The Sidney herald., 1959-12-16
State Agronomist Recommends
Special Treatment for Frozen
Beet Land

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In summarizing recommended
tons for the use of land on which
sugar beets were frozen in, Ar
thur F. Shaw, Extension Agrono-
mist, recommends early blowing
and late seeding.
1t looks like the land should
be plowed as early as possible, ac-
cording to Shaw. He goes on to
say that if the weather opens up
during the winter SO that plow-
ing can be done, it should be. The
ACCESSIBILITY of following up with
a grain crop does not seem too
good since it ordinarily does not
| allow enough time for seed bed
preparation, according to Shaw.
It would seem better to follow
with a late planted crop such as
corn or possibly beans.
A very good argument for corn
is that it can use a considerable
amount of nitrogen. Apply nitro
gen at seeding time at a rate Of
80 to so pounds per acre to speed
up decomposition and breakdown
of the micro-organisms. When this
occurs, a release of nitrogen will
take place which will again bolster
the corn crop.
With added fertilizer present,
the crop will need special at
tention to irrigation and weed
control. This should provide the
needed growing conditions for a
good yield.
Montana State College To
Sponsor Fertilizer Schools
In February
Schools held in the past for
fertilizer dealers will be broad
ened this year to include SCS
personnel, vocational agriculture
instructors, agricultural represen-
tatives of banks and railroads, and
county Extension agents..
Two meetings are scheduled.
The BoZeman meeting will be
held on February Is. The other
meeting is scheduled for Missoula
on February 18.
1t is anticipated that meetings
will alternate yearly between Yves
tern and eastern Montana loca-
tons.
Seeds in Custom Combines
A survey of custom combines
made in Choteau County this fall
holds considerable interest for the
grain farmer.
Some 81 custom combine oper-
ators entering the county we're
contacted before doing any work
there. Permission to collect and
thresh samples from the combine
cylinder, return augers, and grain
tanks was obtained. This material
was sent to the Grain Inspection
Laboratory for weed seed and crop
seed determination. The place
where each combine had been
operated previously was noted.
In three cases, the operator had
harvested grain in Eastern Mon
tana. The analysis of the material
from these three machines indi-
Gates that Montana can be a
source of a lot of weed and other
crop seeds. In fact these machines
showed up the worst of any. 9th
ers had combined grain last in
Nebraska, Kansas, South
Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
No doubt some attempt had been
made by the combine operators to
clean the machines before moving
into the state. This apparently was
not done, however, when they
were moving within Montana.
The weed seeds most commonly
present YER as you would expect
oats, wild buckwheat, for
Montana. Quite a few of the ma
coming in from out-of-state
carried downy bronze with them
as we'll as wild buckwheat and
wild sunfloWers.
For other crop seeds there were
out of the thirty-one COM
Dimes checked that contained a fair
amount of rye seed. The report
does not indicate that it was win
.er rye but from the areas in
the combines were oper-
ating, I would ssume that it was.
So you can see what a threat
.hese machines can offer to our
wheat producing areas.
Here is something we have been
overlooking, but it may be a very