| Show PAM FARM AND GARDEN MATTERS OF INTEREST TO agriculturists some up tp to date hints about callava ilea ot of abe soli soil and fields thereof horticulture nod florl culture cult Tire borass iriss in south dakota JIB HE natural addan of 0 the state 4 B ot of south dakota as a stock country have long been jc ire c 0 g n I 1 z e il fl our range beet beef arid and mutton Is regarded as second to none in its class our wool has earned an enviable reputation in all of the wool centers ot of america and last in ili order ot of development but by to no means least east in ili importance our dairy products product have established a name for or themselves among the very best on this continent all of these achievements have been won almost entirely without the aid ol of cultivated grains arid and grasses our native prairie grasses have in nearly all cases been the principal and in many instances the only tood food of our stock in some parts of our state the system which has produced such satisfactory results in the past can be continued for it a considerable time to come with but slight modifications while in other portions particularly in ill the older and more thickly settled districts conditions have so changed and are still changing that a very different system must bupt eventually be institute instituted ed in these localities our native grasses which have been the basis of nearly all of our success in ili the past are fast rearing and being replaced by inferior introduced grasses and worthless weeds the causes which have brought about this undesirable but inevitable result are not hard to discover over stocking and tramping which seem almost unavoidable during some portions ol of the season it ft enough stock be kept to utilize th thi feed during flush times is one of tle the most potent and also the most difficult to avoid for i if only such an amount of stock Is kept during flush feed as can subsist upon the pasture without overstocking over stocking during the dry parts of the season tho the grass will make such a rink rank growth during the spring and carli carl summer slimmer that stock will not eat it during the dry per periods another slightly sightly less potent but more universal factor and one still less amenable to any known methods of prevention tiou is the gradual migration of hardy Wess weedy grasses and plants from the older to the newer settled portions of 0 the country it is true that some or our farmers claim that our native grasses g are so much cupi bior to the cultivated grasses of the east that we can successfully compete with eastern dairymen without the aid of forage roots or silage and these claims are not without foundation it is a well known tact fact that our native grasses cure cuie upon the ground as soon as the dry weather of august and sep sets in and before they have been injured by frosts and that a fine quality cured hay superior to the average meadow hay of eastern states can be cut upon our prairies at any time after august before the ground is covered with snow As it frequently happens that we do nut have enough snow at any ono one time during the winter to prevent stock from grazing it ought not to be difficult to understand why vie ve can truthfully say that our stock can range tho year round and we can cut hay upon our prairies from august until march there are however some years an aal especially this year when this statement cannot be substantiated while it Is unquestionably true that we have the advantage advant ago of our eastern compete tors in the quality of our native grasse it Is also true that they have the ad vantage of us in the length of tim during which stock can obtain cuccu lent food such being the case it seems that it Is even more important that we should supply forage roots and sl si lage age for inflate the aate summer tall fall and winter feeding than it is for the eastern dairyman or stockman to make a similar provision E C chilcott |
