The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-01-20
LIVE DISCUSSIONS FEATURE OF
PROGRAMME TUESDAYAFTERNOON

Il
, be made II you are going to keep sheep.
Much to Learn About Clover.
In passing should perhaps say that
have not found all Of the gold in my
land where the sleeps hoof has trod
that | should have found had been
q wiser man. This means that even
! with geod crops OF clover we have
much vet to learn in the handling OF
clover land.
Il / am speaking of North Dakota farm
Ing as see IL.
First. Glover land must be brought
J constantly into rotation; that lis, plow-
ing down as much as is seeded to Glow
er latter getting startedl and doing
II every year This / have done with
approximate regularity. Second, clover
land must. think, be plowed at other
times than in the spring. 1t has been
q temptation to us to piow the follow
ing spring such clover land as we have
taken Cor tried to take) crop of seed
from in the fall, it generally being too
late to plow such land In the fall The
clover, after seed taking, all dies, save
the abundant new crop springing up
from the scattered seed and the land
dition for spring plowing. But think
now that such treatment Is a mistake.
perhaps due to the excessive amount of
dead but unsettled clover roots making
i the soil dry out unduly
i We have thought to thus save year
on clover land. but plan now to plow
i down most OF the clover land in the
summer, with perhaps some, after seed
taking. Ia the fall.
Il We have been sowing of late years
mostly clear clover (always with
wheatl encouraged thereto by its al
most unfailing abundance Of crop and
the hope OF seed. L say the hope of
seed because it has been very variable,
from 1-S bushels down to one-fifth
bushel per acre.
Growth OF Clover.
AS to the growth OF clover I may
say that our experience has been this
for ten years: The clover sown in 1898
was all killed apparently by the
drought Of 1899, but we had the tim
othy left, even then. The bare winter
OF last year with its Ice covered fields
largely killed out the clover on one
field Of the sander land and left the
remainder, three quarters OF the crop
unharmed. That Is. in ten years we
have had one complete and one partial
failure of clover. Otherwise, we have
had unfailing and abundant returns
for the clover seed sown. How does
this compare with other North Dakota
crops?
i I now plan to sow generally q mix
ture OF clover and timothy. The crop
II vyflI ~ s~nno%l1r nfnryax Sha Rws% xran =,
after seeding and mostly timothy sod
4 plowed down In summer.
This clover and timothy to be pIowed
down in summer will vary in char
acter. It will preferably be pasture
i land which has been evenly and per-
sistently cropped (not over cropped)
by stock, mostly sheep; part of 1t
will be meadow land from which the
hay has been taken for one or two
years, and--I hope no one will faint at
the thought-some Of it is pretty sure
i to be just good luscious crop OF clover
plowed under. Third, for best results
the land should be pastured.
Everybody knows that pasture land
plowed down is good for wheat--that
is no discovery OF mine-but if you
want good pastures add clover to your
timothy, and IL you want good use OF
the pastures, stock them with sheep
and IL you want to fnd the gold
brought by the sheep's hoof, plow up
| the pastures. In North Dakota 1t Is
folly to continue any good wheat land
in pasture more than two years.
1 Glover Will Pay For Fencing.
/ And the best word shall say to you
today is this: Lay down new pasture
on your worst worn soil, plow up that
old pasture and you win get enough
more wheat to pay for the new fencing,
| and good fencing at that.
/ Is Cloverlea farm doing these things
or simply talking them? Last spring
we put up four miles Of fencing. the
posts being set the previous fall. and
we now have the posts set for three
miles nore-and i really had fair
| amount of fencing before. All this
| fencing should have had ten years
earlier. Like few other farmers In
North Dakota I did not then have the
money to spare, but should have bor-
rowed 1t. The Increased crops would
long ago have paid the loan and pre-
sented me with the fences.
Some will remark that 1t is easy to
say borrow It." Well, we can find a
way In respect to pastures as well as
/, other things. If we want pastures we
can set them. No farmer is too poor
to and seed wheat to put into land that
has already yielded ten to twenty crops
Of grain. We are all SO Indifferent to
the dollar that goes into the produc-
tion OF wheat, while we do 'tsit up In
the presence OF the dollar. because big
as cart wheel, that is to go into
grass seed, pasture fences, etc.
Pasture Land Saved Day.
/ In conclusion regarding pastures, I
will say that our pasture land wheat
has helped to save the day in several
| Of the trying years that we have lately
encountered in the Red river valley. TO
be more definite. think II safe to say
that since 1899 my wheat three years
In crop on pasture land has averaged
at least a total OF ten bushels per acre
more than wheat on equally good, but
i unpastured land. mean an average
/ Increase OF 8 1-s bushels per year,
which consider a very low estimate.
Big Profit in Sheep.
i The profit in the sheep estimate az
follows:
Assuming that they heneft the land
enough for their feed, the wool win
more than pay for every item OF la
Dor and other expense, as have found
by carefully kept accounts. and the
lambs will be clear profit.