American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-10-09
Shallow Flowing Proves allure.

For the fall blowing for spring seed
ing Mr.. Reiger never goes less than
seven inches deep and if time permits
he harrows ono in the fall. AS soOn
as the snow is off in the spring he gets
busy with the harrow and the weder,
the latter implement being twelve feet
wide and pulled by four horses; the
implement is a weeder and leveler
combined. After drilling in the seed
he let's nature attend to the crop. The
best results were obtained by seeding
three pecks to the acre-this amount
of seed giving a better yield than SOW
ing a bushel per acre. For spring
blowing for immediate seeding he
plows six to seven inches deep, har-
rows the ground twice, then uses the
float, and then drills in his seed. After
drilling nothing further is done to the
field. In the spring of 1916 Mr.. Rel
ger plowed part of his grain fields
only three inches deep and soon found
that this was a serious error, it being
impossible to hold the moisture in
shallow plowed ground. By blowing
deep and using the harrow Freely he
gets the weeds, gets the mulch re-
quired to hold the moisture, and gets
good crops in haresting time. Even if
the ground is somewhat soft for head
er work the better yield obtained Off
sets this objection. For giving the
ground the necessary rest to insure its
fertility for the years to come summer
following is practiced, the blowing
being done in the fall and the ground
being worked during the succeeding
spring and summer until seeded in the
fall following. The season for spring
blowing is all too short and fall plow-
ing must be done in order to be able
to get at the ground in the spring be-
fore all the moisture is gone. Besides
there is pasture in the fall, making it
easier on the horses, and hay is more
plentiful. All these points are taken
into consideration to bring about the
best results.
Mrs. Reiger in the garden of half
an acre near the neal log cabin on
Clifton creek this year raised every
variety of early and late vegetables
needed in the household. The garden
is irrigated from the creek and never
fails to give a maximum yield. In
1915 from seven rows (16 feet long, of
Marrowfat peas the yield filled IA
large water buckets and most of them
were dried. 1t was a record yield of
peas in the Crystal section and Mrs.
Reiger still has some of the dried peas
and they are as good a. ever. Cucum-
bers and c~antaloupes regularly do fine
in this garden, which is located on an
east slope and protected from early
fall frosts by a high hill across the
creek. On October 4 no serious dam
age from frost could be noticed.
The work bunch of horses consists
of two part PercherOns and two light
er animals. and a saddle pony and two
colts add to the number of horses on
the ranch. Mr.. Reiger prefers Per-
cherons for dry farm work and this
strain will be the ruling standard on
the ranch in a few years.
The cattle herd numbers twelve
head, among them two high grade
Jerseys. In the past butter has been
regularly marketed and the dairy fea-
ture of the ranch will come into its
W again when the upper ranch has
been developed as a hay growing tract.
Since Durham cows are the ~favOrite
of the owner it is safe to say that this
uudl DuIpOot SlIdlu Will PlCuOhAAihSc'
Hogs are raised for home consump-
ton only, the owner being Of the opin-
ion that conditions at present are not
right for the raising of swine for ship
ment to market.
Revenue From Chickens.
The flock of chickens numbers so
laying hens and about so young stock.
Egg selling has always added to the
income of the ranch, last spring a case
a week being marketed. The flock
was larger then, and it will be brought
to the old standard again-with Ply
mouth Rocks Is the pr~edOminating
breed.
Mrs. Reiger has through experience
found that a flock of geese is a good
revenue producer on a ranch. At the
present time the geese on the place
number only a half dozen or so, coyo-
ties having made inroads on the flock.