OCR Text |
Show INCREASED PRODUCTION OF UTAH SPRINGWHEAT URGED Planting Additional Acres and Greater Care of Seed and Seedbed Are Methods Advocated by Expert. By GEORGE STEWART, Assistant Professor of Agronomy, Utah Agricultural College. GREAT BRITAIN" and Franco are bending every effort to a vigorous vigor-ous prosecution of the war. "Whatever added strength the allies get, they must get from the United States. Since it tak.es a long time to train armies, America eannot take any p-eat part in waging the actual ac-tual battles betore midsummer. She can, however, be of reat help otlier-! otlier-! wise. Soou our merchant marine j should bejjin to count against tho sub-; sub-; marine. Important, however, as is ! shipbuilding and the sending' of soldiers, sol-diers, to Europe, to supply the armies : with food is none the less vital. In fact, it may be more important, for poorly nourished men cannot long endure en-dure the strain of trench warfare. Xow it so happens that the greatest fooi want in Prance today is wheat, which we must largely supply. This is because wheat is both a eon yen ion t. and a nutritious ration. It is convenient conveni-ent because it is so easily handler both before ami after grinding. It does not spoil fo readily a? corn when stored in large quantities, as in fhip holds, for example. Moreover, bread made from wheat, is more oVlicious to Kng-li Kng-li shin en an A French men than o her broads. This is rather important, for men thrive best on what they like. Short Wheat Crop. Hruv rrmfM it lK-it Kritnin ami Krani-p Nro niori' Hriu'rulnt on uh ticin in tinifs of p.'a.-e ? Fir. t. thn whr.ar ivnp thnt u-unilv supply tj'(.-connlriob tj'(.-connlriob thoso nf Tn'iia. I''Tpt. Ar-.entimi Ar-.entimi Riid Ai tr:iiin v.fro :ilinor-iruillv :ilinor-iruillv poor. S,pon(il-, Arncrir-a i dow a. member of !hf .'lilies. Thirdly, th enormous Ruian vimnt rro cstiiifif r. -a .-li h'r;.iu-p nr Kntlnn-1 hpi an-.1 1 1 1 r- J conrrnl ciT.rir'.'.-; runt t o all Iincian ont-rl ont-rl l.v sea n? v. oil as hy lan'l. I'o::rt an.i f iiuillv. I'ran'-o and Tirit-ain Tirit-ain hac lurnr-1 nr-h a lao part of t!K'ir rsiiii rior; into cmcrL'f'nv in'i::j-Tric-, U'-h as nmiiit'on iiiaiMiTa'-turintr. tliat. th-'ir o.-ii iVkm! prO'ln-tion ha-l ha-l tpr n Ita'ilv rl:tnrbr1. America Must Feed Allies. Mai;:;"-:1". tl:oi!. til.1 I'niti-'l Statf.-niii-M 1'urnih all thi" f-xtra wheat. S-Wf, mir U'l err,;, 'Tii. Olliv ii,!iy loit(r r.'rn;ai. it is noir;carv to CL-oDotidi'.'. Tbii wo arc aLrea-Jj uoiiio'. must also increase our pro.Iurtion. Utah has been requested to increase her 191S crop by ,000,i00 Imsliels. Just what this means is clear when it is known that in the ordinary venr Utah produces between 6.0UO,Oimi 'and I 7,000,001) bushels. An extra 1 ,nno,i)iil bushels then means an increase of about, one-sixth or one-seveuth. This increase, if increase is to be made at all, will be made laryelv by increased planting. The fertility of the land cannot be markedly increased in a single season, tiesides. the seed used this year, if there be any difference differ-ence at all, is poorer than seed of ordinary ordi-nary years. The reason for this is that the unusually high price of the winter of 1 01 6-1 !t j 7 caused farmers to sell out more completely than usual. This left, jroml seed s'-aric in some localities lo-calities where no special lot is saved for seed. Increase Wheat Acreage. There remains, then, only increased acreapo as a. method of markedly increasing in-creasing wheat production. In Utah this is peculiarly difficult, m two-thirds two-thirds of the i-rop is -uint"r grain. There was. however, con-idcraMo extra aereape planted asi fall. N,, lv can nothing now be done to increase this aereaec of I'a I l-pla nt ed wheat, but very little can he d'.ne to im-i-ease acre yields. flf course, e:.:;a protection against fire, animals and migratory peMs. such as birds and pras-hoppers, will conserve th" crop. This, linRcvcr, can in no va- be i n t crprei a-: a means of incrraini; the prodm-tinn il mr-rely prevenls 'vast.-. Il.nv, then, may an increase be brought about ? At the di.'po-ai of Utah farmers are two methods of in'-rea - i 112 irrMluct uni of .sj.rina V lie.it. Thee are by dant inrr acres not hitiiei to srtu a to sprin'j wheat, and by taking added ca:c with seed and see.ibed. tiiereltv enlMlra:,nL, greater acre yield.. Small gain.- iriigh't be made otherwise, hul tie- two wav-alrearly wav-alrearly narne-1 are by all odls tm great opportunities. Additional spring wheat area-.- mnv be seciired bv using land that is not ordinarily cn.pp'-d rind hv . owing to r.hcnt acres that o'.Mi ua I i iy gro-.v .Tlhcr crops. This, however, i- not o unpli a seem- at fir-t. Mn-i si'rin g.aie 1 is irrigr-ted in I'lah, In.! It ha-- been long ad oeate.l that wh'ar -iionM to uuirrig.