The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-05-24

H. D0AAA2 E1N $500 GOAAA DUlA q
the three sizes of tractors-thre
pIow, four pillow and six plow-th,
most efficient sizes and combin
ations of equipment for each an,
the size and business organization
of farm best adapted to the us,
of each of these power units. All
the machinery on this farm il
loaned by manufacturers for ex
. perimental purposes.
The six-plow outfit was started
at Brockton in the spring of 1928
so they have n full year to judge
its merits. Last year this outf.
would pillow twenty acres, disl
ninety acres, duekfoot 100 acres
seed 120 acres or combine sixty
acres in a ten-hour day. They
think it will prove the case o.
large-scale farming by reducing
man labor to two hours an acre
including one year of fallow and
one year of crop. With the small
er tractors wheat has been pro.
duced with two and a half hours
of man labor IN acre.
On this basis they have been
producing wheat at a cost of $50
an acre, including all operating
costs, but not land. Comparative
government figures for the main
spring-wheat region are 81 to S14
an acre in 1926. 1t is the aim at
Brockton to get the cost down to
81 an acre, as they believe that
future world competition will de-
mand that low a cost in Montana.
Finding a Plan for Corn
Summer fallow being such an
important factor in modern dry
land wheat production-wherever
the average railfall is less than
sixteen inches a year-a large
part of the experimental work is
devoted to this question. One OF
the tests is TO determine whether
one-half of the land should be fall
lowed each year, alternating crop
and fallow in equal area, or wheth-
er one-third of the land should be
fallowed, allowing two successive
crops after each year of fallow.
These tests are not conducted
on ten-foot plots, but on half-sec-
ton units of land. The results so
far indicate little difference in the
final returns. On the half-fallow
system the yield is larger but the
cost is greater than with the
third-fallow method. 1t is believ-
ed that the alternate half-and-half
system will work out better, al
lowing better planned farms and
more efficient use Of equipment
and labor.
Another test of even greater i'm
portance is a comparison between
clean summer fallow and a culti-
waited crop of corn as preparation
for wheat. If a corn crop can be
cheaply grown in place of summer
fallow, and still conserve moisture
in the soil, the farmer will have
feed and can handle some live
stock on the side. That is a part
of the reserves the new system
is attempting to build up.
With corn rows three and a half
feet apart it has been found at
Brockton that the moisture loss is
only 2 per cent more than with
clean fallow, meaning a loss Of
two to three bushels of wheat the
year. But a new method was
tried out in 1928 that seems to
solve the problem even more Ell
fectively. This is to plant one or
two rows Of corn, then leave two
rows vacant, and thus have a
space Of ten and a half feet for
cultivation.
BY this method it is possible
to care for corn with no more cost
than summe fallow. The mois-
ture loss is only l per cent more
than fallow. meaning a reduction
Of about one bushel in the follow
ing yield of wheat. With wide
spacing, the rows that are left will
produce so per cent more corn
than similar rows full planted.
Whatever the feed produced, it
be hogged off or cut with the
corn binder after the wheat crop is
combined, and the added returns
the farmer are pure velvet.
30 much for the methods de-
Let us see how they
work out on some of the Fairway
Farms and elsewhere. Mechanical
,mclency is the essence OF the
era in Montana, but the hui
nan element still takes proceed
nee in interest. And remember
hat the results given here are
lot rough farm accounts but ac-
urate records kept by expert
,ccountants of the Fairway Cor
'oration.
Down at Comanche, northwest
+ Billings, is a Fairway Farm
hat illustrates the new idea OF
usiness organization that Wilson
5 putting across. Here were
light ~half-section farms in 1924,
seven of which the owners
ad moved off. The eighth own
F. S. Davis, had gone through
ankruptcy but had later accum-