1 !> 00 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
617 
THE ELGIN, ILLINOIS, DAIRY DISTRICT 
Crops and Cultural Methods. 
Part III. 
The growing of oats is universal, but 
not as extensive in acreage as corn. 
The rotation of crops is necessary, so 
we think, to keep the land in texture, 
and the farmer needs more or less oats 
for his horses. We need something for 
a cover crop in starting our Timothy 
and clover fields. Generally speaking, 
oats are grown more as an aid in the 
production of other crops rather than 
for their food or commercial value. 
The time and methods of preparations 
for the growing of this crop vary ac¬ 
cording to the manner in which the 
farmer wishes to rotate his crops. If 
oats are to follow oats, the ground is 
plowed in the Fall, if not .too dry, and 
the land lies open and fallow until the 
warm winds come in the Spring and 
dry it out. If the oats are to succeed 
corn, the entire work is done in the 
Spring, by first using the cultivator, 
disk harrow or pulverizer. We do not 
have the cornstalks on the land to con¬ 
tend with in the Spring, which makes 
the work much easier. The smoothing 
harrow is of course made use of be¬ 
fore the seeding is done, either where 
the ground is Fall-plowed or otherwise. 
On the Fall-plowed land the harrow 
alone is usually sufficient to put the 
ground in good order for the seeding. 
The seeding is done by drilling or 
broadcasting, some using one method, 
others another. When clover or Tim¬ 
othy is to be given a start, then the 
grains are sown broadcast. The sea¬ 
son being favorable, harvesting comes 
along about July 1. This is a strenu¬ 
ous time with the farmer, as the Tim¬ 
othy hay crop needs attention about 
then, with its demands. Our seasons 
of general harvest sometimes vary a 
little; otherwise the farmer would be 
obliged to divide his forces in taking 
care of his oat crop, Timothy hay 
and corn all at -the same time. We use 
the self-binder in cutting the crop, 
which makes short work of it, two men, 
three horses and a machine constitut¬ 
ing a force which cuts, binds and shocks 
up a considerable acreage in a day, de¬ 
pending upon the heaviness of the crop. 
When the grain is sufficiently dry it is 
stacked, or it is hauled directly to the 
thrashing machine. The straw has no 
small value, either with the farmer or 
on the market, so it is pretty well 
looked after. We stack it up in good 
shape .to stand the wind and weather, 
and if it is not to be baled for market, 
the rattle have access to it, especially 
the young .stock. The oat crop yields, 
one season with another, probably 45 
bushels to the acre. Exact figures are 
not obtainable. Some farmers can al¬ 
ways raise more than others. It is a 
problem. The “black” oat at one time 
was the principal variety grown, but 
now what is known as the “yellow” oat 
seems to be the popular one. 
Timothy hay, a pretty close second to 
corn as a “money crop,” needs to be 
mentioned here. All farmers here grow 
it and many of them sell it. One of 
our farmers owning 325 acres of land, 
with nearly an even hundred sleek milch 
cows, has probably 50 tons for sale. 
This means at the present market prices, 
$10 per ton, $500 cash. This represents 
the excess in a raw product above his 
needs. He buys nothing to take its 
place. If it could be fed to his cattle 
his farm would not need the plant food 
which it would make. He simply does 
not need it, so we have to consider 
this is a clear gain. The eastern farmer 
no doubt knows a great deal about 
growing this product, so we will not 
enter into our method of doing it 
further than to say that we do not crop 
the land too long at one time with it, 
as it soon exhausts the fertility of the 
soil. New and strongly fertilized fields 
have to be opened up after a few crops 
have been grown. While Timothy is 
fed to a considerable extent to the milch 
cows we do not consider that it has 
near the value of clover, either as a 
milk-making or a flesh-forming food. 
Much of our hay sold on the market 
is baled (this commands a higher price 
of course) and sold in the nearby cities 
and towns for the use of people keep¬ 
ing one or more horses for their own 
use, teamsters, liverymen, etc. Clover is 
the dairy farmer’s friend, and has quite 
an acreage here. Some farmers seem 
to have a little difficulty in getting it 
to grow, others are very successful. 
Very little of this product is offered for 
sale, the farmers holding to the belief 
that it is worth more to them than 
to anyone else, as being a well balanced 
ration for their cattle. The variety 
mostly grown here is Red clover. A 
few have fields of Alsike, but the red 
predominates. Clover seed is sown here 
with oats at seeding time. In the Pall 
following, when the oats are harvest¬ 
ed, the cattle are turned in to feed on 
it. Very few farmers allow it to ripen 
for the seed. Their benefit accrues 
from using it as a food product. Not 
much attention is given to clover as a 
soil builder. Farmers recognize its 
value, but simply do not need it in our 
section of the State. With the immense 
amount of animal fertilizers at our very 
door, the necessity of green manuring 
has not ye* struck our farmer very 
forcibly, except, perhaps, in isolated 
cases. We grow potatoes, but none for 
export sale. Our home markets need 
more than we can produce; the farmers 
seem to think they hardly pay. The 
quality of those grown, however, is very 
good. If we could banish the striped 
bug, the dry rot and the sedb, perhaps 
our farmers would encourage the 
growth of potatoes to a greater extent. 
