Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-09-03
HOW TO AVOID THE
FAILURES OF CROPS
Oregon Agricultural College
Is Studying Causes
Very Closely
Capital Journal Special service.)

Oregon Agricultural College, Corval
lis, Or, Sept. 1.-The plan of studying
the causes of failure of crops on some
Oregon farms and some districts of the
state, as suggested in Capital Journal
editorial of August 2S, is already show
ing up some of the reasons, and still
better, how to avoid most if not all of
the failures. In a farm-to-farm study
of crop yields and farm practices in
Douglas, Jackson and Josephine coun-
ties, Prof. G.. R. Hyslop, head of farm
crops at the Agricultural College, and
the three county agents have found
that fall-sown grains almost invariably
made good yields of fine quality wheat,
rye and barley, while all the late sown
spring grains are either total failures
or very poor. Of course in the normal
season there might still have been the
early-sown spring grains, but in many
years it is not possible to get on the
ground and do early spring preparation
and sowing.
So definite and clear-cut is the les
son in those districts at least that
Prof. Hyslop does not hesitate to an
nounce, as he has so long believed, that
'It is particularly important that fall
grain be grown in the Southern Oregon
counties for the reason that it makes
most Of its growth in the rainy season
and is mature shortly after the dry sea,
son sets in.'
All through the Willamette Valley
he has also found that fall sown
cereals are better than the spring
sown. So striking is the difference this
year and some others between the fall
and the spring sown that the College
Experiment Station has made long
study Of the fall-seeding question and
how to meet it. The difficulty is that
the ground is very dry and hard in
late summer when it should be plowed,
or else it is still in the cultivated crops
corn, beans, potatoes, sugar beets,
etc.-so that the work of preparing the
seed bed is delayed until the rains
have started and the season is we'll
advanced It is then not possible to
prepare all in time for fall sowing, and
the remainder is side-tracked till the
next spring, when it becomes dry
enough to be worked. Sometimes this
is early enough for fairly good crop,
but too often it is so late that good
crop in an ordinary year is not possible.
The solution of the fall plowing is
the disk plow. This plow cuts and
turns its furrow with rolling instead
of sliding cutter and moId-board, and
if properly adjusted may be made to do
good work at sufficient depth even in
hard, dry lands. Much land can be
plowed with the disk plow that cannot
be plowed with the mold-board type.
In addition to this the fields of cult
waited crops may be disked as the crops
are removed. With these two classes
of grain lands ready for sowing when
the rains begin and the season is far
enough advanced, sowing can be rapid
ly finished and attention given to the
fields. There is always time
to do considerable blowing after the
rains start, and if all lands that can be
prepared earlier have been prepared
the farmer will probably find plenty of
time to prepare and plant the re-
mainder of his farm in the fall.
The College began plowing on hard,
fallow ground, with the disk plow on
August 20. The work is proceeding
with the use of horse
labor when at its cheapest. Summer
rush work is ended, fall rush work has
not begun, and the farm teams that