OCR Text |
Show CORN AS A DRY FARM CROP Produces Abundance of Cheap Feed and Shades Soil, Preventing Consequent Con-sequent Loss of Fertility. d'.y w n ! iiri ' l! s . . .! et N'Ml ll I ' . t K i i . ,!.-I r , i .,, i.l I" nil He ill tannin,- .-uc.is tlm conservation ef i ,e raln'.ill in the s-.il. where Is he, ohm s available in growing grow-ing c rops, is the In-) .-.'one of sm cess fill agricultural o . rat i.uis. This is gettelally dim,, by the cultivation of the soil dutihg the entire glow ing sea son. If no (in p s produced i ll the land, this op. ra : ion is called sunnier fallow or summer culture. (Her most of the dry farming area, neatly If not fully as good gt.ilti crops can be grown follow Im; the cultivated crop as on summer fallowed land . When the bare fallow system Is used a whole year elapses without any returns either on the Investment or for the labor pet loru.i d. If a oul tlvnted crop cm be grown with as good crops following it should moie than pay Its expense which will consist con-sist In the com of seed, planting and harvesting, the cultivation would have to be done anyway, so this should not be counted against the cost of produc lion of a crop of corn Corn Is pre eminently this crop: Hist, because It produces an abundance of cheap feed; second, because It shades the soil during the excessively hut days Of July and August, thereby prevent Ing loss or soil fertility; and third, a com field has a cooling rather than a heating Influence on the winds that blow across It. This may have a very beneficial effect on surrounding crops when the tdii ei at ure Is mar the 1 dcRree mark. On most farms in the dry farming area enough live Mock should be kept to pay n. ust of the rutntini: expenses of the farm. Hay nnd pasturage are very short in such at ( as ami conse-quetl'ly conse-quetl'ly ioo r for (heap live str k production. Iltoiu'li corn should be grown to sit ply the work Imrres vllh roughage during the winter, if not the working sea.-on, and later to supple ment the paMmos of the summer and fall as a soiling crop or l:i the form of ensilage and to form the bulk of their winter ration. Enough .-orii should also be grown to supply Ihe sheep ;nid hoes a i heap fvti ning food for Mulshing them oiT In the I. ill The (list : ititlil to corn culture on the div farms Is live stock, for without tliH there Is no way of utilizing utiliz-ing the corn crop. Ou the other hand, if live Hock are keut, feed u, ust be had; the corn crop can b? converted con-verted Into beef, pork, mutton, wool, butter nnd eggs commodities: that can always be converted In'o cash or Its equivalent. The by product of live stock (manure) should go back onto the land to replenish the diminishing dimin-ishing supply of humus and fertilizing fertiliz-ing elements bo essential to large Melds. The second essential to corn culture I a conviction that It will pay to grow live stock on the corn crop produced pro-duced and a determination to grow corn as their chief feed In spite of adverse circumstances. In order to bo successful In growing corn on a dry farm the selection of the proper variety va-riety Is essential. In western North Dakota and eastern Montana, Squaw, Ochti, Mercer, King Phillip and Triumph Tri-umph will probably prove the best flint varieties, while Ciolden Item and Northwestern Dent will probably prove the best dent varieties. Oood seed Is very Important. It should al ways germlnnte strong - 95 per cent, or better. |