The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-08-19
WINTER WHEAT SEED
Suggestions Offered Concerning the
Purchase of This Seed Wheat
Keep Good Wheat Homo.

lufcnaSc OF This Seed Wheat
Keep Good Wheat Home.
An article appeared in a Mime
apolis paper August 2nd announcing
the sale in that market of a carload
of new wheat from South Dakota. 1t
proved to be winter wheat shipped
from between Canton and Sioux Falls
and tested Gil u pounds to The bush
ell. 1t seems a pity thai with The de-
mand there is in this stare for super
ior seed grains, and particularly for
winter wheat west of the river, this
excellent quality of native grown
grain should be shipped from the
state. Experiences with winter wheat
in this state have varied materially
in different seasons. Some have had
remarkable success. while others have
met with failure.
Doubtless most of the failures
have resulted from not sowing early
enough in the fall to permit the wheat
to get a good toy root development
before winter sets in. Winter wheat
in this state should be sown not later
than September TIA. normal seasons
and II 1t gets too heavy a top, SO as
to endanger smott.erins, should be
grazed OF with brood sows or light
cattle, when the ground is perfectly
dry or after freezing. 1t will, how
ever, seldom need grazing.
The special object of this article.
however, is to call attention of the
farmers to the importance of pro-
curing the best possible seed grains
while it is most easily done. In near
ly every community some farmer has
a superior quality Of oats. harley,
wheat, fax, etc. He will almost al
ways be willing to sell this 20 his
neighbors at his granary at what he
could get for it in town. In buying
it the neighbor farmer knows whether
or not it is free from foul seeds.
Large sections of this state have
been seeded with mustard, morning
glories, cookie bur, quack grass and
other foul weeds by sending away u
distance for seeds. The farmer who
had early varieties of oats and barley
and sowed them early in a good seed
bed escaped the recent hail storms,
or at least had his grain in shock.
His neighbor who sowed late varieties
of these grains lost his crop. Almost
every summer about harvest time.
or during it, sections Of the state are
visited by hail. The cheapest insuD-
ance we know of, or rather partial
insurance, is sowing early varieties.
Winter wheat, winter rye, or spring
rye, own early. early varieties OF
oats and barley, speltz sown early on
well drained land can nearly always
be matured before u disastrous
hail season, and suffers very little
damage If well shocked. These early
varieties almost invariably give the
best returns in this state. In seven
years experiments at the college.
early oats gave an average yield of
40 bushels to the ere more than any
of the later varieties. These we're the
Lincoln oats, also known as Kerson,
Sixty Day, Early Russian and by some
other names. There are some of these
grown in nearly every community.
Why not procure seed of these diff
ferent kinds of grain nov while it
can be done cheaper than it can be
later. If some slick stranger were to
come along offering you a wonderful
oat with a big name, (Million Dollar)t
that would mature early and yield
20 bushels to the acre more than the
later varieties, many farmers would
pay SIS a bushel for some seed. Some
neighbor of yours has just such a var
iety of oats. Why not deal with him?
There is also a great difference in
the quality of the wheat grown by
different farmers. If yours is not the
best, just own up to it, and go to
your neighbor and get something
that is better.
If you have some good seed of
some especially good variety, be
neighborly enough to try and get it
used in your community without
charging two or three prices for it.
You a we'll afford to sell it to your
neighbor for the same price it would
bring at the elevator. We hope
farmers will take hold of this matter
and try and improve the quality Of
the seed for next springs sowing.