The Kansas Cattleman from Manhattan, Kansas • 14

THE KANSAS CATTLEMAN MAY 1, i9l. PAGE FOURTEEN tfce former is probably the more rrmmnnlv used, since it is more I'ltGE rLAXTING OP RELIABLE CROPS Cot tonvood Use Ground Where Wheat Has Keen Killed by Drouth or Cold. Grove ilerefor Herd headed by ON-WARD FOLLY, YOUNG SIMPSON 3rd and DANDY ANDREW 17th. corn planted in the regular rows, except in wet seasons. The kafir yields are usually lower but the ground is left in much better condition for wheat than when the crop is planted in the usual manner.

Seed is saved by wide spacing as only half the usual amount is planted. The weeds most difficult to control are those which come up in the row. Since only half the row space is planted, this trouble is greatly reduced. The two row cultivator can be used with ease even though tho distance between rows is irregular. After the crop becomes too high to cultivate by straddling the rows, large implements dawn by two hoses can be used in cultivating the crop.

It is a more certain method of producing corn and should be piacticed on a portion of the corn area in western Kansas as a means of insurance in dry years. Use of this method leaves the -ground in excellent condition for seeding winter wheat. Wheat can otten be grown on wide spaced corn ground more satisfactorily than on summer fallow. The wheat does not make the excess growth of straw characteristic of wheat on summer fallow, while the stalks if left on the ground hold the snow during the winter and aid in preventing soil blowing. To obtain any benefit from wide spaced corn and kafir, it necessary to prevent the growth of weeds in the space between the rows.

Nothing is gained if weeds am allowed to rob the crops of moisture. Every acre that can be properly handled with the labor and equipment on the farm should be planted to spring crops, yet no greater acreage than this should be planted, in the opinion of Prof. Call. Any land that cannot be planted in season and properly cultivated after it is planted should be held In reserve for wheat next fall. Such land should be plowed, listed, or disced just as early, in the summer as possible and worked so that weeds will re killed.

If the plowing can be done by June or early July such ground should be in ideal condition for wheat in the fall. If the spring is wet, such ground should be disced in May to prevent too rank a weed growth before readily carried out on a large scale. In preparing the formaldehyde solution mix one pint of full strength formaldehyde with 30 gallons of water in a suitable vat, tank or barrel. The seed to be treated should be placed in coarse sacks gunny sjrks and plunged into the solution for a moment, then raised, allowed to drain slightly and tho process repeated until it is certain that all the grain is wet. The sacks of seed should remain in this solution for one hour.

At the end of this time the sacks and their contents should be removed. The seed should be spread out in thin layers on a clean floor or can-vss, free from smot contamination allowed to dry. After it is thoroughly dry it may be stored in clean sacks, or it may be immediately planted. In order to eliminate all possibilities of contamination, after the seed had been treated, new sacks should be used for storing the seed, or the sacks should be soaked for a period of two hours in the solution employed for treating the seed for smut. It is advisable to sprinkle the floor with a strong solution of formaldehyde before spreading the seed to dry.

Care should be taken that bins and drills are free from smut spores by sterilizing them through washing with a strong solution of formaldehyde. The germination of treated seed should be tested, and if the germination is low, the rate of planting should be proportionately increased. Precaution should be taken against freezing and sprouting after the treatment, warns Mr, Melchers. Although the hot water treatment is efficient in ridding the contaminated seed of smut spores, it is a little more difficult to perform effectively and requires considerable care. The equipment necessary is also a matter to be considered.

Except where steam is accessible, the formaldehyde treatment is easier to carry out. A small steam boiler or traction engine is the ideal thing for carrying out the hot water treatment. By means of steam, the water is heat-ments are both effective, although ed to the desired temperature. The additional apparatus necessary for the hot water treatment, consists of (Continued on Page 15.) I now have for sale some top notch bulls and heifers. All are of Simpson, Dandy Andrew, Java, Paragon and Hesoid breeding.

