Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-11-23
BULLETIN Tells
OF DRY FARMING
IN SOUTH IDAHO
Soil, Climate and Conditions
on Snake River Plains
Discussed by Bureau of
Plant Industry.

Washington, Nov. 22.--With the OBJ
ject of supplying settlers with reliable
information which win enable them to
make homes on the dry farms as quick
ly and at as little expense as possible,
the United States department of agri-
culture has just published Farmers
Bulletin 769, Growing Grain on South
ern Idaho Dry Farms" The author of
the bulletin, L. c. Aicher, assistant
agronomist in the bureau of plant in
dustry discusses in detail the soil, eli
mate and conditions on the Snake river
plains of southern Idaho and the dry
farmed valleys opening into this great
basin, the section to which the publ
cation applies.
Several pages are devoted to a dis
cussion of the proper dry farming
machinery and its use. The remainder
of the bulletin deals with selection and
treatment of seed, and seed bed pre-
paration, and recommends the varieties
of spring and winter wheat oats, bar
ley, emmer, spelt, rye and flax found
best adapted to the district The
author, after discussing varieties gives
definite directions as to time of SOW
ing and methods of handling the diff
ferent varieties to attain the best re-
suits.
OF the general soil situation in this
district, he states:
"Humus and nitrogen are lacking
more or less in the southern Idaho
soils The dry farmer on the plains is
handicapped because of lack of suffi-
cient moisture in the soil to rot any
great quantity of vegetable matter.
Straw, manure and legumes should be
used to help build up the dry-land
soils but owing to the light rainfall
this must be done very slowly.
THE dry farm soils, if properly
farmed, will yield good returns. If a
profitable rotation can be planned, a
permanent dry farm agriculture prac-
tically is assured"
IMPORT ANcE OF GOOD SEED.
The author lays particular stress on
the Importance OF selecting and treat |
ing seed, particularly wheat. On this
subject he says:
Wheat growers and seedsmen often !
claim that wheat runs out Some of
the best farmers in southern Idaho |
ship in Turkey wheat from other To-
calities every three or four years be-
cause they say their seed is running
out. These growers think that yields
utNlNaSt ttiih VIC Iti NSilttiSG vi yNllOW
berry increases each year the crop is
grown.
This is not really the case. If pro-
perly handled the quality of the crop
can he improved, or at least maintain
ed, as long as it is grown in a commun-
ity, The variety becomes adapted to
local climatic conditions. If the con-
ditions are severe, only the best and
most fit plants survive.
The results of many experiments
prove conclusively that the source of
seed has nothing to dc with the pro-
portion of yellow berry in the crop in
any year. 1t is proved also that de-
creased yields need not result from US
Ing home grown seed. Other factors
are responsible for the low Yields
Grading the seed with a tanning mill
will do more to maintai yields tLan
the introduction of new seed. Blow out
all the chaff straw and shrunken kerr
nels. Sow only plump seed, which con-
tains plenty of food to supply the
sprouting pant until the roots are-able
to obtain food from the soil. Plump
grain also is less injured by the smut
treatment and alweys terminates bet
ter than shrunken seed. Get a pure.
high yielding variety from your state
experiment station or some other re-
liable source and then take good care
Of it.
TREATING WHEAT FOR BUNT.
The first essential in treating wheat
for bunt or sinking smut is to fan the
grain well, thus blowing out all light
material ard any smu. balls that may
be present. If smut balls still are pre-
sent, put the wheat in a barrel of wat
er. They then come to the surface
and can be skinned of. The water is
then drained out of the barrel, and the
seed resacked and made ready for i'm
mediate treatment in the smut-de
stroying solution.
The formaldehyde treatment for
sinking smut requires soaking the
grain about 10 minutes in a solution
of l pint of commercial formaldehyde
to As gallons of. water. The seed should
then be dumped in a pile, preferably on
n canvas, and covered for two hours.