instead of blowing it in
The time of transplanting must be
determined by the size of the plants
and the condition of the land If the
land is wet and subject to overflow
the transplanting may be delayed un-
til during July If the land is we'll
drained and the plants are large
enough, it may be done before the
first of June. In transpanting,
enough plants may be left for stand
on the land where the seedlings are
grown.
A man living at Maud wants to know
If he can irrigate his trees by means
of water wagon and barrels. Pro-
fessor Thornber did not favor the plan,
stating:
"This would be rather too complex.
am of the opinion that you will find
it too great an expense, considering
the value of team and man, to haul
this water during the summer. The