The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1913-04-23

lem, which when once solved will
iuinish new homes for the homeless
and green fields and waving
grain will supplant what Is now
desert waste.
- my mind this big problem has
ueen solved satisfactorily. it only
remains TO be told how it is done.
have been among the hard ones to
become convinced. as l was raised
on and still own and operate an
irrigated rarm and thoroughly un-
derstand the uses and benefits of
water when applied to growing
crops. After havign seen the Spald-
ing Deep Filling Machine in opera
ton. thoroughly pulverizing the
hardest ground to a depth of IL
Inches or more, my interest WAS
awakened and l began to do some
thinking i'll a way l had not done
before.
Close 70 our irrigated farm, but
above irrigating canals, was a fine
tract of level prairie sod land un-
claimed because it could not be
irrigated. 1t occurred to me that II
this deep plowing was what 1t ap-
peared TO be and would do what 1t
was claimed to do. l intended to in
vest in some raw. dry prairie sod
land. So after making exhaustive
inquiries 1 finally wrote to the
Spalding Deep Tilling Machine Co.
to know If they would send me
deep tiller ON trial. which they
did. My machine arrived in May
1910. We began blowing immed-
lately with the idea of getting as
many acres planted to beans as pos
sible. The ground was unusually
hard and dry. No moisture had
fallen for several months. The wind
blew a fog Of dust on the plowman.
We stuck to 1t and planted nearly
thirty acres to beans. few OF
these were planted when a nice rain
fsn snd filled the deep seed
~ -thassushty vikh moisture. We
plowed two tracts of land. the first
about eight inches deep.
Just as we were beginning the
second land. Mr.. Spalding's agent
or representative arrived Oh the
scene and explained that we were
not plowing deep enough; that we
should plow. not less than twelve
inches deep to derive the accumulat-
ed benefits of real blowing. We took
his advice and plowed the rest ac-
cording to his directions. This al
SO was planted to beans exactly as
the other had been. All was culti-
waited twice and given precisely the
same treatment. At harvest time
the twelve inch plowed ground gave
a yield of over fifteen hundreds
pounds per acre, whereas the eight
inch plowed ground gave a yield
of less than half as much.
The winter of 1911 was very Sc
we're and May was upon US before
we could plow. 1 examined my
ground and found it thoroughly
loose and moist. 1 double disked
it and sowed fifty pounds of feed
barley per acre and without touch
ing it until the binder began its
work, we threshed exactly 60 bush
els per acre; the best yield for the
county. None of this land has ever
been irrigated and need never
be, If plowed twelve inches or
more.
1 have written in detail SO the
exact condition could be the more
easily understood. My experience
has forced me to believe that deep
plowing solves the big problem of
how to grow crops without irriga-
ton; so firmly do 1 believe this. l
now have five Spalding Deep Till
ing Machines and a Hart-Parr trac-
ton engine and am making plans to
cultivate more than a thousand
acres of this prairie land above ir-
rigating canals and now covered
with thick sod, but which will yield
bountifully, II only plowed deep
enough to allow storage room for
enough moisture to mature crop.