Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1917 — EXPERTS URGE CARE IN PLOWING GROUND [ARTICLE]

EXPERTS URGE CARE IN PLOWING GROUND

Purdue Leaders Point Out tlve Need of Farmers Considering the —ProblemCaref ultyr —" • Purdue University, April 18.—The big Indiana drive for proper and careful seed com testing for germination in planting began in every com county in the state today with twb or three experts present in each of them to direct the work. . They are to get the farmer to see to it that he is planting seed that will grow and that he is really getting the seed into the ground instead of missing hills by reason of irregularly shaped grains choking his planter. The com experts at Purdue also lay great stress on plowing. That work is on now—big. They are not laying down any hard and fast rale for the whole state. It is true that the reports of those who, in the corn contests came in with the 100 and 90bushel yields for their five-acre registered tracks all plowed deep. Few went less than six inches and many up to nine inches. The plowing and the careful further preparation of the soil were points emphasized in most of their reports—only secondary to the careful selection of variety of seed, the discarding of seed corn that did • not test high for germination, and the grading for the planter so that there would be the proper dropping in each hill. It would be foolish to say to all fanners to plow deep. Some pdight turn up under clays or clammy material that would be detrimental, but it is well to direct the farmers to the need of studying the plowing problem more carefully than in the past, and make a good job of it this year. All over the state there are careless plowers. Many are tenants, but not all. They say they plow six inches, and probably ought to, but they are scraping down only about four, and the result is that the foundation is not well laid for a crop, the resources of the soil have not been called on by the plow to respond at least to a bumper crop. There is strong advocacy of the tractor among com “men and general farmers now. Even though the season is well advanced, farmers and country bankers are advised to look into it now.- It is thought that Indiana country bankers should not only encourage, by financial plans on easy terms, the individual farmers to add this equipment for this year, but that, Aavmg the use of the fanners’ money, they should buy tractors themselves and rent them out, or head community tractor companies. With SBOO tractors they are able to plow six acres in a ten-hour day. at an average cost of 65 to 70 cents, and disc and harrow twenty acres a day at a cost of about 25 ’ents. The best feature of the tractor, however, is that it does not get tired. With a change of drivers and a headlight it is good for twenty-four hours’ operation during the rush season, with the result that twelve or fifteen acres can be plowed and forty or fifty acres disked and harrowed. It is ’thought that Indiana country bankers can do nothing better to improve their assets than to finance tractor companies, or, in the emergency that confronts the state now, when the plowing season is on, to buy some, tractors outright and take over the job, at a good profit to themselves an dthe farmer, of turning and preparing land that the farmer would like to have in crop this year .but can not plow and prepare with his limited man and horse power.