THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



215 



enough, how thin to sow the grain. Since that time I had added another 

 section of land and I have continued to increase my plowing. The rail- 

 road came along and the government ceded to the railroad every al- 

 ternate section. I took my first quarter way across the four forties, 

 drew an odd section, section 17 on the northeast, and section 13 on my 

 northwest and I filed on the two sections and bought them. I had ten 

 years in which to pay for them and I went to breaking up more land each 

 year. I turned it just as I had before and hired men and had them sow the 

 grain and compelled them to sew not more than 35 pounds to the acre. 



No Crop Failures. 



"Well, after this loss of crops, since that time I have never failed 

 and I have been working at it 43 years and never failed to raise a good 

 crop. One of these sections is east of the railroad and west there is 

 about 145 acres, the balance is on the east of the railroad. I made a 

 ro^d down through the center of it and put a fence up through the 

 center and consequently I summer fallow on one side while the grain 

 Summer Fallow. 



is growing on the other side and I only sew grain every alternate year. 

 I raise a crop on that side while I summer fallow on this side. I turn 

 my stock on the voluntary grain and they get fat. I sewed the south 

 half of the section, the whole of it below the raidroad, 224 acres and it 

 came up fine, looking well. I had my son, 14 years of age, working there 

 and I went over just as the grain was turning ripe and it stood about five 

 feet high. I said: 'Alfred, let's go down and look at that grain.' We 

 went down and looked at the grain and half way through the patch we 

 walked through a dead furrow and when we got two-thirds of the way 

 across the half section, I noticed off to the left, to the southwest, a 

 patch of wheat that was about ten inches higher than the other and 

 perfect grain. I said: 'What is the matter over there? Let's go and 

 look at that.' So, we walked over and found that the squirrels had been 

 working under that ground. 



Sub-Soiling. 



"Those little fellows had been sub-soiling there and the moisture 

 had gone down. The sun was bringing it up and keeping that grain 

 growing. The stalks of grain were higher and the heads were larger, 

 plumper and greener. I said: "I am going to send east and get a sub- 

 soiler and sub-soil this whole half section.' I did so and sub-soiled the 

 half section six inches deep. 



Soil Treatment. 



"I plowed the land eight inches and sub-soiled six inches, making 

 the depth of the soil 14 inches. The sub-soiler of course doesn't turn it 

 up on top. 



Thin Seeding. 



"I sewed gi'ain 35 pounds to the acre on this patch the next year 

 and it came along fine and did well. 



