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Show STUBBLE IS OF VALUE LEAVE AS MUCH IN GROUND A3 POSSIBLE FOR TWO REASONS. One. Is That it May Be Plowed Under for Fertilizer and Other That It May Catch Snow, and Help Accumulate Ac-cumulate Moisture. (By E. R. PARSONS.) In harvesting small grain it Is most important to leave as much of the stubble on the ground as possible, for two entirely different and distinct purposes. One Is that it may be plowed under for fertilizing purposes, the other that it may catch the snow and help to accumulate moisture, for It is just as necessary to absorb the water as it is to conserve it. In California they keep up the fertility fer-tility of the wheat fields by heading and they plow the straw under. Some farmers pasture stock on it and then plow the manure under, which amounts to much the same thing. The treatment of a field subsequent to the harvesting period depends on Its physical condition at the time, and on the needs of the next crop to be raised on it. Supposing wheat follows fol-lows wheat without any fallowing (which, by the way, we do not recommend, rec-ommend, for rotation is much better than single cropping), then the land should be plowed as soon as it is possible, pos-sible, the stubble turned under and the field left in a receptive condition for precipitation until planting time for the winter wheat in September. There is an ajtiom in dry-farming which I would impress on my readers: read-ers: "Never raise spring wheat in a country where winter wheat flourishes." flour-ishes." The reasons are too obvious to need explanation and too many to print in this article, but I might quote from the United States department de-partment of agriculture that the yield for winter wheat is 14 bushels, average aver-age per acre, as against nine for spring wheat. On the dry-farm small grain should be followed by corn, sorghum or potatoes; po-tatoes; but the moisture question often cuts our rotation down to small grain, corn and alfalfa. If the field is Intended for corn or sorghums It should be plowed in the fall and the crops planted in the spring; but if the physical condition of the field is such that It cannot be plowed in the fall it can be left in the stubble all winter, disked as soon as it is pastured pas-tured off and plowed as deeply as possible as soon as the frost will permit. per-mit. As far as the plowing is concerned, every inch of depth counts in dry-farming, dry-farming, especially up to ten inches, the difference between six-inch plowing plow-ing and ten-inch plowing often doubling dou-bling the crop. If the land Is intended for another crop of winter wheat after being summer-fallowed it may also be left In the stubble and treated as for corn, but the plowing should be done in May or June when the weeds are all up eight or nine inches high. This method makes for fertility and more than supplies the humus lost in cultivating. culti-vating. There is a period, however, between the time when the frost Is out of the ground and the plowing, which must be bridged over by disking disk-ing in the manure left on the ground by the cattle. This will also mulch the land and bury the weed seeds, which will come up later on and be turned under by the plow. Fall plowing is the best for corn If the soil is light and the lister is usevj in the spring. Spring plowing as usually best for the sorghums. Fall plowing is the best for oats on any land, for this crop needs deeply plowed but solid soil and nothing is better than nature's packing. By plowing ten inches deep and allowing the land to settle all winter 75 bushels bush-els per acre may often be raised on the best soil. |