The Ordway new era., 1909-02-12
FARM NOTES

ago against necessity Of irrigation
now-cspecially OF winter wheat
would take a different view OF the
situation, these windy days. I'VE
can't irrigate while IL freezes so hard
at nights" might be reconstructed 10
1--WE will try at least Ice Is only
A.! frozen water. 1t may seem strenuous
to open headgate at 500 Il. m, ana
break the floating ice for a mile or so,
but II means bushels OF wheat ana
| tons OF alfalfa. A farmer says, Il III
| not ready, must wait to draw OIL that
stack OF hay and clean my laterals.'
Well, II were so unfortunate as to
allow such a condition, | would not
lose any more by letting my winter
water escape. Rather let the stack
nf hay stand till Spring, and make
two or three extra stacks 10y irrigating.
OF course, when we get three-fOurths
our land in alfalfa and do less plowing
and winter work on bcets, etc, We
will have all our laterals put In good
shape before freezing weather. Then
we will always have a place for water,
and our lateral cOmrany's will have
less Use for waste bitches. Necessity
| Is not only 1.-THE mother of invention"
but she frequently surprises US in
what we can do, II we have to. Dur
ing the years from about '93 to '9S or
1900, we had only river rights and our
winter water was about all we had,
yet as | remember, we cut the usual
amount of hay, from winter irrigation.
| Frequently our fields looked like polar
| ice regions, but we never lost any
alfalfa from "ireeziug out"
The get there" farmers are already
well along with their winter plOwing.
! One neighbOr reports sixty acres
turned over and ready for cants or
| bcets. Never have we had more
auspicious winter and this month
should find all our spring plowing
done II the fine weather continues
! Spring storms may begin by March
and how happy he who sits by his
warm stove during the blizzard and
! feels that his work is ahead, and his
soil is preparing for the bountiful
harvest. Another step 10 advance is
the close following of the plow with
the drag harrow, before the soft soil
is changed To clods by our dry air.
Few OF our farmers are not doing this,
and we must credit our dry farming
| for this at least. blessed is he who
reads.
Now Is the time to be searching for
supplied. This is just as important
to us, as the seed corn to the Illinois
man. II we SOW light chafIy oats, we
must garner in the same. The writer
has found, so far, nothing better than
the old "White Russian,"a a side oat,
and has found less trouble with smut.
For some unaccOuntable reason. |
have had poor success with any
"Sprangle" oat-not so good a yieder.
Much has been said aud done in re-
cent years in propagation of heavy
oat producers and hear of the 100 to
! l5o bushels per acre from new kinds
! that | have never tried. Probably
this subject needs thorough investi-
cation by our own farmers. An east
ern gram, subject to that damp
climate, etc, may not be the one for
Colorado, but let us not get into the
rut of sowing the seed our fathers
did, because we think it good. II
| Illinois and the other Mississippi val.
ley corn states can double their
product per acre in corn, through
selection of seed, we can do something
in our selection of small grains.
Several neighbors are asking as to
best time for seeding with oats. This
will depend something ON character of
the season ahead of US, and as one
man sees about as far as another into
the future, the only answer is to SOW
''just before a wet spell" Now, /
believe we have been more successful
with the early oat or spring wheat
than the late, not only on account uf
moisture, but especially Insects. The
festive grasshopper has a special
delight in cutting of the filled grains,
evidently Just for the fun of seeing
them fall, and several years we have
had loathsome green worm to COM
plete the job OF trimming. These
pests when they do visit us, come in
July or August and stay for frost.
The early oat, il sown in late February
or early March, escapes these ravages.
Would you drill oats In? II my
ground was perfectly clean and mellow
this will do, for you can probably set
drill for 3-inch depth, but these con-