Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-01-24
KAFIR, THE CORN
FOR THE DRY FARM
viii Mature in Sections Where o.,
binary Corn Would Be Killed
by Drought

Kafir is adapted to sections where In
dian corn, because of a lack of mois-
ture, does not mature grain, and in
sections that have as low as 25
Inches of rainfall, while milo will
give its best results and should be
used instead of Kafir or corn in sec
tons where the rainfall is rs inches
or less and where the altitude and eli
mate are such that Kafir and corn will
not mature
Due to the peculiar characteristics
of Kafr corn. it will mature grain in
sections where the common Indian
corn will be killed by the drought
When the moisture in the soil be-
comes rather low, or reaches the
point where ordinary corn would soon
dry up and die, Kafir shrivels and its
leaves or blades curl up, thus stop
ping the Transportation of water and
the plant remains dormant until rain
comes 1t will then make a new
growth and If the season is long
enough mature some grain Because
of this, it is particularly adapted to
the semi-arid sections. If a farmer
wants to be sure of living one of
the prerequisites is to grow ten or
fifteen acres of Kafir or milo, both
of which are almost sure of producing
some grain, even under the most adj
verse conditions.
To those who are familiar with the
growing of corn it will be sufficient
to say that good corn land is good
Kafir land, but to be more definite,
land that is fertile and under good
state of cultivation will produce best
results when planted to Kafir. In
some cases Kafir has been started on
NO hrr> Ion wit m oil
good results, but these are exceptions,
and not the rule.
If the land has been under cultiva-
ton for some time and the fertility in
the surface soil is badly depleted by
lack of rotation, 1T would be a good
plan to apply stable manure at the
rate of ten or twelve loads to the acre.
Stable manure will not only supply
available plant food but 1t will pre-
vent soil blowing, help to retain the
moisture and give the Kafir a good
start. The seed bed should be thor
oughly prepared and deep blowing in
the fall will be productive of good
results. Especially is this true in sec
tons where the ground is very hard
and has never been plowed to depth
to exceed four or five inches, which
is the case in many sections. After
the land is plowed it should be listed
and left in this condition until spring.
The listed land will help to collect the
snow, retain the moisture and will
prevent wind erosion during the early
weeks of spring.
The land should be narrowed In the
spring just enough to keep down the
weeds and to break whatever crust
that may form on the surface. If it
is narrowed too much there is danger
of considerable soil drifting great
deal of precaution should be taken to
prevent the blowing of the soil.
There are two ways of planting the
Kafir, both of which are successful
listing and surface planting.
If your planter is not already adapt
ed to the planting of Kafir it probably
will be necessary to buy some blank
plate, though which holes should be
bored just far enough apart to give
the right spacing of the seeds for
your section
If your soil Is subject to washing or
is very cold, surface planting will give
you the best results. On the other
hand, if there is not a tendency to
wash and it warns up comparatively
early, the listing will, undoubtedly,
give most profitable returns.
Kafir in western Kansas should be
planted the latter part of May or early
in June. Generally speaking, Kafir
should be planted ten days or two
weeks later than corn In sections
where the rainfall is 80 to 40 inches
the rows should be to 3h feet apart
and the stalks 4 to inches apart in
the rows. In sections where the rain
fall is less than 30 inches best re-
suits have been obtained when the
stalks were ten or twelve inches apart
in the row.
The cultivation of Kafir is very SINH
lar to that of the corn The early
cultivation should be deep, unless
most of the moisture is contained in
the surface of the soil, in which case
1t is best to cultivate it very shallow
and thus save all the moisture pos
sible. 1t is not best, in any case, to
cultivate deep after the Kafir reaches
a height o. ~ to feet Deep cult
walton at that stage and later is apt
to result in the pruning of. the roots
and the decreasing of the yield of
the crop. If we want better results
from our Kafr we can do a great deal
toward obtaining them by careful and
thorough cultivation