The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-09-29
STOP THE LEAKS
Sound Advice as to How to Save
Money on the Farm
CARE FOR MACHINERY
Practical Value of Fall Flowing,
Care of Manure in Winter
Other Suggestions


Press News, published at the Mime
sofa Agricultural College at st. Anth-
Ony Park. will be read with interest
by farmers:
One of the most serious leaks on the
farm is in the poor care taken OF
farm implements when not in use.
As soon as the season is over, binders
and other machinery, no longer need
ed this year, should be well cleaned:
the grease and dirt should be remov-
; ed from the bearings, and these
should be carefully oiled and all
bright parts creased, to prevent rust
ing. Preparations should be made for
replacing any broken or defective
parts.
If time does not permit of all this,
make a memorandum to be governed
by on some stormy day, and then see
that everything is put in readiness for
the next harvesting or haying season.
Get the repairs and place them on
the machines at once. Take care of
the plows. Get them under cover.
Clean and grease the bright parts, so
that, when wanted next spring, they
will scour and save the time SO many
farmers lose in putting their imple-
ments into working order.
Most people recognize the value of
fall blowing for grain crops; but very
few, however, follow the practice with
their corn crops. Many feel that they
must leave the corn land until spring
in order to be able to get on to the
land the manure that is made during
. the winter. 1t has been found, at the
Minnesota Experiment Station, that
from y to Is loads per acre of barn
yard manure, taken directly from the
barn, can be applied to fall-plowed
land and disced in the spring, so that
it will not interfere in any way with
planting or cultivating the crop. This
makes it practical to pillow corn land
in the fall and still get the manure
made during the winter on to the
corn crop.
There is great advantage in this
practice, especially in dry years. Plow-
ing the coarse manure under, so hat
the straw lies between the furrow
slice and the subsoil, makes it very
difficult for moisture tomove up from
the subsoil to the furrow slice. On
this account. land that has been
manured and plowed in the spring,
the manure plowed under, is very
likely to dry out. By manuring on
top of the land, and discing manure
into the surface, the manure helps to
form a surface mulch and to check
evaporation of moisture, and when it
does rain, the elements of fertility
in manure are washed down into the
furrow slice, where the plant roots
can get them, instead of being washed
down into the subsoil out of reach.
The experts at the Minnesota Univer-
sity Farm heartily recommend fall
plOWlng OF Tie lanQ Tor corn.
One of the important problems on
the farm is to conserve as much OF
the fertility as possible, and still pro-
duce good crops. 1t swell recognized
that one of the best ways of doing
this is to feed to live stock a large
proportion of the crops grown, and
to return the by-produce, manure, to
the land. This brings up the import
ant question of how best to handle
this manure so that it will be best
conserved.
1t is quite generally considered,
now, that the most economical way,
both as to the economy of labor and
elements of fertility, is to haul the
manure direct from the barn to the
field OF course there are some days
in the winter when it is difficult to
get manure onto the field. However,
every day that it is possible, manure
should be hauled directly to the field
and spread.
There are two ways by which the
fertilizing value is lost; the first is by
heating, and the second is by teaching.
If manure is left in piles about the
barn, it soon begins to heat, even in
the winter, especially if it contains
any large proportion of horse manure.
When it heats the manure is decOm-
posed and the element of most value,
nitrogen, is lost in the form of gas.
In the spring and early summer, if
manure lying about the yards where
rain can fall on it, much OF the fer
tilitv is leached out and carried away.
If manure is spread on the field dir.
ectly from the barn, heating is pre-.
vented until the manure is covered
up in the soil. Then any elements
that are liberated by decomposition
are taken up-by the soil and saved.
When manure is spread out on the
field, it dries out; and. as the larger