The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1912-09-26
FALL SEEDING.
(By Fl. L. Blanchard, Asslstan 80 H'I Ex
intendant Western Wasn'iie'oi
periment Station.)

Tho farmers general plans Tor Tue
naxt seasons crops ought 10 De oeir
ritalv settled by the time he mas .he
nresent seasons harvest. A system
attic crop rotation, when possible. Is 10
no recommended. as against hapiia%
ard cropping. The greatest ecohonay
in both labor and soil fertility demands
the recognition and the followlne y.
those rules in farm practice. Man.
failures and mediocre successes are
CLEARLY traceable to disregard vi
those rules. rather than to any OF the
various causes that are frequeh.i'
heard but which are purely lhasli-
orv in most cases. Most crops re-
snond very literally to timely pre-.
narration of good seed bed. ny iaI
tho largest percentage OF western
Washington farm lands, lncludlhs
lands not vet converted into farms'
hut that are we'll adapted to some line
of farming. can safely and with great
odvantage be seeded in the fall. Such
seeding will generally produce doupie
and often thrice as mucn as woui''
Snr;np seeding, and makes it possible
oftan to grow two and sometimes
three crops annually on the same land'
whereas. where spring seeding Is ioi-
lowed, the farmer must De coh'e .,a
with n single crop. For example, tne
writer's farm is being cohuucteu w
his son George. We recently vlslted
the farm and discovered that Heorse
was cultivating a field that carry III
August had been partly seeded 10 ,u.-
nips, and partly transplanted 10 ,hou-
sand headed kale. The crop was loon,
ing well and will furnish lots OF leeu
for the dairy and the pigs. Two crops
! had already been harvested from tnis
same field-one for soiling ana one loI
hay. The soling crOp--wheat anu
spring vetch sown together, two push
els of wheat and one bushel or oats
had been cut green and led TO the
dairy herd early in the month OF May.
The second growth, which was as
heavy a crop as was spring seeulhs
near by, was cut late in july and cured
for hay. This shows what can be done
on very fertile soil. On soil not so
fertile the third crop would best De
omitted. Then 1t would be better
practice to disc thoroughly, at once
after harvesting the second crop, IN
order to conserve the moisture (whlch
would be very necessary an ordinary
SEASON. and thus have the ground in
good condition for blowing and seeding
during the month of September or
early in October although later seed
ings will often be found to be very
profitable. Moisture being vital 10
plant growth the most effective utili-
zation of the same becomes one OF
the farmers greatest problems. Ow-
| ing to the excessive and continuous
rains during the summer months, the
drier locations with very large pei
centage of our other soils, Will be
naturally in first-class condition for
fall seeding, whether dscing has been
practiced as before stated or not. and
i the writer would advise the farmers to
do much seeding this fall--the earlier
| the better. The person who needs
succulent feed for his animals in the
spring should have patch of rye and
vetch. to follow the rye and vetch as
soiling crop. For soiling or silage
crops one should use from one-fourth
to one-third more seed per acre, than
is the usual practice, except when
clover or grass seed is sOwn at the
same time as is the grain-when one
and one-half bushels of rye or two
bushels of wheat with fifty to sixty
pounds of spring vetch will be good
seeding on average soil. The clover
and grass will be protected during the
| winter months by the grain growth
and after the removal of the crop for
either soiling or silage purposes. the
clover will, under normal conditions.
make very rapid growth, which with