American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-12-09

veriZed surfaces How too easily. Be-
sides We have learned that it is rather
the air blanket held by the surface
that prevents evaporation, rather than
finely divided dust particles. When
the harrow fails to get the weeds get
some kind of weeder. In general, the
simpler the implement the more ef-
fective and economical 1t is. l do not
believe one should be content with less
than four harrowings a season. On
some big ranches a harrow 10 kept go-
ing continuously all summer long. 1t |
pays.
There are many different opinions as |
to time and depth and treatment OF
soil at seeding. 1t may be consider
ed safe practice to seed as late as
possible and at the same time consist
ent with fair fall growth. In general,
late seeding seems to produce small
er percentage of yellow brrry in wheat
than early seeding and thus increas-
es the milling value Of the crop. II
is considered a safer policy to seed as
near as possible to the period of
late fall rain. The ground in level and
windy countries should be left as
rough as possible for wintering The
rough surfaces catch and hold snow
and expose large area Of soil tc
freezing and thawing. The depth OF
seeding should be determined absolute
/ ly by the amount of moisture and the
weight of the soil. AS rule much
moisture and heavy soil go together
and here shallow seeding can be prac-
tised advantageously while in light,
drier soils the seed should be placed
deeper. If the drill leaves the grain
exposed it should most certainly be
covered even to the sacrifice of de-
stroying a rough surface. An early
narrowing of fall or spring crops OF
any kind is not harmful up to the time
there is a four to six inch stand. How
ever, crrugated roller is far su-
perior instrument here in that 1t both
packs and crushes with the least pos
sible injury to plants Everything
should be done to secure a firm and
even solid seed bed and a corrugated
roller will pay for itself many times
over in one season especially on new
land.
~ Weeds along fences and roads arc
handled easily in settled countries, but
present a serious problem in newly
developed sections. The best system
seems to be to plow the weeds under
J along the fences and cultivate this
! using a hoe on what weeds are missed
: If occasional weeds are left in the
= field hoe can be applied profitably
- to these also. Thoroughness is the
y slogan to adopt here. In some sections
S all the farmers have agreed to raise {
d crop of rye or the like for hay aloni
: fences and road ways. This has alst
# worked out very beneficial to the farm
ers. Summing up a good one crol
: summer fallow system for dry liant
e farmers includes the following essen
i tial operations:
e /. Fall dscing of stubble lef
o rough.
d 2. Deep, early spring plowing fol
y lowed up Immediately by
u 3. Harrowng twice.
g 4. And continued narrowing thr
"a the summer, the time and frequency I
II be determined by sound judgment a
Is to what well balanced economy OF Ia
ie Dor and crop production means. Re
re member that a good job Of harrowin
s' conserves moisture that deep plowin
III oh. off tbrnnp
50 evaporation and that frequent harrow
al ng also assists the liberation OF plar
es food through chemical action and III
growth of bacteria by exposing ne
u surfaces of soil TO heat and light.
e. 5. A good job of plowing the see
a In the ground early enough only
II secure a fair fall growth.
No rule, of course, holds absoluiel
but the principles involved do. and
long as there Is more than one way
-, skin the same cat there will be a va
- iety of ways in arriving al the san
-, place and each farmer will, undoub
edly work out his own problems alor
-. these lines in his own way. There
49, a trick in the trade 10 be learned fro
-. every man and il is fortunate thai
riety finds its way into our farm met
,re ods to spice our lives here also.
-, Much in this is OF course, left u
80 said. Books have been written on I
soil alone and others on practice b
as this may serve as digest Of these.
- I trust that may have the honor
,os addressing another paper TO you. P'
Ion NIT me TO thank you for complimel
- ing me SO highly this time. ask y
INT to pardon the haste characteristic
on this article.
Respectfully,
ne7 W. KJOsNE:
ely