Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1909-12-24

years. am some 300 miles from
home: have never turned a furrow
in the Judith Basin: | never attempt
ed to do amy practical farming here,
know that ut first it may seem like
very cheeky thing for man. under
these conditions, to come l ,2NW miles
from home and undertake to make
suggestions that are goin: to be help
ful to men who have done so many
years of farming in their own country,
and those even not farmers: but |
may suggest some things that have
not occurred to your mind. which to-
getler with the practical experience
you have gained will prove very help
ful to you in your work. Now tlatis
What | am going to attempt to give.
! shall not, Of course, think Of going
over the ground thit Superintendent
Cooley went over 50 well, but you
will notice that Superintendent Cool
ey did not discuss to any very great
extent the methods of growing crops,
with the exception Of summer fallOw-
ing in growing crops Of winter wheat.
do not think l could do better
than tell Of the methods that Should
be followed to lead to the very high
est success in doing that work. You
notice he called your attention to
the Importance Of summer following,
and he emphasized the Importance Of
managing the moisture in the best
possible way; that is, storing the
moisture that remains this year and
keeping it in the soil to grow the crop
of grain that is to be sown the next
year. Now he told you only one way
to summer fallow. Suppose man in
the Judith Basin was to plant Il crop
Of corn on properly prepared ground
Il say properly prepared grounD
and suppose he takes proper care
of the corn throughout the season.
When he Is growing the corn and cul-
tivating that corn, lie is summer fall
lowing that land just as effectuallv as
if summer fallowed as outlined by
Superintendent Cooley, without grow
ing anything OH it ut all. Please do
not lose signt Of the fact that there is
embodied in that statement what is
important to everyone in the Judith
Basin and all the arabic sections of
Montana. When man grows crop
OF potatoes, and takes proper care Of
those potatoes, he is summer fallow-
ing the land; when Il man grows
crop OF beans, as he will have to cul-
tivate them in order to get the best
possible results, he is summer fallow-
ing the land. When man grows Il
crop Of rutabagas, mangels, carrots,
or any Of the root crops, and takes
proper care OF these crops while they
are growing, now do not lose sight Of
that fact, ii he does that he is sum
mer following just about as effective
ly as if he summer fallowed the land
without growing any crop on it.
There is one point of difference, and
that is this-when IL man grows
summer crop on land, that crop, while
it ISL growing dries the soil to a GER
tain extent. For instance crop of
corn, while you are growing it will
take Il certain amount OF moisture
out of the land, and that leaves so
much less in the land, so that while
a cultivated crop does not, perhaps,
leave absolutely as much moisture in
the land as though it had been bare
fallowed, feel safe in saying that it
does leave enough moisture in the
land to grow crop OF grain success
fully. Now please do not lose sight of
the fact that when you grow any of
these crops | have referred to, if You
follow these crops with crop of
small grain you are almost absolutely
sure, whether the seasen is dry or
not. remember, Of getting good
crop of grain and are likely to get an
excellent crop, just as you are sure
of getting good summer crop: now
these things are sure.
1t seems to me that while it is ii
good thing on the part of the farmers
in the Judith Basin and other dry
sections of Montana, to summer fal
low a part of their land every year on
the bare fallow plan, it is the part of
wisdom and very important for every
farmer to devote part Of his time to
growing those cultivated crops, for
by doing this he gets crop Of some
kind for his pains and in the other
way he gets no crop at all For in
stance suppose he was to summer fall
low One-half his land on the bare
fallow plan and grow "a crop on the
other half; that would mean that a
farmer could get only one crop in two