The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1910-07-21
Crop Report

returned from q "Trip thru Montana
and Washington with the Northern
Pacific "Better Farming train, states
that they have had the driest summer
since they started in farming, having
had no rain since the middle of April,
yet in spite of this the crops are look
ing fine in many sections where they
are practicing the dry farming meth
DDS.
In the. Gallatin Valley in Montana
the bottom lands are irrigated and of
course they raise big crops, but the
bench lands that cannot be reached by
water are also farmed by the dry farm
ing methods and while the rainfall is
less than in North Dakota, yet where
they had practiced the good tillage
they had enough water stored up in
the soil to carry the crop thru to ma
turity. Considerable winter wheat is
raised there and the crop is in very
good condition. Spring wheat and
oats were not looking so good and yet
they will produce a good crop in spite
of the dry weather. Their methods
there are to summer fallow every other
other year and in summer following to
stir the ground occasionally so as to
keep up the soil mulch. In other words
they aim to catch all the rain that falls
by deep blowing and to let none escape
by stirring the surface. In this section
if they should try to raise a crop ev-
cry year the wheat would not yield
over seven Or eight bushels per acre,
but by growing a crop every other
year the yields run from twenty to
forty.
In the Palouse country of Washing
ton it has been equally dry this sum-
mer, yet the crops that have been
grown according to dry farming meth
DDS are in fine condition, while those
that have been handled carelessly are
almost a failure. The usual rain fall
in this section is over twenty inches.
At Ritzville the rain fall is from ten
to twelve inches. Here again dry
farming methods are bringing about
fair crops, altho it is working under
very severe conditions and no attempt
is made to grow a crop only every
other year.
These CROP conditions in the face of
the very dry summer should be parti-
cularly encouraging to us in North
Dakota and emphasizes the need of
storing up moisture SO as to have a
supply,o of it in the ground that will
carry a crop thru a considerable port
ion of the summer without rain. Many
sections of this state are now suffering
from a lack of such preparation. The
writer in going thru the state saw sew
eral fields that we're burned up for the
want of moisture. He also noticed
some fields that would have a very
good crop while the adjoining n
would be practically a failure, and
the good crop would be grown on corr
land. In those sections where the
grain had been completely dried up
corn and potatoes were yet doing nice
ly where they were free from weeds.
In some cases when weedy the corn
was willing.
The teachings of the experts in Mon
tana and Washington on the '''Better
Farming" special train was to this eff
feet: fall pillow and pillow deep, harrow
early in the spring, grow a cultivated
crop, follow this with grain crop and
where the rainfall is over fifteen inches
this should be followed with a crop Of
clover. They claim that the growing
of a crop of corn was as good as sum-
mer following and were advocation
this method of saving moisture. They
also emphasized the need of killing
weeds, as these r large users of
moisture as we'll as plant food. Where
the soil would drift easily they recom-
!, mended using the disc in producing
the soil mulch as it would leave the
, ground rougher than the harrow and
would not blow so easily.
The soil in North Dakota is fully as
: rich and fully as retentive of moisture
as in either Of these states and the
rainfall is sufficient to grow good
crops, provided it is not allowed to
escape either by running off when it
: comes down in a heavy rain or by
, evaporating from the SOILS surface.
Another thing that needs to be given
especial attention in our North Da-
. kota farming is the getting rid OF
weeds, and there is no better way tic
do this than by growing corn or by
summer following. In growing corn,
however, a valuable crop is secured
> and it practically assures a good cror
= next year, if it is clean cultivated
Another practice that some farmers
have been trying is to keep narrowing
their grain until it heads out, and the,
have done so with much success
n This would seem to be a little rough