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Show I Lowly Russian Sunflower Comes Into Own; Ogden Valley Experiments Prove Stressful I One Hated and Stamped From Gardens, It Becomes Valuable Val-uable Ensilage Product Prod-uct for Cattle Feed BXjOI I) - I 1MMI KM N Tho lovelv Munflowcr. for years considered con-sidered a pest, :i weed and nuisance. Is at last comini; into it- own. Oni-o hated and stamped from the p.irdins ,nd fields as an i lUfloper which sought to steal that nourishment needed need-ed by producing rops, It Is now beginning be-ginning to be look"-. I upon .1- .'ii" il the most valuable of all assets of tho dairyman. Kvcn I he not .-simisti' farmers now admit the BUnflowcr Into the fodder fod-der column, while tb. optimistic one predict t ha l It will BplVl the Kr.aC-si of all problems of lb'- milk producer the problem of raising cheap leefl on small acreage. With each passing da 'he sun flow-, er is receiving added recognition from l'.irmi rs and llveatoi k producer- in all parts of the wist The point has ,-ven been reached where It is helng accepted as a standard farm crop In many localities, II poasibiUUea an a fodder give promise that It win take a leading position in the Cfopfl 61 the western States during tb- years to come. 1 1 i ssi t i. i m i rimj n rs Man) rarmera of northern Utah believe be-lieve that the development of sunflowers sun-flowers as a farm crop is the most valuable agricultural development, so i.r as the western BtaCes an- concerned, con-cerned, since the advent of alfaifa-Thelr alfaifa-Thelr opinions appear lo he based upon up-on the experiences and the results of tests of farmers In th Huntsvlllo valley, val-ley, who are now said to be ill-' fmu hi the west to raise sunflowers at an altitude of 6.00U feel The xperl-ment xperl-ment there last year proved entirely . successful .'.ml During the past summer i the valley was speckled with fields of sunflowers .mil several additional ilos sprung up to store the fodder. Which will later Ik- fed to rang cattle, cat-tle, sheep, hogs and dairy stork. The results of th sunflower production pro-duction In that section will probably me.an much to the milk producer oi the future. It has proved without doubt that the sunflower -;in be raised cheaper than any other fodder; H will harvest ninth more to !iv. aen-. and. most Important of all. has shown that It is a food upon which livestock will thrive and produce and the animals ani-mals soon learn to prefer it to other fodder. Another important Dotnl which plaees Ihe sunflower high In the t matlon of tho farmer tvho'Qe land liSS in the upper extreme altitude-;. i-; that it has become known to be one of the greatest of all registers of frost. Testimony of farmer hn have raised the fodder In. lb hieli hills tihows that freezing tempo) inr-failcd inr-failcd to even leave a trace upon the stalks or the flowers, or leaves Thi-y all have agreed that cold nights during dur-ing which the low temperature produced pro-duced a layer of tee over the water bucket, leave no imprint on the standing stand-ing flowers. I FIRST To TRY' i i.r ERg The distinction of having raised the first sunflowers in HuntsvlMe valley, whkh at the same time gives these producers the additional credit of having hav-ing been the first men In the west to raise them at this altitude, soi-ms to be divided between P.iv.d s i . mil. errand err-and John Felt TheSe men raised the flowers for experimental purposes in 1910 and now are confirmed boosters of the plant as a fodder. The experience of Mr. Pelt, who Is milk Inspector for the . itv of g.)en as he related it, follows "In the spring of 1VIP. I planted a small patch of sunflower on ni) farm in Huntsvllle fo- experimental purposes. 1 planted one row with oin stalk to the hill and others two, thro, and four stalks to each hill. The rows were plane. thre,. feet apart and the hills eight inches apart. Dnr-ing Dnr-ing the season I cultivated them once and irrigated them but three times "They grew eo prolific and proved VaNE of Uuntsvillc's best crops this summer was the prowinp; of sunflowers for livestock feed. U" John Fell, .