Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-02
WESTERN CROPS AVERAGE
Harvest Returns Dispel All Pessi-
mistic Stories.
B. P. CRTCHLow INVESTIGATOR
throughout Utah and Idaho the
Farmer who TiIIs IL n Decidedly
Thrifty Person and Has
wealth TO show.

Because this has been an exceptionally
dry year there have been constant reports
that the crops on the serni-arid lands were
a total failure in a.! sections Of the vest
Early IN the season the outlook was very
discoui cling, but at harvest time II has
been found that tEey are up to the average
Of previous years B. p Critchlow OF
Ogden Utah an acknowledged authority Of
western crops and manager OF one n the
ogden main branches of the Consolidated
Wagon and Machine company, has Just
completed a trip Of over 200 miles through
the Utah and Idaho dry farmed sections
or the wheat crop he says:
II find IN Box Elder county, where the
pioneer work in dry farming is done that
the threshing is progressing in good shape
and that the crops are nearly up to the
average season. The yield is running from
ten to fifteen to twenty bushels per acre,
and this is on land which is selling at but
$50 per acre, and not for raw land, but
for that which is fenced and under cultiva-
ton.
In the Blue Creek district some fields
did better than this, and last year they
averaged twenty bushels per acre in that
section. Some 4OO-acre tracts there pro-
duced an average OF thirty bushels Charles
Gunnell had such tract and sold It for
s25 per acre after threshing time and after
he has sold 1900 bushels Of wheat from the
land. The crop brought more than the land.
He at once bought two sections from the
Promontory Land company at from so to
SIS per acre for the raw land and 1t costs
s. per acre to clear off the sage brush. He
will seed one section of this land during
the month Of August
Takes Little Time.
''The first years cultivation does not
bring the results Of succeeding years, as
the land has not had the opportunity to
store moisture. Those who make the
greatest success in the semi-arid belt are
those who follow the plan of summer fall
lowing. The method is as follows: The
ground is plowed thoroughly soon after the
crop Is taken off, and II is then allowed
to rest until the following spring 1t is
found that more moisture is stored in the
powed ground than in that which is not
powed at this time. The field is narrowed
early in the spring with spike-toothed
harrow, and this is done again in about a
month, not only to make into fine mulch
so as to holu the moisture, but also to keep
down vegetation. At the beginning of the
third month 1t is gone over with a disc
harrow so as to prevent vegetation getting
a start, which would use up the moisture.
In July, just under the surface, 1t will be
found that the soil is moist enough to be
squeezed into a ball. and in August it is
in fine shape to receive the seed and pro-
duce a crop next year. The fall wheat is
usually planted in August, although some
times the seeding season is delayed until
September.
This year there are thousands of acres
of splendid crops on dry farmed lands and
the failures found are much fewer thar
I'm previous years. Those that occur come
from failure to take proper precautions ir
seeding and when the crop winter kills II
is because the soil had not been properly
prepared or that the seed had not beer
properly drilled, and that the wheat hac
not obtained a good root start This failure
20 properly put in the crop is also the oc
caslon for lack of vitality in the spring
when such occurs
Work Just Begun.
The 1910 crop is one which l am sure
will equal the one of 1909, and that was q
wet year, and l am sure that the dry LAND
farming work Is but begun. There arr
over 10000 acres of such land within
radius of 100 miles of this city which cal
be bought at from SIS to SIS per acre. anC
while the best plan is to put in but one
half the land each year and to let 1t lii
AHiloW Auc next sumner, tne returns iron
single crop will pay the cost.
'One of the favorte wheats now is tn
Alaska wheat, which is now liked by tn
miller. This is the same wheat as tn
Seven-Headed Egyptian wheat raised her
thirty-five or forty years ago, and whc
the millers of that time condemned be
cause it was too hard for their machiner
to grind.
The oats crop is up to its usual aver
age. but 1t Is raised by irrigation, and $
can be depended on. Barley does well O.
the dry-tarmed land and the crop thi
year is up TO the average. The crop raise
mere is principally of the club varietie.
but the farmers are being encouraged I
raise the two-rowed varieties of maltin
barley, especially those near Ogden an
salt Lake City. The expansion OF the dr.
farming method means a wonderful ac
vance in this as well as in wheat crops G
the future"
The Cady Lumber company is now locate
at ALI South 18th H.