The city of Elgin uses carload after car¬ 
load of potatoes grown in Colorado, 
Michigan, Wisconsin and other States. 
We are sorry, of course, but we have 
to do .this or go without. Our acreages 
of barley, wheat and rye are small. Bar¬ 
ley does fairly well here, and some 
farmers grow it as a hog food. The 
work of harvesting it comes on about 
the same time with oat cutting and hay¬ 
ing, and most of our farmers have not 
th.' time to attend to it. Wheat, which 
used to be a staple crop with us years 
ago, seemingly bas had its day in north¬ 
ern Illinois, and we only grow a little 
here and there to be ground into flour 
for the farmers’ own use. The time 
may come when we shall know what 
our land needs to bring it again in con¬ 
dition to grow wheat successfully. 
Rye is a green food crop usually with 
us. A small field makes good Fall feed 
for stock sometimes, when the pastures 
are brown, and in the early Summer 
months the hogs thrive well upon it. 
The fertilizers used are mainly the ani¬ 
mal product. Of this most of our 
farmers have an ample supply to dress 
the land properly. The commercial 
article is sometimes used by the mar¬ 
ket gardener near the larger cities, but 
the farmers do not make use of it, ex¬ 
cept in some small experimental ways. 
Our soils so far have been strong in 
humus, assembled by the rotting down 
of the luxuriant grasses which grew 
on our prairies before the coming of 
the white settler. With this as our 
base, the animal product, combining 
other plant food aids, has been suffi¬ 
cient to keep our land in form. This 
excrement on ’the majority of our 
farms, is thrown directly on to the 
wagons or manure spreader, right in 
the barns, day by day, and hauled to 
the fields and dumped, sometimes in 
heaps, or scattered over -the land. Our 
fields lie nearly level, as a rule, and 
there is but comparatively little wasted 
by washing away. A slight loss by 
evaporation may result when the ma- 
nue is spread, but this is hardly taken 
into consideration. Three to four 
loads per acre, amounting to five or 
six tons in weight, is considered a suf¬ 
ficient quantity, especially where the 
land has fyeen well “kept up.” We may 
in time need to adopt other methods 
of treating our soils, but at the pres¬ 
ent time those in use seem to be suf¬ 
ficient. Our farming operations are 
conducted on rather a swift scale. We 
have no time for the hoeing of corn, 
or for cutting up the crop by hand. 
We use hay loaders in the fields and 
hay forks in the barn. Wide hayrakes, 
self-binding reapers and big plows are 
necessary to do what we have to do. 
We are full of work on the farms, both 
Winter and Summer, hard, strenuous 
work, but work which has been, to 
judge by appearances, productive of, 
good results. w. c. b. 
Millet as a Soiling Crop. 
G. A. T., Lebanon Sprinfls, V. Y.—What 
are the objectionable features of millet as 
a soiling crop or as hay? Does a crop of 
it “ruin the land,” as I have heard said 
it does ? 
Ans. —Millet makes a quick growth, 
largely from the surface soil. It takes 
available plant food rapidly, and a 
crop following it should be fertilized 
or manured. We have reports of failure 
to obtain a seeding of clover with 
millet, and think the fact here given 
explains it. Millet makes a rather 
coarse hay, not suited to feed horses. 
While the heads are left till the seed 
forms the millet hay should never be 
fed to horses, but is safe for cows. 
We find it most useful as a soiling 
crop. It grows rapidly and can be put 
in between two other crops to provide 
a lot of green fodder. Always feed it 
well and manure or fertilize after it. 
CREASY! 
SEPARATOR 
“SPLIT-WING” 
FEEDING DEVICE 
Last week we referred to the recklessly untrue statements 
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THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO. 
42 E. Madison Strkkt 
CHICAGO 
1213 & 1315 Fii.bkkt Strkkt 
PHILADELPHIA 
Diiumm A Sachamknto St§. 
SAN FRANCISCO. 
General Offices: 
165 Broadway, 
NEW YORK. 
173-177 William Street 
MONTREAL 
14 A 10 PlUNCKBB STRF.KT 
WINNIPEG 
107 First Strkkt 
PORTLAND, OREC. 
