| OCR Text |
Show CORN ON A DRY FARM Keystone of Success Is Conservation Con-servation of Rainfall. Enough of Crop Should Be Crown to Supply Work Horses With Rough-agt Rough-agt In Winter and Supplement Supple-ment Summer Pastures. In all the dry farming areas the conservation con-servation of the ralufail lu the ' soli where It becomes available to growing crops Is the keystone of successful suc-cessful agricultural operations, says the Northwestern Agriculturist This is generally dotie by the cultivation cul-tivation of thu soil during the entire growing season. If no crop Is produced pro-duced on the land this operation h called summer fallow or summer culture. cul-ture. Over most of the dry tarmlng area nearly if not as good grain crops can be grown following a cultivated cul-tivated crop as on summer tallowed laud. When the' bare fallow system Is used a wholo year elapse without auy returns either on the investment or for the labor perlorwed. If a cultivated cul-tivated crop can be grown with as good crops following ii should more tiiuu pay Its expense, which will con slril of the cost of st ed, planting and harvesting; the cultivation would have to be done auyway, so this should not be counted ng:iinst the cost of production of a crop of corn Corn is pre emlueully this crop-first crop-first because It produces an abundance abun-dance of cheap feed second it shades the soil during the excessively excessive-ly hot days of July and AuguHt, thereby preventing loss of soli fertility, fer-tility, and third a cornfield has s cooling rather than a healing Influence In-fluence on the winds that blow atrus It On most farms In the dry farming area enough live slock should be kept to pay most of the running expenses ex-penses of the farm. Hay and pasturage pas-turage are very short In such areas snd consequently too dear for cheap live s'ock production. Enough coru should be grown to supply, first, the work horses with ' roughage during the winter, if not thu working season; sea-son; second, to supplement the pus lures uf the summer and fall as a soiling crop or In the form of ensilage en-silage and to form the bulk of their winter rition; third, to supply the sheep and bogs a cheap fatteolng food for fitiUbing them off In the fall. The first essential to com culture on the dry farms Is live stock, for without such there Is no way of utilizing the corn crop, but If live slock are kept, feed must be bad; the corn crop can be converted into beef, pork, mutton, wool, butter and eggs, commodities that ran always be converted Into cash-or Its equivalent. equiva-lent. The second essential to corn culture cul-ture Is conviction that It will pay to grow live stock on the corn crop produced and a determination to grow corn as their chief feed In spite of adverse circumstances. In order to be successful In growing corn on a dry farm the selection of the proper variety Is essential. In western west-ern North Dakota and eastern Montana, Mon-tana, Squaw, Cehu, Mercer, King Phillip and Triumph will probably prove the best flint varieties, while Golden Dent and Northwestern L'ent will probably prove the best dent varieties. It should always germinate strong and 95 per cent, or better The time to seed Is from the 10th to the 15tn of May in a well prepared pre-pared seed bed which has been manured ma-nured snd plowed the fall before snd which has been harrowed at Intervals Inter-vals from the time the soli bad thawed out In the spring until the time of seeding. Thorough cultivation cultiva-tion is very Important, as It warms the soil, decreases evaporation of soil water, and forces the corn ahesd very rapidly. On the dry farms the corn should be cultivated after every rain as soon as possible In order to bottle all water possible In the soil. As soon as the corn Is cut the land should be disked lUbtly but it snould not be plowed. Should any hesvy soakirg rains come after this in the fall the land should again be bar rowed In the spring wlieat should be sown as early as possible but very rarely should tbe corn land be plowed before seeding wheat Dry Farm Methods. Fanners cannot pay too close attention atten-tion to the dry farming methods thst are being drilled at them. The Isck of snow tbe past season makes it more than likely that all the moisture In the soli will be needed to produce a crop In many sections With tbe Dry-Farming exposition In this province prov-ince this yesr is an added Incentive to the use of dry fsrmlng methods. Two Important Points. Thorough cultivstlon std dfp cuf. ration are two points to follow In dry farming. The deeper the cultivation tbe more moisture the soil will bold. When the soil Is plowed dep snd gets full of moisture tbe freqtwnt and thorough thor-ough cultivation of the surface kerps the moisture trom escsplng Into tbe air as fast as It otherwise would. Care of Calves. Tbe calves should bate clean pens and plenty of outdoor rtercl&e. If tbey csn have the run of tbe farm they will do well See that tbey get plenty of wster. Because a calf Is drinking milk Is no valid reason for thinking that be does not Beed fresh water. |
