Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-03-02
battle fronts. The soldier may be kill

battle fronts. The soldier may be kill
ed if his guns fail to work, or. he is
late in getting them into action. The
farmer may not suffer. personally, be-
cause his machinery fails to work, but
every time the spring work is delayed
production Of food, and some of III
friends or allies may suffer or ever
starve to death for lack of this food.
Increase Production-How??
A larger production of wheat is or
dered, and this, to a large extent will
be accomplished by. an increased acre
age. However, the farmer must use
his own best judgment as to whether
he will seed more acres, 'or seed his
usual number of acres better than he
did last year. In many instances the
farmer had better decide to farm bet
ter, rather than increase his acreage.
1t would be impossible to say just
| what the minimum yield should be.
but it can be said that the average
yield of, all grains is much too low
disgracefully too low. The average
low yields are due to average poor
farming, and the greatest means of
increasing the>> yield and production
of wheat is to farm better. In many
instances it would be much easier to-
increase the production per acre 1920
than to increase the acreage this
amount. One hundred bushels more
wheat per farm above the last three
year average will be more than is de-
manded of us, but this can easily be
done.
Farm Better.
Farming better means doing more
work, and doing it better and more
nearly at the proper time. Better
plowing-early in the fall-working
the lane with disc, harrow and pack
er to conserve moisture; rotating
crops and hauling to MAIN
tain Or increase fertility. For the past
three years wheat in our rotation
following corn-has averaged 2s
bushels per acre, So in 1915, 20 in
1916 and 20 in 1917. Our wheat land
for this yea is in the best shape we
ever had it. 1t was in alfalfa. sweet
clover and grass in 1916, MANFRED
lightly and ,plowed Z to 8 inches deep
in h fall; in corn in 1917, cultivated
five times, h corr put in the silo and
land double disked. Narrowing be-
fore seeding is all the preparation
this needs. and we expect to do this
on the earliest possible day.
Farm EARLY.
We are confident that more than
nine times out of ten early seeding is
most successful, for all kinds of crops.
The only reason we can see for not
! - gu iS NAlSoI col w LIN oClIS
during the first week of good seeding
weather is because it cannot all be
done in that time. A single days de-
lay may mean a great loss. In 1916
all seeding that was done before the
snow and rain of April gath, was
much better than that seeded after
the storrl-as much oil more than $
bushels.sper acre ip many cases.: Or,
90 acres 'seediig-one days work
this would mean 100 bushels, or 5000.
we cannot afford to lose a single
seed. 81
What TO Seed.
From: a patriotic standpoint we.
should,dry to follow orders to the let
ter. but it must he left to the individ-
ual to llse his judgment as to Just
what to seed. as he should know his
land. While the price of oats and bar
! ley are now relatively higher than
wheat, this should not be given too
much weight. 1t may reasonably be
expected that the price of.other grains
will he brought to the basis of wheat.
1t will be a very easy matter to COM
ply with the order for increased acre
age of wheat as it will near only a.
few acres to each farm. There are
nearly 100000 farms in North Dako-
ta. and 10 acres totthe farm would
mean an increase of 1000, 900 acres,
or Eover 1879. We seeded 1000. 900
acres in 1917. and are asked to seed
100000 this year. y
1t is not the wish of superiors
that this increase should be made at
he expense of plans for permanent
soil improvement. The usual amount
be planted so hat there will be feed