-itv milk inspector is shown in one ql Ins fields juBl before harvesl time. Some I idea of the rianl size of Ho- stmflowet raised in Huntsville can be gained by tjhe otner Photograph which shows Thomas E. McKay pod his children will, one of the stalks, which often road, a height ! I j of ten feet. : J i I such a success that during the summer sum-mer farmers grew them by the at res and harvested in great abundance. I 'found that b) planting throe of four stalks to Ihe hill 1 would obtain the I best results. I sold one of my patches tn M Kay brothers of Huntsvllle and the sunflowers were siloed and later (fed to sheep. Ii was reported th- ah ep relished the sunflower a fod-ider fod-ider ami appeared to like i; equally as well as corn. Mr. Slroruberg re- ported that his cows thrived on the new food and he places it on a pat with corn. J. E. Dorman, chief of the western division of ihe United States bureati of I animal industry, has staled that cattle appear to prefer SUnflOWl r silage to j corn silage. "Last spring I planteii one and one-' one-' half acres of sunflowers and a month ago constructed a fifty-ton silo. We I harvested, as near as could be estl-; estl-; mated, fifty tons irom that acre and 'a half of ground. McKay hrotrn-r who Krfw approximately fifteen acres this year; placed their yield at forty , tons un acre. I HOST RESISTING I '"The sunflower has Its great advantages ad-vantages due to Hs gn at frost resisting re-sisting properties, which Is the gravest problem faced h producers of stood feed In the higher valle) I It Bhould become, In future years, one of the ' largest erops of dairymen and producers pro-ducers of beef battle In the higher i U tah districts. " Mont i i be tin st. ite of thi u esr in the raising of sunflowers as fodder. Ensilage of Ihe : plant Is reported to have given ex- 'tremily gratifying results at the Montana Mon-tana experimental station, where it has been fed to dairy cows during the ' last two years. The recognition of tan-flowers tan-flowers as a possible forage crop Is fast becoming common among slock- 1 raisers of that stale. The experiment station there, in answer to inquiry, has issued the following s'.atment: "Under our direction! suriflowoti have been grown for several years in different parts of Montana, on dry and on Irrigated land The Mammoth Russian variety has been used. This produces large stalks, attains a height of Seven to iwelve feet and can be matured for seed at lowlr altitudes. ThC seed was sown the lailer part of April or early In May o well-prepared land. A grain drill or a corn planter may be used for seeding if ihe proper adjustments are made Several cultivations were given early In the summer. Where water was available the crop was Irrigated the same as for small grains. I M I K I ! 5 1 : 1 ( I I I " Under irrigation two methods of growing the sunflowers have been I tested seeding them In drill and in check rows at different distances. The I former method has proved more satisfactory sat-isfactory The most practical distance between the rows has been found to i be twenty-four to thirty Inches, and the amount of seed, twelve to sixteen 'pounds (about one-half bushel) pet acre. If the drill is set lo sow five or six pecks of oats per acre il will be about rigiil for sunflowers. The desired distance between rows can be obtained by stopping a sufficient number num-ber of the seed cups of th grain drill. Yield of green forage hetweeii twenty and thirty tons per acre. "Under dry land conditions the best yields OTC to be expected by seeding the sunflowers in rows thirty -she to forty-two Inches apart, using five to Seven pounds of seed per acre and thlning the staixl to one stalk to every ten op fifteen inches of the row. The yields of green forage reported ranged from five to ten tons per acre. "Sunflowers are cut for ensilage when one-half to three-fourths of the seed Is in the milk stage If cut before this time the stalks are watery ana considerable loss in weight occurs. Tht- harvesting mas be done by hand or with a corn binder. Some difficult may be experienced with the binder : if the sunflowers are lodged, The .stalks al- passed on through the ensilage en-silage cutter and placed in the Milo in the same manner as corn." |
