The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-10-06
Purity Of
Soil Urges BoIIey

II suAldCS packed ana mar.
roWed. These operations are funda.
mental in getting good crop Of corn
Iirst' the manure ferments in the
spring and thus tends to warm the
SOIL Second, the fall blowing con.
serves moisture and in this way waite,
IS stored up for the young corn plants
and when the evaporation is lessened
heat is retained. Third, the subsur-
race packing and narrowing aid the
ploWing in retaining the moisture and
| in creating good seed bed. In the
spring the soil is narrowed after every
heavy rain in order to conserve mois-
ture, retain heat and DESTROY young
| weeds Between the tenth and ff-
teenth of May, the corn is planted in
| eheckrows, AZ inches apart. fo1r IN
hve kernels per hill, of the golden dent
or mercer varieties. After a week ar
ten days have elapsed the corn is
narrowed or sometimes 1t is blind Gull
| tlYated and narrowed afterwards The
narrow or weeder is used at intervals
OF a week or ten days until the corn Is
eight to ten inches high which is gem
orally about the midle of June. Tho
narrow or weeder is used because 1t
readily forms dust blanket kills
young weeds and it is the chea pes,
cultivator that can be used as a man
will cover thirty to sixty acres per dav
While riding cultivator will not ex-
coed seven or eight acres.
How Corn is Cultivated.
The corn is cultivated once week
after it is too high to use the weeder
to advantage, 1t generally receives the
or six CIVILIZATIONS and never less than
four before it is too large to cuIti-
Yate. Thorough cultivation means a
large crop Of corn, few weeds and a
large amount of water for the follow
ing wheat crop. The corn is generally
cut the latter part of August or in the
early part of September The shocks
are set up in straight rows and the
land is Immediately disced to break nm
the soil crust and thus retain all the
moisture possible in the soil About
nov. the corn is husked from the
shock and the slower is used for win
ter Ieedlng. Last year this farm
yleloed thlrty-six bushels of shelIed
corn per acre and the average of ten
farms that matured corn in the state
was 1880 bushels per acre, not a had
yield for North Dakota when the aver
age of Illinois was but thirty
bushels according to the United States
department of agriculture report. As
soon as the corn land can be worked
IN the spring it Is disced and narrowed
uoWn me and is seeded with macaroni
"heat at the rate of one and one half
bushels per acre. The land is harrow
co a week after seeding to kill young
weeds and to preserve the dust mulch
winch conserves the soil moisture. The
Weeder is used at intervals particu-
larly after rains, until the wheat il
SIX to ten inches high Last wear the
wheat 80 treated yielded 41.66 bushels
per acre. This years crop is not vet
threshed but it will probably not ex-
coed one-half Of this figure. AS soon
as the crop is removed the land Is
ploWed to depth of six inches. II is
supsurface packed and narrowed. The
following year it received exactly the
same treatment except that the disc
ing is omitted in the spring and ar
teen pounds of clover is seeded per
acre with the wheat. The crop does
not receive so much narrowing after !
wards as such would be disastrous to |
the young clover plants. Up to the |
present time clover has not been sue |
cesstul on this farm largely due we |
believe to lack of the proper bacteria |
in the soil and to the scarcity NJ soil |
water at the time of harvest. When
the clover is fall killed as we call If
the field Is plowed early in October IN
depth of six inches. 1t is subsur-
race packed and narrowed immediate
" after the pillow. The following
spring as soon as the land can be
worked 1t is seeded with Canada field
peas at the rate of one and one-half
bushels per acre and with Swedish
select oats at the rate of one-half
oushel per acre. The harrow Is used
once before the peas are I'D and the
Weeder is used once or twice after
hey are up. This tillage instrument
1as to be used with good deal of
discretion in the case of Canada AeId
peas as they are easily broken off
in the forenoon. This
crop is cut for hay when the peas are
getting we'll filled and when the oat
straw is still green. No better bav
an be had for all kinds Of stock. Tts
'ield Will average over a ton and .
lalf per acre and sometimes exceed
hree tons. There is but one draw
Jack to the production of this hay
n central and western North Dakota
ND that is the high price of pea seed
mis- is being overcome to some extent
y the farmers producing their own ,
eed
Land Plowed Early.
AS soon as the hay crop is removed :
he land is plowed, subsurface packed :
nd narrowed. IF heavy fall rains !
ONE the land is narrowed immediate !
after each rain to break up the | :
oil crust and thus save all the soil ]
lolsture possible. In the spring the 1
md is again narrowed down fine and !
Is seeded with Swedish select oats :
the rate Of two bushels per acre. j,
he oats are narrowed a week or ten \
avs after seeding and they are weed !
once or twice with the weeder aft =
r they are up The cat crop com h
etes the cycle of rotation on one field !
lch season on this farm.
In other words, this farm is a con- !,
'ete Illustration to the farmers of r
filings county Of what five year ro- !
ton consisting of a corn crop, two !,
ops Of wheat, a crop of hay and II
OBJ of oats together with good tillage :,
ethods, pedigree seed and the appii- o
ton of manure to 90 per cent of the &
nd every year, will accomplish in i,
cir neighborhood. This work is be- :,
g carried on at twenty four differ :,
t points in the state. In this way :,
UGH larger number of farmers are ~
lie to see these experiments than lie =