The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1925-08-13
BLUE VALLEY Fla iM SERVICE
By M. A. Nye

You have all heard that over sized
story about the man who had grain
SO heavy that he had to rent an extra
field to hold all the shocks. If you
happen to be driving down north of
Metre Grove you'll see some grain
fields on the farm of Joseph Leutmer,
that look about this heavy.
Mr.. Leutmer, says his grain of
late has been growing too much straw
for the yield of the grain. He be-
, lieves his ground might have been ma
nured too much.
He says he has one spot where the
grain always yields heavier. Thi, is
where a ditch was filed in and dirt
was taken off of the top of the ground
for this purpose. Where the dirt was
removed, there, the grain is always
heavier and better Why is this? We
do not know for sure but we might
draw some conclusions.
Potash and phosphate are the ele-
ments needed mostly when grain is
forming and ripening. 1t would look
like this subsoil that was exposed
when the dirt was removed, probab-
ly contained more of these elements.
It is certain it does not contain as
much humus as the surface soil.
Mr.. Leutmer believes his soil might
respond to some phosphate and may
be potash fertilizer or maybe some
lime. He is thinking of experiment.
ing little with commercial fertiliz-
er. His soil has plenty of humus and
nitrogen which is indicated by the
20 mt hot o1x NIL nv of
straw. If he can get his ground so
that the grain will be as heavy in pro-
portion as the straw, he will be get
ting some yields per acre.
Mr.. Leutmer has some excellent al
falfa. Last year he got 9 loads off of
LIZ acres for the season. This year
he will get about loads off of this
same pieces besides pasturing 1880
head Of spring pigs. Next year Mr..
Leutner plans to add about 6 acres
more to his present alfalfa acreage.
He prefers to put it in without a
nurse crop and seed it about an inch
deep with drill.
The way grain of all kinds has
stooled out this year, it has been
hard on lot of this years alfalfa
seedlings. 1t might have been better
in some instances to have taken the
grain off for hay, although these lit
tie Alfalfa plants have lots of pluck.
They may look pretty sick for while
and all at once begin to let you know
they are still there. Their roots are
down quite few inches and general
ly a yellowish sick looking stalk has
some fresh green shoots appearing ut
its crown. Well hope for the best
for these young plants anyway, now
that the grain is off and they can be-
gin to see what the world looks like.
~
If the hot weather recently has an
noyed you, be glad to know that in
glorious California all kinds of wealth
er is welcome and useful. Up on the
Mojave desert, near Barstow, sixty
miles back of LosAngeles, the Hodge
Brothers in the recent heat grew a
crop of Alfalfa in twenty-five days.
That is to say, twenty-five days after
one crop had been moved, dried and
stacked, they moved another crop,
and they cut their alfalfa seven
times every season on the SINE land.
Can anybody beat that?
o.
The increased acreage of alfalfa
that is being grown around Sank
Centre is becoming very noticeable.
The alfalfa field makes the darkest
green, richest looking piece of ground
on a farm. We have almost arrived
at the place, where it is the exception
al farmer who doesn't grow alfalfa
d
The Cocoanut Gown these days
of monkey-business about where we
all came from in the first place, it
isn't far throw to the cocanut, and
from there to the "cocanut" cow"
In dairy circles, the cocanut cow
has always meant the oleomargarine
interests, but now there is newly
recognized cocanut COW.
She is the poor COW with an udder
about the size of a cocanut. She is a
great menace to the dairy farmer that
is really a better cow man but who
has not yet realized what row of
really good cows would mean to his
annual labor income.
Pick out your cocanut or uhprofit-
able cows. This can be done through
the use of milk sheets and scales, or
COW testing associations. Fill up
their stalls with good ones either
home grown or purchased.
Is Your Share of Tomatoes As
sured?-Tomatoes are an essential
part of the winter dietary. They are