Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1924-04-02
COUNTY AGENT NOTES
Test and Treat Small Grain This
Year.


This year above all others should
we consider the crop before we plant
Last summer dry weather was not
the best weather for the producing of
good strong growing small grain
seed. There are many light kernels in
bushel of oats. Now is the time to
realize this. Clean seed well now. No
seed should be planted without first
being cleaned
Also, every year Grant county far
mers lose from $4,000 to 100000 BUSH
els of small grain due to losses from
plant diseases. The worst of these is
smut. Smut can be prevented. 1t is
not like dry weather, frost, etc. Why
gamble on land that valuations stand
where they do on? Let US be sure of
our crops. Let us not gamble when we
can play a sure game.
Assuming that you all want good
yields per acre of clean grain let us
consider our crop now.
1St. Let us clean the seed we'll
with tanning mills to get out light
seed and weeds.
End. Let us treat all small grain
seed this spring as follows: Make a
solution of / pint of formaldehyde and
30 gallons of water. Put grain in bur-
lap or gunny sacks. Dip these sacks
into the above mentioned solution. AL
low sacks to drain out, and pile grain
and cover with canvas or sacks for
two hours. Then spread grain out and
let dry. Sow as soon as grain is dry
enough to run. We have some good
bulletins on this question that will be
sent on request.
incubation Important.
It is very important that we inocu-
late our alfalfa, sweet clover, soy
beans and peas. With this in mind
want to urge all who are planning to
SOW any Of the above mentioned
seeds to inoculate. Many pounds of al
falfa seed will be sown this spring.
Some will be sown on ground that has
never had alfalfa or sweet clover
tried. BY all means inoculate. Some
will be sown on land that has grown
alfalfa before. Use incubation if al
falfa crop before was not success
or fl more than three years have gone
by from the time it was last grown
successfully. Don't get the idea that
incubation is not important, because
if plants are not inoculated you stand
a good chance for failure; if not a
failure of the crop a loss of the nitro
gen element that is already in the
soil.
When we inoculate alfalfa, sweet
clover, soy beans or peas we put little
bacteria in the soil that take from the
air nitrogen to better its growth and.
build up the land. Every nodule or
little bunch on the roots of the le-
gume plants is a factory that does the
same work as that great power plant
we read so much about-Muscle
Shoals. Nitrogen is taken from the air
and turned into fertilizer or plant
food.
Send in name and amount of seed
to be sown and a check for Csc for
every 20 pounds of alfalfa or sweet
clover to be sown and every 3O
pounds of soy beans. Also signify
when you will SOW this seed as to
date and we will have sent to you by
parcel post the material needed with
directions for use. Do this now so it
will be on hand by seeding time.
Pruning Important and Needed.
Don't let that fruit tree go unat-
tended if you expect results. Don't let
it produce wood when fruit is what
you want it for. Don't let it produce
a lot Of small, inferior apples be-
cause it has too much wood growth to
feed Prune your apple, plum and
cherry trees now. at once, to help the
fruit crop next fall.
Now let us not get the idea that
pruning a fruit tree means cutting OH
the lower limbs. Here are few
things to do that will be easy to prac-
tice:
l. Cut out dead wood.
2. Cut out all limbs that rub.
8. Cut out limbs that cross.
4. Cut back tops that grow tall,
always cut to side branch headed
out.
S. Cut out all sucker or water
sprouts.
6. In most cases take out all the
branches that head back toward cen
ter of tree.