The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1912-06-22
HARVESTING OATS AND PLANTING
LEG LUMINOUS CROPS IN
THE SOUTH

BY G. n. ALroRp Of the n Service Bureau
1t is now time to plan for the har-
yesting Of our oat crop. If we do not
own good moving machine, or better
still, good binder, now is the time
TO buy one The cradle is too slow
and the waste when using a cradle is
enormous.
One binder viii harvest from 80
TO 100 eight acres per day. One
or more farmers I'm every neighbor-
! hood should own good binder. The
binder will generally pay for itself In
one season.
A moving machine will often do
! the work for several farmers in a
neighborhood. Where one farmer can
not afford to buy mower for his own
use, several farmers can purchase one.
| One farmer will often find ii profitable
70 own mower or binder and work
for his neighbors at a reasonable price.
/ Now is the time 60 get our mowers
/ and binders ready for work Let us
| sharpen the sickles, oil the bearings
and test the machines on the grass be-
! fore our oats are ready TO cut II is
| also advisable to have an extra binder
tongue a Knife, and several extra wings
| and arms for the reel ready beforehand
for repairing breakages.
/ We should harvest our oat crop early.
/ Cutting should begin as soon As about
IS per cent Of the field has turned
| yellOw--iust rs soon as all the grain is
in the dough stage, oats should nou
be cut while wet from dew or rain.
There should be thresher in every
neighborhood for threshing all kinds
of seeds such as oats, wheat, rye,
barley, kanir corn, sorghum, grass
seed, beans, and peanuts.
Many farmers will find it profitable
10 own a thresher for use OH their own
farms and they can at the same time
/ be of great service 20 their neighbors
by threshing for them at reasonable
price.
The oats should be threshed as soon
as possible, but should not be threshed
when grain is wet from either rain
or dew
store oats I'M bulk and not over three
feet deep. BE sure and examine grain
] daily for at least three weeks and
turn with shovel, II there are any indi.
4 cations Of heating.
The packed. crusted soil should not
I be exposed 10 the suns rays single
| day after oats are cut. We should use
a disk harrow and make the surface
! for two or three inches as fine as
possible for a cowpea, SOY bean or
peanut crop, By the use of the disk
i harrow. we can thoroughly prepare
several acres OF stubbe land every day
for these crops At this season Of the
year We are usually very busy and are
often unable to spare the necessary
time to break the stubble land with
plow
These legumnons crops are valuable
on account of the nitrogen and the
humus-making organic matter they
contain. when they are harvested To
be fed 10 live stock, nearly half the
nitrogen and humus-making materials
are left In the roots and la the bottom
81 tine stems and in the leaves, and
other portions Of the plants not oh.
taincd In gathering the crops The
rcsultsof the Calhoun, La, experiment
station show that one acre Of Spanish
peanuts grown on poor pine land con
ianed 1902 pounds OF nitrogen; an acre
81 coWpeas, los pounds; and an acre Of
SOY beans, 100 pounds These crops
made from two Ia three and half tons
Of feed stun. richer in food elements
than wheat bran When such feed
lstuff can be grown after oats and fed