Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1913-11-22
ALFALFA AND SILO
ARE COMING
How Success 10 Achieved by Seien-
tif7c Culture of the Soils

BY Lord osiIvy, of Denver Post
Cash crops in any country are sub
ject to great fluctuations in prices
and yields vary very much from year
to year Once a man is well estab-
iished he can view short crops and
low prices, if not with pleasure, at
least with the assurance that the
average of several years in gooo
country will yield him fair return
The settler in a new country has
first to establish himself and subslst
before he can feel Independent, and
while this may occasionally result
from a bumper crop of wheat, expe-
rience has shown this to be the ex-
ception- >
An experience Of 40 years with set
tiers, both under irrigation and other
conditions, has shown me that 1t Is
the man who makes the maintenance
Of himself. family and stock his first
consideration, who succeeds oftenest,
not the one who goes after an imme-
date cash return from crops sold
from the farm. The latter is all in
when a bad year comes; the farmer
can grow another crop and reap much
of the results of the work of the year
before Dry farming is a difficult
proposition. otherwise land would not
be so cheap, and it is only by attack
ing the problem as 1t is that success
can be achieved.
Milk cows chickens and hogs have
enabled farmers to pay for their
farms ever since and before the Allie
ghanies were crossed by our great
waves of settlement. There have al
ways been immense difficulties for
the settler to overcome, though in old
days it was low prices from overabun-
dance, and today the difficulty is to
grow the crops under adverse condi-
lions. Cows, chickens and hogs will
enable a family to live and live well
If given good attention and drouth-
resistant crops are grown for them
instead of putting the whole farm
into wheat and corn. Rye is one OF
those much-abused crops that has
learned to care for itself, and it will
give a good yield under very dry con.
ditions. 1t is not great money max
er, but an insurance. There are two
ends to every dry farming season
and some early and some late crops
will almost insure supply of feed
Barley is a shallow-rooted croI
much benefited by light summer
showers, and well fitted to use the
water that rises by capillarity even
from deep titled ground, but it likes
a firm seed bed at the top. 1t will of
ten succeed where conditions are
very unfavorable for wheat and rye
For later crops that shall insure
feed where corn often fails, there Ii
first Milo maize, which can stand
still and resist a. long dry spell, and
afterwards mature a crop The dwarf
Milos and Kafirs are even surer, as
they have less to make.
ALI of these feeds are good fol
chickens, but for best results, either
fax or sunflower seed should be used
with them to fill the egg basket. The
oil they contain is most valuable tc
the chicken with dry feeds.
Both fax and sunf1owers are good
dry land crops, and well prepared
land will contain enough moisture to
make them in a large part indepen-
dent Of subsequent precipitation The
mammoth sunfiowers are not to be
recommended. They start out to dc
too much business, 9nd are wasteful
of moisture and time. The smaller
ones or wild ones well cultivated
will make large quantities of seed
For quickly grow roughage, there
are the canes in great variety. Sow
the kind that has given the best re
suits in your neighborhood, and in
this and all canes, if possible, use
homegrown seed. That part of the
cane which we desire to be sure OF
should be planted thin and given ex
ira care for an insurance of wi:.te1
feed. Alfalfa, the silo, and other
good things will come if only the first
year or two can be tided over, and
expenses kept down and the history
of the settlement of the dry lands
will repeat that of those with more
rainfall even though the problem II
more difficult