WHEAT CULTURE IN SAGINAW COUNTY. 101 



contain all except so much as goes to form flesh. If you will feed clover to stock 

 the manure is as valuable for the land as was the clover. 



Mr. Bow : Which has the most nitrogen, the root of clover or the part which 

 we take from the land in making hay? 



Dr. Kedzie : It is about equal. 



President Willits : So after removing the crop you have only taken one-half 

 of the product? 



Dr. Kedzie : Yes. 



President Willits : And that half the clover has developed from material 

 that was inert and unavailable beforehand for the wheat? 



Dr. Kedzie : Jnst so. 



WHEAT CULTURE IN SAGINAW COUNTY. 



BY DENNIS BOW, OF BRIDGEPORT. 



[Not having been able to obtain the manuscript of this article, I clip the following resume of 

 it from the Saginaw News. — Secretary.] 



The gentleman stated that he was better at raising wheat than writing about 

 it, and considered it a subject of great interest to every farmer. Whether it 

 will pay to raise wheat at 85 cents per bushel is a question very often asked. 

 From a tabulated stateme- t made up from reports from G50 townships an 

 itemized account gives the cost of raising and marketing one acre of wheat at 

 $12.99. This includes interest, taxes, wages and repairs. Taking this as a 

 basis it would be necessary to raise 15^ bushels to pay expenses, leaving a 

 pretty wide margin for profit. The same report gives the cost of raising a 

 bushel of oats at 29 cents and corn at 21 cents per bnshel of ears, leaving little 

 or no profit. Mr. Bow's observation has been that the purchasing power of 

 wheat is about the same whether it is 85 cents or 11.00. If wheat is low every- 

 thing else is down; if high, everything is up; wheat, as it were, holding the 

 balance of power. Among the few necessary things to be observed are thorough 

 drainage, thorough cultivation and the using of a heavy roller before sowing, 

 not often. By sowing clean, from the 1st to the 10th of September and observ- 

 ing these conditions we may reasonably expect to harvest a good crop of clean 

 wheat and no chess. Has never known wheat turn to chess when the above 

 conditions have been complied with. Specific rules can not be given to fit all 

 sorts and conditions. Each one must study his own condition and shape his 

 practice to them. The Clawson variety is best for this section. Side by side it 

 has fought its way with other varieties, and has always given the most satisfactory 

 results, and although condemned by the millers it has fought its way to the 

 front, where it stills holds the fort. Whether the wheat has changed or 

 im^iroved processes of manufacturing have produced these results the gentleman 

 WPS not prepared to say. In order to oiitain good crops the fertility of the 

 soil must be kept up, and this can be done with clover, plaster and sheep. Mr. 

 Bow has always obtained the best results on corn stubble. Turn under a clover 

 sod, cultivate the corn thoroughly, always bearing in mind the better you work 

 the ground the better the corn, and at the same time you are keeping the soil 

 in good condition for the wheat, thus killing two birds with one stone. 



