Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1916-12-30

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Now we will first plead guilty and
confess that it is much easier to sit
around the fire, or near raised vim
dow in the shade and q nice breeze
smoking cheap cigar with our tens
upon somebody's desk or counter,
and there tell these Country Jays
how they ought to farm, If they
want to raise crops out here in West
ern Kansas. Yes. to all this we must
admit 1t is much easier than it Is to-
crawl out of good bed at day light,
day in and day out, milk eight or
ten cows, feed four hundred and fifty
chickens, feed, groom, harness and
hitch from four to six head of horses
or mules and follow them the season
through, twelve TO fourteen hours
day. But now listen, we are not go
ing to tell you how to farm, in order
that you might reap fair crop of
c orn in a season like 1916, known as a.
corn failure in Ellis and Trego
counties. What we are going to do
is to tell you that Ray Musgraye, IA
years old, raised $50 bushels of good
average corn on 20 acres of prairie
land, or what we mean to convey is
that it was not bottom land but
prairie land of the average western
farm: this 10 acres was leased at Ray
Musgrave's request. After Geo.
Musgraves (his father ranch had
been seeded to forage feed for their
cattle, Mr.. Musgrave devoting most
of the Home ranch to early wheat
for pasture and most of the balance
to kafir, milo and sorghum for feed,
the 20 acres was leased and Ray
farmed it himself, with no assistance
except the absolute necessity of all
the good mules and horses he could
work and Blue Front Machinery.
Now listen, we are telling you how
he did it because we think 1t will be
valuable information to many of our
young farmers, and also to a great
many older ones to know how he did
this. He first did good job of disc
ing every acle of it before plant
ing. then he listed it and after he
had cultivated it once he did not
quit and say we'll, .let> it go now,
this is no corn country and we won't
raise any corn any way, but went
right on cultivating just like corn
grower. He had been taught by his,
parents the right way to farm the
corn, was the only way, and that he
at least would have seventy acres of
splendid feed and seventy acres of
the best prepared wheat ground, save
summer following, that they would
have ON the farm, providing he farm
ed it right, which he did. The writer
had the honor as we'll as the pleasure
of crying the Box Supper held at the
Pleasant Ridge school, few nights
ago and visited the night with Mr..
Musgrave and family and saw the
crib Of corn which was only fair
crop but represented $4,000 on the
market, and twice that amount when
fed on a ranch of eleven hundred
acres with from three hundred to
four hundred head of stock. Ray is
now attending High School at Hays
City and expects to raise another
corn crop in 1917 in time to return to
school next year. We have half
dozen ears of this corn hanging in
the Blue Front store which we pick
ed up while looking at this corn, and
with few husks hanging on the
ear it looks very natuaral, and is a
pleasure to know it was raised in an
off corn year and would have been
transported to market in Balm and
Mitchell wagons mad it been for
sale.
A E-r,ror