28 
COLORADO EXPERIMENT STATION 
was on high land at the foot of a slope where it received the storm 
water from over twenty acres of prairie. The land was plowed about 
twelve inches deep, and furrows arranged to catch the surface water 
from the land above. The soil was thoroughly pulverized before 
planting and repeatedly harrowed and cultivated. A farmer in 
Phillips county reports good yields for eight consecutive years. He 
harrowed and cultivated the potatoes at least twelve times each year, 
and his fields received the surface water from land above. 
Potatoes on dry land require early spring planting, strong seed 
covered firmly with moist soil, and repeated cultivation. Early Ohio 
and Rose Seedlings are the varieties generally recommended. 
When potato bugs are too numerous, Prof. C. P. Gillette, of 
the Colorado Experiment Station, recommends the mixing of one 
pound of Paris green with fifty pounds of flour. Place the mixture 
in a sack of cheesecloth and shake the sack over the vines when the 
leaves are damp. 
Stock Melon is a large citron, with firm flesh, that keeps well 
into the winter if protected from freezing by straw or earth. It is 
a passable substitute for roots and furnishes a much needed winter 
succulent feed for cows, hogs and poultry. It withstands drought 
well and a moderate quantity should be grown by every Plains farmer. 
Plant and cultivate the same as for watermelons. 
HAY CROPS. 
Wheat, oats and bald barley cut when the seeds are in the milk 
and cured with as little exposure to the sun as possible make good 
hay for horses. Fodder from corn and kafir corn will take the place 
of hay for work horses, care being taken not to have it dusty when 
fed. Horses will stand heavy work such as breaking prairie, when fed 
grain and fodder, but fodder is disagreeable to handle in mangers. 
Brome Grass (Bromus inermis) is the most satisfactory drought 
resisting grass that has been tested on the Plains, and is generally 
recommended by those who have given it a careful trial under dry 
land conditions. 
Most of the seed on the market has been heated, and but a small 
per cent, will germinate. The writer has always sown twenty pounds 
per acre, and has never yet secured a good stand nor seen one from 
seeding made by others. Brome grass spreads from the roots, and if 
the stalks are not over one foot to eighteen inches apart when first 
seeded, the stand will thicken to a good sod in a few years. 
Select low land which receives storm water from land above and 
have the soil deeply plowed, thoroughly pulverized and well settled 
before seeding, with a good supply of moisture stored in it. Seed 
with a drill. The seed is chaffy and is very difficult to sow, requiring 
two men, one to drive and one to see that the seed works down 
steadily. 
Keep down the weeds and wait with patience until the stand 