-iti-d iainl-. The natiual .'ie,-v ;, ; tils point i- (Coatinued .on Followins Page.) GREATER PRODUCTION OF WHEAT IS URGED Expert Advocates Additional Addi-tional Acreage and Nore i Scientific Methods. j j (Continued from Preceding Page.) , whet hex or not spring" grain may lie grown on the dry farm. Although winter win-ter grain outyields that planted in spring on the dry land, spring grain may be grown, profitably. This will, of course, be on areas that for 'some reason were not fall planted. There is always considerable land left over because be-cause of delayed plowing or other un-.avoidable un-.avoidable mishaps.. Last .spring part I of such areas were spring planted to Sonora, Marquis or Kubanka wheat. Such reasonably good 'yields were obtained ob-tained as to encourage added acres next spring. The dry farm, then, affords af-fords opportunity for a. substantial though not a heavy increase. Several Opportunities. Whereas dry land affords but the one opportunity, irrigated farms, though in somewhat the same condition, present several avenues down which increased production may come. Low-yielding pasture lands, freshly drained areas,1 hitherto unused corners, and some land from which other crops have been shifted temporarily all of these Nmav be planted to spring wheat and irrigated irri-gated without materially interfering with sugar beets, alfalfa, potatoes or grain other than wheat. Even had there been no emergency call for increased in-creased wheat production, old pasture should' be plowed up, wet lands drained and waste margins or corners cropped. If proper adjustment is made crops may be shifted without loss. For example, ex-ample, freshly broken grass or alfalfa sod are almost ideal places for com, whereas they would be fatal to wheat on account of its lodging. Let the corn be planted on the sod, and the corn acres planted to wheat. .Just so far as this transfer of crops will not decrease the production of other crops, it may be practiced but not an inch farther. Because potatoes and sugar beets are probably more profitable than wheat, they should not be replaced to any appreciable extent by it. Besides, Be-sides, sugar beets seem to be as necessary neces-sary as wheat, but that is another question a question of how to avoid an impending sugar famine. Early Planting Essential. Extra wheat acres is one-half the problem; the other half is higher acre yields. Of first importance in this respect re-spect is early planting on a fine, vet firm, seedbed. This is not merely good, it is essential. The hot, dry, ripening season is not well adapted to the proper filling of the grain. A good seedbed supplements early planting by giving the wheat a good stand and encouraging encourag-ing a full stand. (,'ousiderable grn in may be obtained hv using the cleanest high-yielding seed1 available. it will be profitable to screen or fan out weed seed, chuff and badly shrunken kernels. Finally, treatment for smut is to be applied with even greater care than usual. The best method is to soak it . for ten minutes min-utes in a solution of one pint of formalin for-malin in forty gallons of water. Then from seed time to harvest extra vigilance vigi-lance must prevail, lest weeds, inserts or cows break in and steal. A Patriotic Duty. In cun elusion, it is een tial not to lose ight of the patriotic service. The price uf wheat, high though it now is, may not he great enough by itself to iustiiy increased wheat production. Labor is high and machinery expensive. At this time, however, it seems more important that food be sent to the armies now fighting than to send half-trained half-trained men to increase the number of hungry mouths to be fed. Then the sacrifice necessary to increase wheat production is not so trying as that of 'ending our youth. Life is more precious pre-cious than labor, yet extra wheat -cems c pi ally it' not more important iu-d mc. than ojd'ers. Two armies uoil 'cu will probably be pi ore efi'i- cient than three poorly nourished. Especially Es-pecially is this important now that it 1 seems probable that Germany will con-j con-j trol Russian fields ne:t year. Although most of the wheat is al-I al-I ready planted great Gains may be made bv planting spring grain. It is I not necessary to do this at the expense of other crop?. On both dry farm and irrigated lands, considerable areas may be utilized that would otherwise be idle, or nearly so. burly planting of well cleaned and thoroughly treated seed offers the greatest returns. Should it so happen that even the considerable con-siderable returns from wheat do not make it more profitable than other crops, patriotism demands that more wheat hp grown. In the end it may prow ncr:rlv as efficient to feed the present annie? as to ra ;sc new one-. |