Thorough Tillage System eor Plains oe Colorado. 13 
“Kafir corn grown for seed does best when planted with a lister in 
rows from 3 to 3 Vz feet apart, and cultivated enough to about level the 
ridges. If seed alone is desired, a special plate should be used in the drill 
that will put a stalk every 4 to 6 inches apart. If the fodder is also sought, 
the seed should be much thicker. A common practice is to use the regular 
corn plate set to drop 12 to 16 inches apart. This will drop a dozen or more 
grains at a place. When planted in rows the corn harvester should be used 
for cutting the crop, and the bundles set up in good sized shocks. When the 
heads are dry they may be threshed with the ordinary thresher. The most 
satisfactory method of harvesting the heads is to take a low wagon with a 
tight rack and a good sized chunk laid across the back end, with two stakes 
set in it, about six inches apart at the bottom and one foot at the top, 18 
inches from the chunk. One man with a heavy broadax stands on the wagon 
and chops the heads off, as two or three others pick up the bundles and lay 
them on the chunk. 
“With two wagons and five men this is a very rapid way of obtaining 
seed The bundles may easily be reshocked or laid in piles. The threshing 
of the entire stalk is not satisfactory, if the stalks are of any size. It is very 
hard on a machine, and the fodder does not keep so welPwhen cut up. It 
also dries out, which is undesirabble. The practice would be similar to cut¬ 
ting bread for the table a month or so beforehand. It is not palatable. 
“For roughage alone, the general practice is to plant with the grain 
drill at the rate of a half to a bushel per acre, depending upon the land. 
This is cut with a mowing machine, raked, and put in large cocks. A great 
deal of labor can be saved by using a buck-rake or “go-devil,” to bunch the 
windrows.” 
The White Kafir with a black hull or chaff is the earliest va¬ 
riety and so far seems to be the hardiest grower and best yielding 
variety. 
3. Wheat. (A) Spring Wheat. —The best spring wheat 
variety for semi-arid conditions seems to be a durum wheat known as 
Kubanka durum—U. S. Cerealist, M. A. Carleton, introduced some 
15 variety types of durum from a part of Russia with soil and 
climatic conditions quite similar to eastern Colorado. The type 
which seems best adapted to Colorado conditions is the Kubanka 
durum. This is a spring wheat in our latitude and should be seeded 
as early in the spring as ground and weather conditions will permit. 
The durum wheat, having been grown for many generations in 
a semi-arid climate in Russia, withstands drouth conditions better 
than our common spring wheats. It must be remembered, however, 
that no wheat can be matured without some moisture. Kubanka 
durum has good drouth resistant power, but one must not expect 
this wheat to mature a satisfactory crop without several inches of 
rainfall during the growing season. While durum wheat has been 
tested this past season in thirty counties in Colorado, experiments 
have not been conducted long enough to tell us the minimum 
amount of moisture required to produce a crop under our differing 
conditions of soil and climate. 
This wheat has the heaviest and coarsest beards found on any 
wheat. The kernel is very hard and most millers feel that this 
wheat requires special machinery for milling. For this reason 
but few local millers in the state are buying durum wheat. Mr. 
