The Raymer enterprise., 1912-05-16
SUMMER TITLED CROPS
Dry Farming Had Serious Back
set in Past Two Years.

Fair Crop Could Have Been RaIsee
Had Campbell System Of TIIllns
and Storing Of Rainfall Been
w Pot Into Practice. =
In the last two or three years dr1
farming has had the worst backset II
many seasons or 1;khaps since the Sc
res Of unusually sYyears In the earl,
nineties. Howeg 5we have had bp'
few II any year, skxwhich fair cSoI
could not have aap grown BY ths
Campbell system n sumner tlline
one half Of the land every year and
storing the rainfall. thereby utilizing
the moisture OF itwo years to produce
one crop, writes v. H. Hamilton In the
Denver Field and Farm. Ending with
1907 we had series Of years OF more
than normal rainfall and In some DRY
districts the fall wheat averaged about
twenty bushels the acre and this BY
very poor methods Of farming. Then
in 1908 spring rains we're light and
crops generally were failure. so that
tie farmers did not harvest them. but
plowed the land during the early sum
mer for the next years crop.
With a good supply Of moisture that
fall and the nsyt spring boomer
crop was harys.ted IA 1909 averaging
twenty-five to takty bushels and In
some fields up 40 nearly nifty bushels
the acre. Then Ia 1910 wheat aver.
aged about to. .y,csAels ar acre with
many total falaasA One field Of 100
acres on Gunt frel Hill In Boulder
county that was summer titled In 1903
averaged BOX bushels the acre. while
an adjoining neld was total failure.
Another field across the corner was
moved for hay, while sull another ad.
Joining field made nineteen bushels
and another ten bushels. Then Q ield
Of abou. 200 acres two miles from the
first field was summer titled In 1909
and made an average OF twenty-six
bushels, while the average Of the
whole district was only about ten bush.
els. This goes to show that the short
crops Of 1910 were not 80 much the
fault OF the climate as TO the slack
n ethods Of farming.
Now that We have had liberal
amount OF snow this winter and Nring.
the dry farmer .ghould get busy -
double disk all ',latd not already In
crops, just as soon as the ground is
dry enough to work. Disking will put
the surface IN scndition so that the
rains will be T.oie readily absorbed,
and In case the g ather should be dry
and windy It vic prevent evaporation.
Last spring tiisscd part Of field In
March. then eaily In May We listed the
field in corn Tile part that was disked
was In fine condition with moisture
fourteen inches deep. while the part
not disked was go dry and hard we
could hardly list It at all. The dlsked
part made good growth with small
ear on nearly every stalk. while that
not disked never got more than foot
high the season long. Every one farm.
Ing on the seiniarid plains where the
average precipitation Is less than
eighteen Inches should carefully sum-
mer till part OF their land every year.
because ordinary methods or the way
they farm back east will fail about
one year In two.
What is meant by summer tilling ia
to disk after the binder or at least re-
move the sr1u as soon as possible.
then double sis'< which should be done
again in IL. pring as soon as the
frost is on, : s-yMaand and 1t s dry
enough to w,iqIthJj 2 not disk too
deep. not more >,yIthree inches.
Then plow during Ldne or early July
not less than six inches nor more than
eight, using the packer every half day
after the plow and the harrow every
night. The subsurface packer should
be used while the soil is moist, or It
will not pack the under part OF the fur.
row slice sufficiently to make good con.
nection with the subsoil. The reason
for not plowing unirrigated lands deep
er than eight inches is that In order
TO obtain good results the plowed part
must have good connection with the
subsoil. for no packer yet devised will
firm the under part sufficiently. The
air spaces in the plowed soil will break
the capillary attraction from below,
SO that no matter how much moisture
Is stored It will be of no use to the
growing crop unless there should come
a soaking rain that would settle all
the plowed part exclude the surplus
air and restore connection with the
subsoil. We must do with the sub.
surface packer what nature often fails
to do in the arid region. In summer
tilling do not plow too early as It
would then be more difiicult to keep
the weeds down.