The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1912-02-01

because there MAS no opportunity |
| for him to branch out In Wisconsin, |
he made trip to the west and thought |
that he would make trial of raising |
wheat in the Judith basin country. |
When he arrived there nine years ago
he had about $4,000. He first bought |
a steam outfit costing $4,000, which
proved TO be no good and almost .
complete loss, as at that time engines
and steam plows we're yet in their in |
fancy; so that when he started in he
really had $4,000 in cash and $4,000 in
steam engine experience. The first
year he put in 200 acres with horses; it
made 35 bushels to the acre. He was
encouraged by this yield to go further,
so in 1904 he purchased another steam
outfit and put in 200 acres u fall wheat
and 200tacres Of spring wheat The
winter wheat made 40 bushels to the
acre, which demonstrated to him that
winter wheat wrs better to raise than
spring wheat. In 1905 he kept on
breaking and buying bigger machinery,
which he has since continued TO do.
Mr.. Strouf is using principally the
disc pillow for breaking, but says that
he believes the moldboard would be
great deal better. They start break
ing as early as possible in the spring
with the engines pulling leveler or
heavy planker AS soon as a section
of land is plowed they turn around
with the engine outfit and cross-plow
or check-plow it; that is, blowing it at
right angles to the way it was first
plowed This second time the plows
are set deeper, and behind them are
pulled double discs and spike tooth
harrow This chops up the sod and
leaves an even, uniform seed bed; so
that the seed is sown on summer-fal-
lowed sod land.
Mr.. Strouf believes in always sum
mer following old ground. He does
this by blowing deep in June, harrow
ing several times during the summer
and seeding the wheat early in the
fall. The breaking on this ranch is
done as early in the spring as possible,
so that it amounts to sowing the wheat
on summer-fallowed sod. Another i'm
portant item in Mr.. Stroufs opinion in
the summer-fallow is keeping out all
weeds and wild oats, as the latter is
becoming a serious weed in the Judith
basin country.
81 SOW bushel of winter wheat per
acre." says Mr.. Strouf. "When l
started in | sowed half-bushel but l
noticed in the spring it would stool
out very much, and when it came to
cutting, the first heads would be ripe
while the heads on the side would still
be green, giving me one-half ripe
heads and the other half green heads.
When | SOW now, | SOW bushel to the
acre; get just as much wheat and it
ripens evener; it doesn't stool out as
much, but the main straws produce
heads at the same time which ripen
evenly. | will always SOW one bushel,
especially now that use the combined
harvester. Single-disc drills are used,
and try to drill as deep as possible;
two inches is not too deep"
On the Strouf wheat ranch the
wheat is sown as early in the fall as
possible. If it makes too rank a growth
in the fall, stock are turned on it so as
to pasture it down. Good results have
been obtained on this ranch occasional
| ly by the late seeding. Mr.. Strouf
says he sees no difference between the
wheat sown on October Is and that
sown just before freezing up in the
fall, as this late sown wheat does not
make any growth in the fall and makes
the entire growth the next season.
The harvesting on this ranch was
carried on with binders and threshing
machine in the old way until this year,
when he bought combined harvester
and thresher and averaged "a acres
/ per day for 278 days run. The wheat
| which was sown thickly ripened evenly
and uniformly and he got excellent re-
suits from his combined harvester and
, is very enthusiastic over the same.
The wheat is hauled Is miles to mar
ket with the engine, taking about two
thousand bushels at trip.
-Lewistown (Montana) Daily News.
Mr.. Strouf is well known in the
northern part of the county, and his
old time friends will read the above
: article with pleasure. He is an uncle
of Assemblyman a. D. Strouf.