Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-06-18

fork and sling properly used, will put
in the barn from two to three tons OF
hay per hour.
Perhaps the fastest and most effective
way Of handling hay is by the use Of
the buck rake and some effective form
Of hay stacker. Such a combination Is
not often seen in the corn belt, but
where there Is any great amount Of hay
to be put in stacks these tools will
prove Of great value. By this method
the hay may be shocked or taken d.
rectly from the windrow,. In the latter
case eliminating the labor OF shocking,
which Is very desirable. II weather con-
ditions are good. Five men and six
horses will stack from two and one
half to three tons of hay per hour with
such an outfit, when handled effectively.
There are various stockers on the mar
ket which work very satisfactorily, and
there are many homemade stacking de-
vices in successful use.
It is highly important that the hay
ing crew be large enough to do effective
work In many instances it is difficult
to hire enough extra labor to handle the
hay crop to the best advantage. In such
cases 1t is often advantageous to have
good equipment which requires several
men, and exchange labor with one or
more Of the neighboring farmers With
good equipment and full crew, the
hay on two farms can generally be
handled in less time than that Of 4
single farm with a smaller crew and
with less effective machinery.
Advantages Of Planning.
This year. the advantage in having
carefully laid plans for keeping the
farm work up to the season is more i'm
portant than ever. The use OF improved
machinery Of the most effective types
and cooperation between neighboring
farms as means of securing the most
effective size Of crew will 60 far toward
relieving any difficult labor situation
confronting corn-belt farmers during
the net few weeks.
Order Fall Fertilizers Early.
Farmers are urged by the United
States department Of agriculture to
place orders at once for fertilizer needed
for fall wheat 1t Is very important,
according to W. W. Mein, assistant to
the secretary Of agriculture in charge
of the licensing OF fertilizer concerns
under the food control act that dealers
and manufacturers know farmers needs
as soon as possible. so that orders can
be combined and car space used TO the
best advantage. Transportation itf1-
culties require that freight cars be
loaded to their rated capacity. Delay
in ordering, it is said, may result In a
repetition OF last springs experience
when many farmers failed to receive
their mixed fertilizer and acid pi'os-
phate until after planting time.
Groups OF small sheep growers on the
Minidoka reclamation project, Idaho,
where approximately 500 settlers are
producing sheep on their farms are
consolidating their hocks into larger
bands for summer grazing. A field man
of the United States department u
agriculture Is assisting in the work
The experiment in cooperative grazing
was tried in 1917 with two range 'bands
and the result were so satisfactory
that the number of bands has been
increased to four this season. APPROX
masely 5000 sheep, representing TWEEN
ty-four small fiocks,s make up the four
bands, which will be grazed on tho
Sawtooth national forest. The farmers
act as a unit in their dealings with the
forest service and cooperate in fur
nishing supplies and equipment and
in employing the necessary herders and
camp movers. Through this co-operh-