Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-07-03
Take Care of the Pasture.

The average farmer takes very little
or no care of his pastures. There
seems to be a disposition on the part
of the majority to regard the pasture
more or less as waste land. At any
rate no special care and attention is
given to the land in grass. The av-
erage pasture is kept bare practically
throughout the entire season, and yet
1t is safe to say that If anyone de-
sired TO reduce the yield of his pas
ture he could do no better than to
keep it grazed off close to the roots.
In these days Of high priced land
greater profit can be obtained from a
farm half of which is in grass than
| from one on which only One-third or
Onc-tOurth the area is devoted to this
crop. There are several reasons for
| this: First, land in grass, if properly
cared for, yields handsome returns
| provided good stock, that is stock
capable of making the best possible
use of feed, is kept; and second, land
seeded to grass and clover is con
stantly growing richer because of the
! supply of humuS or dccayed vegetable
matter these crops produce in the
soil
AS result of this gathering of fer
tility by the grasses and of the i'm
| provement in the physical condition
| this produces, when the land is final :
| ly broken up it will yield from 25 to
| 90 per cent larger grain crops, and
that without additional expense in
the way of labor, There is no money
in average crops in these days of high
priced labor as well as high priced
| land. A 3O-buShel crop of corn will
barely pay the cost of raising it, TO-
gether with interest on the invest
ment or rent as the case may be. 1t
| is only crops larger than 30 bushels
that yield profit at all. For this
| reason it is evident that 5O-bushel
farmer as a 4O-bushel crop, while a
6O-bushel crop is worth three times as
| much. There is no reason why the
| average corn crop in Iowa should not
| it would seem that the average ought
| to be raised to 60 bushels and we be-
| lieve that in time, barring off seasons,
it will be.
What is true of corn is true of small
grains. A 25-bushel wheat crop is
| worth three times as much in net
profits to the farmer as 15-bushe]
crop because it takes 10 bushels OF
more to pay for the cost of raising
Large grain crops cannot be grown
on land that is made to produce grain
year after year. 1t can be done only
by proper system of rotation in
which grasses and legumes are an inn
portant factor. In addition to this
liberal dressings of barnyard manure
must be added from time to time
Barnyard manure cannot be produced
without stock and plenty of pasture,
hence when one-half of the farm is
devoted to pasture and meadow, stock
must be kept for the consumption OF
these crops,
| 1t is evident, that by building uI
instead of reducing the fertility of ou1
soils, they can readily be improved
so the grain crops will net the farmer
twice as much as they do now, and
thus enable him to clear as much
| money from 80 acres in grain as he
| now clears from 16O acres without the
| necessary amount of pasture and
| meadow to maintain them in a high
| state of cultivation. In other WORDS,
if the farmer will rotate his crops
and devote half Of his land to grasses
he will almost double the net profit
from his entire farm. This cannot be
| done in year or two, but that it
can be done in the course of six or
eight years is a we'll established fact,
since many of our progressive farm
ers, who look upon their land as a
| bank from which checks cannot be
drawn day after day unless deposits
are made to equal Withdrawals, have
done this.
AS intimated above, one great mis-
| take the average farmer makes is in
not handling his pasture in manner
that will tend to increase rather than
diminish its producing capacity
| Bear in mind that whenever plant
is kept closely cropped, when its
leaves are kept Short it is impossible
for it to yield as much forage as II
plenty Of leaf surface is allowed to de-
velop. The leaves of the plant are
its breathing organs and they are
more than that. They are also it's di
gestive organs. What would become
of man If one-half or two-thirds Of
his stomach and lungs were inactivei
| He would not be able to digest his
| food, nor would his lungs be able tt
maintain his blood in a pure condi
tion. 1t would not be long before q
man so afflicted would be ready fol
the grave. This is the case with the
average pasture. The lungs and di
gestive organs of the grass are KEEP,
in an undeveloped condition so that
the plant food brought up from the
soil by the roots, and the carbonic ac
i'd gas inhaled by the leaves, cannot
be changed by the chlorophyl, OF
green coloring matter of the latter