The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1915-12-24
SEED GROWING.

At this time, when so many land
owners in the valley are favorably
considering the idea of commercial
seed growing, we could hardly give
the following on pea growing for the
seed, from the pen of c. w. II. Held
eman, than whom there is not a more
reliable authority upon the subject in
the entire country. The article was
written for the Kootenai Valley Times
published at Bcnners Ferry, Idaho:
There is no seed crop of greater I'M
pOrtance to the farmers of the Inland
Empire considered in all it's phases;
as a money making crop; as soil en-
richers; and it's position in well
planned rotation system, than field and
garden peas.
Soil.
A wide variety of soils will produce
peas, but for the best results clay
loan which is not in an acid condition
is best adopted for seed peas. The
leverage tillable soils of the logged off
land areas of the Inland Empire are
admirably adapted to the growing of,
yield and quality, of peas. The place
of peas in rotation is that they may be
followed with the ordinary vegetable
seed crop or on larger scale with
crops such as cereals
Seed Bed.
Fall plOying is recommended to be
followed in the spring by disc or har-
row. You cannot fit your soil too well
for seeding. Thorough fitting of the
soil increases the yield and makes the
harvesting conditions that much bet
ter. 1t is a mistaken notion that peas
can be grown successfully on poor
soil. The soil must be fertile enough
to produce good crop of potatoes or
corn. Intense fertility, on the other
hand produces a luxuriant growth of
vines at the expense of the seed crop.
Planting.
The planting of all varieties, early
and late, should be done as early i'm
the spring as the fitting of the soil
will permit. Late planting may sue
coed when the weather conditions at
the blooming period are just richt If
extremely hot weather ensues at this
critical time the pods do not fill we'll.
For seed purposes the seed must be
absolutely pure, as any mixture at this
time will result in an increased mix
ture in your crop. Unles it is positively
known that the soil is already inocu-
lated with the nitrogen gathering bac-
terra, the seed must be inoculated with
the cultures which can now be obtain
ed from various sources. The Agricul-
tural College at Moscow, Idaho, last
spring supplied cultures to planters
of Idaho at five cents per acre plus
. ostagc. Seed houses have been SELL
ing these cultures at from two to three
dollars per acre which seems an eX-
horbitant price. There can no longer
be any argument in regard to these
fegume bacterial cultures They do
the business.
When the acreage is small planting
can be done by hand or with any of
the garden seed planters, such as Plan
ct Jr., No. 6, which is a most excellent
tool and should be used with it's COM
binations by all seed growers. On a
large scale planting is done with an
ordinary grain seed drill by stopping
distance in the rows. From 10 inches
up enough holes to give the required
in hand cultivation to % inches for
horse cultivation will give satisfactory
results. From 100 pounds of the large
wrinkled sorts to so pounds of the
small round varieties is sufficient
where planting in rows. The depth of
planting varies of course with condi-
tons and nature of the soil but from