The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-07-24
ENRICH The SOIL
Farms Under the Hill Regime Near
Sank Centre
SOME EXPERIMENTS
Experimental Five Acre Plats Are
Coming Along Nicely With
Excellent Promise

The experimental plats of five acres
each, under the auspices of JAS J.
Hill, the Great Northern Railway
Magnate, sown to different kinds of
grain last spring, are showing excel
lent results in the vicinity of Sank
Centre.
1t will be remembered that Mr..
Hill proposed to furnish the neces-
sary seed for these experiments, pro-
vided the farmers would follow Mr..
Hills instructions in the matter of
enriching and preparing the ground,
sowing, cultivating etc. The fertili-
zers used on the different plots were
those selected by Mr.. Hill and were
sold to the farmers, Mr.. Hill paying
them for the use of the land. The
financial agreement was such that the
farmers making the experiments were
not out of pocket any.
Four farms in the vicinity of Sank
Centre were chosen for these expert
ments, namely those of Anton Zerbus,
Henry Borgmann, Frank Pescheck
and Harry Hooper. Barley was
sown on the farms Of
Messrs. Zerbus and Borgmann, wheat
on Mr.. Hooperss farm and and oats
on Mr.. Pescheck's farm. Mr.. Pes
check also seeded plot with alfalfa.
| This week a representative of The
| Herald inspected each of these plats,
examined them closely and herewith
submits a report. Mayor John n.
McGibbon, who has been and is en-
thusiastic in this matter, arranged
for transportation to the different
farms. A number of Sank Centre
citizens went along, there being four
automobile loads making the trip to
Mr.. Borgmann's farm.
Mr.. Zerbus has the finest piece of
barley ever seen. Mr., Borgmahn's
barley is also very fine but that on
Mr.. Zerbus' land gives promise Of
yielding five or ten bushels more per
acre than that being grown on Mr..
Borgmans's lani. This may be due
in part to the fact that Mr.. Zerbus'
land is new and Mr.. Borgmann's old
err. Alongside each five acre expert
mental plat are five acres raised the
way farmers usually raise grain. The
fertilizers used by the two gentlemen
on their land for the barley expert.
ment is 400 pounds of phosphate and
400 pounds of nitrogen for the five
acre tract. The adjoining piece is en-
riched with barnyard manure. The
contrast is very marked in the re-,
suits of the two methods of culture.
Indications are for nearly twice the
yield on the plats cultivated by the
Hill method and those cultivated in
the ordinary way. Mr.. Borgmann
sowed his own plat the 18th of April
and the Hill plat May 9Th. About
the same difference in the dates of
sowing occurred on Mr.. Zerbus' land.
Mr.. Hooper's Hill wheat plat is
''Daisy', far exceeding in appearance
and promise his own five acres. Mr..
Hills instructions were followed to
the letter. The same general condi-
tion is noted in the plats on Mr.. Pes
checks farm. The alfalfa expert
ment is coming along in good shape.
1t takes longer however. to get alfalfa
under way, the second season being
the time when definite results are
produced.
The results of the experiments thus
far are exceedingly gratifying and
prove that scientific farming pays.
Every farmer should visit these plats
and be convinced. ...