Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1911-07-13
"PaV Dirt"


he worked only where there was
pay dirt" that is, dirt that
when washed furnished a suffi'
Gent amount of gold to pay him
for his work. When he haG
Staked out a claim in which he
knew beyond a question that
there was pay dirt, he never
gave it up until he had exhausted
it.
There is pay dirt on almost
every acre of land in the Mississ-
ippi valley, in some more and
some less, the amount depend
ing the skill of the farmer in
getting the pay out of the dirt;
for among gold farmers as among
gold washers, some men by
greater skill will get more pay
out of the same dirt than others.
Would it not be we'll, as oppor-
tunity offers, for the farmer to
look his farm over carefully,
every part of it, and ask whether
the dirt which is really pay dirt
is actually paying him. How
about those swales or sloughs or
ponds? In many cases there is
more pay in this water-soaked
dirt than in any other part OF
the farm. Are you getting the
pay out of it? If not, why not;
and how can it be made to pay?
There is but one answer to
this, speaking in a general way;
and that is drainage, and in
ninety-nine out of a hundred
cases tile drainage. Given a fit
outlet, sufficient fall, hard tile
laid true with an even fall, and
a soil reasonably porous, and
there is no doubt whatever but
that thing will pay. There are
hard-pan lands of which we
would speak with less confidence.
These, however, are not in lands
on river bottoms nor in sloughs
such as are found over nine
tenths of our territory. Hence,
the way to get pay out of this
best paying dirt is to tile drain.
Until you can do this, keep these
lands as we'll as overflow lands,
which, however rich, may not
pay every year, in grass. The
grasses that will suit you best
are timothy and alsike clover, or
if the land is very wet, timothy
and red-top. We do not like to
red-top, however, for
we fear you will not cut it until
after the seed is ripe, and get it
scattered over the dry portions of
your farm, where it becomes a
troublesome weed.
You may have somewhere on
your farm a gravelly knoll. You
have been blowing that until it
ceased to produce crops. You
have taken out of it all the pay
there really is in it, and you are
fencing it and paying taxes on
it with no corresponding profit.
The best thing you can do with
this is to apply a coating of ma
nure, get it down to grass and
keep it there. You would better
let cattle eat the gras than to I'M
iertake to grow corn on that kind
Of land.
An Iowa correspondent writes
rs that he has possession of a
farm located on the breaks of a /
river, that has been worn out
BY blowing and tilling without
variation, till a corn crop is an
mpossibility, and the sod where
t has been allowed to go back is
very thin. The oats are thin, and
clover is missing on a great deal
more. There are places where
wen weeds will not grow. Is
here anything that can be sown
that will inoculate the soil for
growing clover?"
Now, we suspect that not a few
IF our readers in the drier sec
ions of the country have more
,r less acreage of this kind of
and. Our correspondents land
S in southern Iowa, in what is
Known as the Kansas glaciation,
,ut which in his section, with
which we are very familiar, was
,uce covered with a coating of
cess. This has been washed off
ind blown of by repeated Guilt
vatiou in corn, and he is upl
against a hard proposition. 1t
night have been pay dirt; was
Jay dirt when the country was
irst settled; grew splendid blue
yrass and white clover, but will
rot grow 1t now.
Our correspondent asks IL
sweet clover viii act as a medi-
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