THE DRY FARMING COLNGRESS. 



269 



Soil Treatment. 



" 'We worked, our entire crop the same way so far as possible keep- 

 ing the disk cultivator rn operation much of the time and always after 

 a rain to prevent the ground from cracking open and the moisture from 

 escaping. This dust mulch, stirring the soil and letting in the air does 

 more than any other one thing in producing a crop in this locality. 

 One acre handled this way equals two to three acres run over the slip- 

 shod way the most of our farmers have been doing their work. 



Squash and Pumpkins. 



" 'Our soil being very rich and productive, I advise to be careful 

 and not get the corn too thick. Then plant a generous supply of squash 

 and pumpkin seed, and I think the lit1;le pie pumpkin the best as they 

 pollenize heavy and aside from making a yield of five to ten tons per 

 acre and lots of good feed they serve another very Important purpose 

 of covering the ground, making a shade which both draws and pre- 

 serves the moisture after the crop is laid by and can no longer be 

 cultivated. 



"In conclusion will say, my homestead is the Soutlwest Quarter 

 of Section 22, Township 109 North, Range 79 West, Stanley County, 

 South Dakota. I will not take the time or space here to itimize my 

 crop of fifty-six varieties but will say that considering the season and 

 other conditions I was well repaid for my efforts. At the going prices 

 this little exp-erimental sod crop of sixty acres figures in round num- 

 bers, $1,035.21.' 



"My personal experiences in clay and gimibo soil have been largely 

 in raising corn, potatoes, sugar beets, and mangels for cow feed and 

 gardening. 



Fall Plowing. 



"I have prepared the ground with both fall plowing and spring 

 plowing with good results in both cases, but as stated above prefer 

 the fall plowing eight inches deep. 



"We prepare our seed bed by thorough disking followed by the 

 harrow. 



Acreage Yields. 



"I raised in 1907 and 1908, thirty bushels of corn to the acre on 

 old ground and twenty bushels on sod. Potatoes, 125 to 150 bushels in 

 1907, and 100 bushels in 1908, the smaller return for 1908 being from 

 ihe fact that part of the ground was sod plowed in the fall of 1907 and 

 not rotted as much as it should have been to get best results. 



"In 1907 the large cow beets produced at the rate of 1,200 bushels 

 to the acre, in 1908 I planted sugar beets on a part of the same ground 

 as that upon which I had the cow beets the year before with a result 

 of a yield of about 1,000 bushels per acre. 



