GRAYLING INSTITUTE. 297 



GRAIN RAISING ON THE PLAINS. 

 BY JACOB STEOKERT, OF SOUTH BRANCH, CRAWFORD COUNTY", 



I began fanning in the township of South Branch in 1876, but did not 

 raise any grain until 1880, when I sowed rye and oats, both following after 

 potatoes. 



The oats were White Norway, grown on soil which, when first broken, was 

 about the poorest on the farm. 



The field was well prepared and about twelve wagon loads per acre of barn- 

 yard manure put on it, and then sowed to the oats and seeded with one-third 

 timothy and two-thirds clover. When ripe the oats stood four feet high and 

 yielded 50 bushels per acre. 



The rye field was on a side hill, somewhat stronger soil, and was prepared 

 in the fall in the same manner, manured about as heavily, and seeded in the 

 spring. When ripe the average height from the stubble was 6 feet 5 inches, 

 and the yield 15 bushels per acre. 



The first crop of hay following the oats yielded a ton and a half per acre 

 and the year after gave good pasture. 



The seeding with the rye was not a good catch, so I put on six good loads of 

 manure per acre and sowed to wheat, seeding at the same time. The result 

 was 22^ bushels of wheat per acre and a fine catch of clover and timothy 

 which cut the following season almost two tons of hay per acre. 



Two years after I broke up this same piece and put in wheat ; yield, 20 

 bushels per acre ; stubbled in wheat again; yield, 17 bushels per acre. 



I also tried some barley on a rather sandy piece of land, applying 100 lbs. 

 of phosphate per acre, drilled in with the Buckeye drill. The yield was 15 

 bushels per acre, with a remarkable stand of the mammoth clover, which cut 

 two tons of hay per acre the next season. 



For an experiment I sowed four acres of a new breaking on strong soil to 

 wheat and got 14 bushels per acre. 



I have raised millet several times, the average yield being from one and a 

 half to two tons per acre. 



My last year's crops were light on account of dry weather. The wheat, 

 partly on sod and partly manured, gave but 14 bushels to the acre, and the 

 oats were almost a failure, except for one very good piece on the river flats. 

 The upland was, I think, too heavily manured, having on five acres 34 

 sleigh loads, equivalent to 100 wagon loads of green camp manure, and the 

 land being sandy and not as strong as some of my lands, was more affected 

 by the dry weather. The after growth was heavier than the crop and I plowed 

 it under and put in wheat and seeded, and the wheat looks very promising. 

 Altogether I put in last fall 41^ acres of wheat, of which 40 acres are also 

 seeded. 



I have now 100 acres under the plow. 



My tools consist of the following, in addition to small tools: 



Three wagons, one Buckeye mower, one Chieftan hay rake, one Saginaw 

 plow, one Diamond iron plow, one Buckeye reaper, one Buckeye drill, one 

 Kalamazoo sulky harrow, and one Toledo plow. 



Capital to start with, $450.00 and a family of nine. I might add that 

 potatoes and the kitchen garden have also done very well, 



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