The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1918-10-24
Land Preparation Necessary in Sc
curing Aid.


curing Aid.
Farmers desiring to take advantage
of the Federal Aid for farmers in the
drought stricken areas must give
their land good preparation.
But a small part of the 100000 al
lotted to North Dakota from the fund
set aside by the President for aid to
the farmers in drought stricken areas
has been used for fall rye. The rest
Of this amount, about half million
dollars, will be available to farmers
for aid in putting in spring wheat.
The loans will be on the basis of five
dollars per acre with 100 acres as the
limit. If farmer has secured a loan
on 100 acres of fall rye he will not
be entitled to another loan on spring
wheat but if he has secured loan
on less than 100 acres he will be en-
titled to another loan on spring wheat,
so as to make the total acreage 100.
For instance, if loan has been Sc
cured on 40 acres of rye the farmer
will be entitled to another loan on 60
acres of wheat.
In order that farmers may know
just what aid they will receive and so
that plans can be made for additional
assistance from the banks and other
institutions, applications for spring
aid will be received after November
LIST at the Federal Seed Grain Loan
office in Great Falls, Montana.
The Government will require that
the land be well prepared for the
wheat, that the wheat is well put in
and that it be sown early. For south
of the Missouri river the latest date
of sowing will likely be May 1, and
for north of the river, May 10. A cir
cular will be issued on these require
ments little later. No loans will be
approved on land stubbled in, except
new land that has produced but one
crop Of flax. The land must be we'll
plowed, either this fall or in the
spring, but reasonably clean summer
fallow, corn and potato land, need not
be plowed and such land is recon-
mended. The early planting required
and that which usually brings the best
crop, may make it advisable to have
at least some Of the land fall plowed
Heavy clay soils plowed in the fall,
in case it is not too dry, can be work
ed into more mellow seed bed with
less tillage than if plowed in the
spring. Light, sandy soils will be
more inclined to drift if plowed in the
fall, and the stubble will catch snow
which will furnish some moisture. Fall
blowing of clay loan permits the soil
of the seed bed to become firmer and
better weathered by seeding time and
the pillow is done at less busy sea-
son of the year. In western North
Dakota spring plowed land on the
whole does as well for spring grain
as fall blowing, provided the grain
can be seeded as early. Spring p1ow-
ing makes the seeding later, which US
ually means a reduced yield and in
some cases big loss in crop.
A fair depth of blowing will be re-
quired. Ordinarily, land plowed
reasonably deep is to be preferred.
With an increase in depth up to, say,
six or seven inches, net increase in
crop returns can generally be looked
for. The deeper blowing better bur-
les the trash found on the surface of
the ground, forms a larger reservoir
for the rapid absorption of heavy
rains and provides larger body of
soil to be acted upon by the air and
bacteria to provide plant food for the
future crop Fall plowed land should
generally not be worked down to a
smooth seed bed before the onset of
winter. The plowed land left rough
blows less and catches more snow
that the smoothly worked soil. Re-
gions subject to land drifting or
blowing sould be spring plowed ex-
clusiveiy as a means of otfsetting that
difficulty.-North Dakota Experiment
Station.