The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1910-04-01

here Friday was conducted by
Mr.. O. G. Gregg, father of
farmers Institutes in the north
west He was assisted by w.
C. Palmer of the agricultural
college. Mr.. Hoverstad; the
state superintendent was in Min
nesota attending a reunion of
his class at the agricultural
college. ~
The first subject that was
taken up was the improve
nents that have been made in
the last forty years. Mr.. Gregg
stated that there was no farm
machinery when he started
farming forty years ago, but
now almost everything is done
by machinery even to the milk
ing of the COW.
Mr.. Gregg then gave a talk
on the dairy COW. He stated
that her business. was the max
ing of milk. To make milk
she must have the machinery
for converting large amount
of food into milk and that will
be indicated by the following
points: First large middle
piece or stomach, as it indicates
a large capacity for taking in
food and digesting it. The
next point is that the form be
spare and that the withers be
sharp and the crops hollow
which will indicate that the
food does not go to the making
of flesh. Then a large udder
as it is here that the milk is
manufactured. The blood from
the udder returns to the heart
through the milk wells, hence
if they are large it will indicate
that a large amount of blood
flows through the udder. The
fifth point that he gave was
that the eye be large and clear
which indicates a good nervous
development. This is very
necessary as the nerves are the
driving power. :.
Mr.. Palmer pronounced the
clover and alfalfa two wonder
full plants in that they leave
the soil richer after they have
grown on it. They are also
peculiar in this: that they can
not grow alone, but must have
a germ grow on their roots.
A kind of a cooperative affair.
So to grow clover and alfalfa
it is necessary to provide the
conditions for both the clover
and the germs. The germs
need to have good deal of or
ganic matter in the soil. Grain
growing exhausts the soil of
this, so if the ground has been
grown to grain for a number of
years it will be necessary to
add hu1nus and the best way to
do so is by applying manure.
A thin application is all that is
needed. It may be necessary
to bring in the germs and the
surest way to do this is to take
soil from a field growing clover.
successfully and strewing it on
at the rate of a hundred pounds
to the acre and harrow it in.
Sow on fall blowing. The best
results will come by sowing
without a nurse crop. The
clover however can be sown
with barley, sowing the barley
thin, say not over bushel per
acre. It. should be sown early
as the clover grows best in the
cool part of the season. The
alfalfa will do better if sown in
May or even early in June, and
it should be sown alone. Sow
twelve to fifteen pounds of
clover seed to the acre the, first
time. Of alfalfa it will be ne
cessary to SOW fifteen to twenty
pounds.
In the talk on soil manage
ment Mr.. Gregg made the fol-
lowing statements: The first
point is to get the soil in a con-
dition to take in the moisture
and the best way to do this is
by plowing, and the deeper,
the larger the water holding
|capacity. The soil when cover
led by sod as in nature is too
hard and dense for the moisture
to get down into it when it
rains. The next point is to get
the moisture to where the
plant needs it which is near
the surface and to bring it into
the furrow slice it may be ne
cessary to pack the soil. To
keep the moisture from passing
Il .