Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-18

1SA S"6S OlgAk
means a great benefit to the farmers
OF the northwest. The last three or
four years we have been growing the
yellow blossom variety. This Is .Hnes
and more easily handled for hay. al.
thought we do not believe there il
any great advantage in 1t over the
white for pasture. for Just one year.
u IT Is intended to leave 1t down for
than on year., there would be
an advantage in the yellow, as it is
persistent in seeding.
FOL us In the regular rotation in
the Red River valley and perhaps the
eastern third of North Dakota, we do
nor see any advantage in the yellow
over the white, for plowing under.
further west, where the climate Ia
orier we find that there Is a big adj
vantage In the yellow, al 1t is more re-
sistant to drouth. and more persistent
IN reseeding. We have seen fields in
Montana where white sweet clover
been seeded, that evidently had
IN IL ansoccasional seed OF the yellow
variety. In a few years the white
9 entirely disappeared and the yell
40" predominated exclusively. J
@ Livestock.
Nine years ago last fall we bought
9 carload of grade COWS and heifers
from the South st. Paul stock yards.
Purebred Shorthorn sires have been
used and at the present time we have
the third cross from these purebred
sires. which are, for all practical pur-
poses. ~purebreds. Our bunch Of cat
sle certainly looks vastly improved
over the original cows. These cattle
nave been fed alfalfa, sweet clover
and corn raised on the farm, with the
IDEA OF having the MANURE to put back
on the land. In the rotation one field
mas been manured each year, and the
increased yields from this manuring
AND the returns from the cattle, make
n eIivestock project satisfactory in
every respect.
We have not done any dairying, but
Enthusiastically we could have added
materially to the income from the
farm, by milking some of the cows,
as many Of them would have proven
profitable as winter mixers.
For the last four or five years we
nave kept ten brood sows on the
demonstration Farm. The plan Of
handling these has been to provide
pasture for them during the summer
months to cut down the cost of hand
ling. The pigs are farrowed as early
as we a handle them in the spring.
usually in April or the first of May.
After alfalfa and sw eet clover, with
some barley. is available for early pas
ture. About the 4th of July the hogs
are turned into a patch Of hulless bar
ley. For the ten sow we usually
have about four acres. At this time
the barley is in the hard dough stage,
and we find after the hogs are turn
ed into this they do not need any
more grain. BY the time they have
his barley cleaned up the early North
Dakota White Flint corr is ripe
enough to be used for pasturing. BY
the time the snow came this fall the
hogs We're all practically ready for
market, and were sold without the
expense Of having had to feed them
anything that was harvested. The
returns from the land used in this
way Is much greater than from land
used for any other purpose on the
farm. At the same time, there is no
question but that 1t will be built up
and grow better crops following such
treatment.
Results. &c.
In our three-year rotation. it re-
CURED three a for the land to be.
put into condition, to show the re-
suits in growing small grain. Our
t~three-year grain crop before the rota-
ton had come round, was an aver
age of IL 1-2 bushels to the acre, This
is practically the average of the Red
River valley during the ten-year ne
Rod. For the seven years after the
rotation had gone around-that is,
the wheat followed Il cultivated crop,
Tor which the land had been MANFRED.
we have had an average Of practical
~ "a, bushels of wheat to the acre. In
other words, the rotation has made it
possible to grow more small grain, on
one-half the land. Also, we believe
InQY ING Gnno III eS<0 Il, t.
mucn less cost due to the fact that it
Follows a cultivated crop and requires
much less work in preparation of the
n he growing and feeding of
corn. alfalfa and sweet clover to live
STOCK, has proven as satisfactory and
successful financially, as could be
pected in n region. We find that
stock, even though the winters are
very severe. can be handled with
results. Our straw shed,
which was built ten years ago. and
a handled our cattle every winter.
IS yet as good this year as 1t was when
It was built. The pit silo with which
We began work on the farm Is still in
successful operation, although we ex-
tended 1T twenty-four feet above the
ground with a 'stave silo.
While results from growing the va
rious crops have been very satisfac-
.oAJ every aspect we DO not doubt
.out what the average practical FARM
er will agree with us that from a
financial standpoint, farming during
last our years has not been as
satisfactory as 1t should have been
However, we have considered that
making a fairly satisfactory financial
showing was Of equal Importance to
any other demonstration. We have.
'Peen careful to see hat our books
have mo- shown up too badly at the
end of the year. -.
The annual expense OF operating
the half section farm, including $500
per acre cash rent. labor, personal
property taxes and all other operat-
ing expense. has aver tagged approxi-
mately 100000. A man owning and
operating this farm would have the
1900 per acre cash rent, and at least
half the labor expense for his income.
The labor on this farm runs from S3.-,
10000 to $s.6oo.oo 2 year.
DULUTH