American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-07-29
HOW STINSON
HAS MADE GOOD

ka0 -
tension schools held in this vicinity
last winter one of the speakers who
attracted much attention from the
farmers attending, was j. S. Stinson,
farmer and dairyman living near
Nampa. Mr.. Stinson's great hobby
In all his addresses last winter was
h dairy question and how best
to produce a satisfactory feed for
the herd. AS a first aid to his
proposition he preached the gospel
OF the silos and how and what to
grow for ensiiage. This naturally
led him on to a discussion of soils
and how to handle them to the best
and most lasting advantage. When
Stinson told the farmers of this
part of Idaho that he could grow as
good corn here as any of the middle
west states grow; that he could
even harvest two crops of grain
from his Adobe land zeal Narnpa;
when he told them that corn plant
ed in June had developed such a
tonnage that from three and a half
acres he had an abundance to fill
a fifty ton silo; when he told them
that his twenty acres supported
twenty-five head of Jerseys, two
horses, and a few hogs, there were
a good many significant looks ex-
changed between farmers listening
to him. And in Stinson's own town
OF Nampa not very long ago we ran
into a farmer who informed us and
offered to prove it that any man
who paid $4,000 per head for
Jersey heifers was a fool and that
any man who would give a chattel
mortgage to put over such a deal
was crazy and he knew IL. We
have met a number of such farmers
during the past two months and
knowing Stinson to be a mighty good
man. one whose services to the ag-
ricultural extension department have
been invaluable and personally ap-
preciating Mr.. Stinson's %acquaint-
ance we decided that perhaps we
had better investigate the situation
and let in a little light for the
benefit of the skeptics.
The Crazy Man ut Work.
1t was a very warm afternoon
when we walked the two miles from
Nampa up to Mr.. Stinson's ranch.
Exactly as We expected we found
Stinson down in the field with the
hoe, working, to beat the band,
planting seed. In every direction
the first thing that meets the gaze
of the visitor is the evidence of
Stinson's insanity. In a corral we're
twenty Of the finest Jersey cows
and heifers we have seer in many a
month. In another direction were
W of the largest English Berk-
shire sows in Idaho and rompine
about the pen were twenty eight
fine little pigs. Stinson told us that
last fall he dressed a hog out of
that per which went over 500
pounds, enough to run his asylum
all winter and into midsummer.
And inasmuch as we know that our
readers are anxious to know every
stage of this mans hysteria and
what the results have been we will
tell it to you as we saw 1t and in
spected it.
Mr.. Stinson purchased these TWEEN
ty acres of adobe land about four years
g AND h veal previous to his ac-
quiring the place 1t yielded thirteen
bushels of wheat per acre and about
one ton of alfalfa. AS we walked
through the field with Mr.. Stinson We
passed through a field of alfalfa which
on April 26th measured full thirty
inches in height. Thick on the ground
and In every respect we believe the
best alfalfa we have ever seen. This
alfalfa vas i'm its second year being
sown on ground previously passed
through a system of rotation I'm which
wheat, oats and vetch had peer used.
The twenty acres has been plated In.
to tracts, so that his system of rotatio..
is easily kept track of and accom-
plished. For instance, i'm 1914 a tract
was sown into oats vetch and peas.
This crop was cut off the middle or
June. Immediately following this the
field was irrigated, then plowed and
put into good shape, and three and
one-half acres Of it put into Minnesota
Chief sweet corn. the planting beins
actually done the lest week In June.
This three and a half acres produced
more than enough ensilage fodder to
fill Mr.. Stinson's fifty ton silo. This
field has now been sown to alfalfa
and on the day we saw the field the
alfalfa was fully ten inches high. And
thus Mr.. Stinson has demonstrated
that alfalfa may be sown as a crop
following a corn crop and do well.
Immediately adjoining this field is
a field OF alfalfa three years old into
which considerable clover has ONE
This field will yield Mr.. Stinson two
cuttings for feed this season and thei.
after the third crop has grown up 1t
will be plowed under as a soilage
crop. His plan of rotation is so ar
ranged that each year one field of al
falfa is turned under and in its place