B. H. BICKER SONS DUNLAP, KANSAS. Planting of spring crops fields where wheat has been destroyed by dry weather or winter killing is urged by L. E.

Call, professor of agronomy in the Kansas State Agricultural college. "It is too late and the ground is too dry to sow small grains like barley, oats, and spring wheat," said Trof. Call. "This ground should, therefore, be planted to an intertilled spring crop like corn or kafir or some other kind of sorghum. "This is not the time to experiment with new kinds of crops.

Grain of all kinds will be too high in price and too urgently needed to attempt anything new. Such crops as beans, cowpeas, and soybeans should not be grown on a large scale by inexperienced growers. The production of these crops should be left to thoso who have grown them and who are familiar with their culture. It is the safest plan to grow crops like corn and kafir which are reasonably reliable and the culture of which is familiar to all." Kafir and the other sorghums are the surest crops to grow in the wheat belt of Kansas, believes Prof. Call.

A large acreage of these crops should bep lanted. In the eastern part of the wheat belt varieties of kafir like the blackballed and the pink should be planted. In the western part such varieties as dwarf blackhulled kafir, dwarf milo and fcterita are the most dependable kinds of grain sorghums to grow. Large growing and late maturing varieties so late in the season and leavo the ground so dry and depleted in available plant food that wheat does not make so good a growth as when preceded by corn or a dwarf early maturing variety of sorghum. Kafir ground should be held for corn the next season, when possible.

If the kafir ground is fall listed, freezing and thawing of winter will Improve the tilth of the soil and the lister furrows will hold snow and the ground will be in ideal condition for corn the next season. Corn or an early maturing variety of grain sorghum like dwarf kafir, feterita, or milo, is better than krfir to plant on ground that is to be sown to wheat in the fall. Locally grown, thoroughly aclimated seed corn should be planted. There is sufficient locally grown in every section of central and western Kansas to plant the crop. This seed should be located, tested for germination, and planted when known to be of strong vitality.

Corn brought in from a distance will usually not produce a good crop the first season. Corn and kafir planted in every other row is more drouth resistant and leaves the ground in better condition for wheat than corn or kafir planted in the usual manner When these crops are planted in this manner the rows are spaced seven instead of three and a half feet apart. A blank lister row is alternated with a planted one which spaces the rows twice the usual width. This method of planting has been practiced in several places in wrestern Kansas and in a limited way in other parts of the state. The yields for wide spaced corn have been higher than those for SHIP US YOUR HIDES Quick returns at highest current market price.

Square deal assured. Write us today. M. LYON CO. 100-102 W.

3rd St. Kansas City, Mo. SAVE BY TREATING SORGHUM. APJ IMPORTANT PJ1ATTER In marketing your live stock, the choice of a commission company Is a matter of importance. A few cents a hundred pounds in the selling price of your stock may mark the difference between profit and actual loss.

Why take chances? We offer you our services. TROWER, CHASE McCOUN LIVESTOCK COM. LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE, KANSAS CITY, MO. All Varieties Are Subject to Attack by Smut, Points Out Plant Path-ologist. Treat sorghum seed to insure the summer crop against plant disease losses and save more than Loss in Kansas through kernel smut will be enormous in 1917 unless preventive measures are adopted by farmers generally in the state, according to L.

E. Melchers, plant pathologist, Kansas State Agricultural college. Good sorghum seed is not plentiful, and unless all precautions are taken the crop will be greatly reduced. All the sorghums, such as kafir, broom corn, shallu, and kaoliang, are affected by smut. Seed should be treated by one of tho ordinary methods to prevent this plant disease.

Milo and feterita are the only varieties of sorghums that arc not susceptible to smut, hence they do not require a treatment. Tho formaldehyde formalin treatment, and the hot water trcat- The Holsteii-Friesian Association of Kansas as an organization offers nothing for sale but dealers to supply valuable information free to prospective buyers. The object of this association is to protect the interests of ho breed in Kansas. Are you a member? WRITE W. H.

MOTT, SECY, HERINGTON, KANS.