Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-11-04
DAILY HINTS ON
FARM TOPICS
By (. A. Kirkpatrick
FERTILIZERS and When to Apply.

! 1t Is doubtful whether Muscatine
! county soil yet needs fertilizers to
grow good crops Of winter wheat, II
| the crop is grown In rotation such rs
has been suggested. Who're light APP
plications OF barnyard manure are
applied once In four or hve years,
good crops ought 70 be produced.
Sour land should receive an applica-
| ton OF from two to six tons of raw
ground lime rock per acre. Phos-
phorus fertilizers have been found
beneficial In some cases. The grower
should experiment before applying to
| large areas.
Kind Of Wheat to Use.
Only good, clean, well-graded seed.
Of a well-established variety Of
wheat, should be used. flaming
should be called into use In order
! that only the plumpest, heaviest kerr
nels may be used for seeding pur-
poses. Homegrown seed Is the best,
ifit is pure. Farmers can keep their
seed pure II they will keep the
ground clean on which the wheat Is
grown, use fan, and 60 through the
| field from which the seed Is to be
| gotten before harvcst-time and pick
out any foreign varieties of wheat or
rye. Only small area needs to be
gone over In order to get start OF
clean. pure seed. In case this cannot
be done, 1t would be advisable to OBJ
tain enough clean, pure seed from the
Mate experiment station in order to
make start.
Varieties.
The Iowa experiment station, in a
| series of experiments covering the
fve-year period from 1906 to 1910.
found the following varieties best In
the order that they are named here:
Malakoff, Imported Turkestan, Min.
pesota No. 529, Turkey Red, Khar.
kove, Big Frame, Budapest, Poster.
OGDEN The Illinois station, In Sc
ries OF experiments covering num-
Der OF years, found Turkey Red the
highest producer, with Dawson's Col
den Chan taking second place. The
Illinois station reports that Malakofl
and Kharkove are very similar to
Turkey Red in all appearance and
performance.
Amount OF Seed Per Acre.
Amount Of seed per acre varies In
different seasons and under different
conditions. The usual amount is
from 4 bushel to a bushel and three
fourths. The Iowa station has got
ten good results with one and one
half bushels. Winter wheat Is usu-
ally sown thinner than spring wheat,
because 1t stools more readily.
Best Time for Seeding.
II one sows early, there is moro
likely to be trouble from the Hessian
/ fly. Late sowing Is thought 10 en-
courage winter injury. 1t IL the be-
lief OF the writer that best results
| will be gotten from very early or
| from very late sowing. II the He's
sian fly does not attack the fif1st SOW
Ing, best results will undoubtedly
come from 1t. In case the Hessian
| fly has been bad in the neighborhood,
the sowing should be put on as late
as possible, 50 that the wheat will not
yet begin to stool when 1t goes into
| the winter. The Iowa station recon-
mends sowing four to five weeks be.
fore killing frost where the Hessian
| fly is not common In the neighbor-
hood. Late August and early Sep
| tenn Der are counted proper times for
early seeding, while late September
and early October are proper times
l kOE lHI0 0SCuluk.
Treat Seed for Smut.
It Is essential to treat the seed
grain for smut before sowing It. Use
one pound of formaline to forty gal
Ions OF water. This will treat about
fifty bushels. The grain may be
spread on a clean floor and sprinkled
and stirred and then mounted into a
cone and covered with carpets or
blankets for twelve to twenty-four
hours. The, cover may then be re-
moved and the grain spread out to
! dry for 4 half day to q day before
! sowing.
Secure Copy Of Wheat Bulletin.
All farmers who are interested in
| growing winter wheat should secure
copy Of Bulletin No. 1873 Of ! the
iowa State Agricultural experiment
station. This bulletin shows that the
money return from winter wheat Is
even greater than It Is from corn.
The results OF Ave years Of expert
ments with winter wheat at the State
college are given. This bulletin can
te obtained at the Crop improvement
| association Office, or by writing di-
rect to the director Of the agriculture
hal experiment station. Ameg. II.