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iff- 1^- j*. 4s Crop Yields on the GoldenValley Peat Ex periment Fields in 1918 pgkjt -*Fhe district surrounding Golden Val- ^f^ley, a postoffice'in Marshall county f^t^p fourteen miles east of Holt, the nearest W& ^-1$ railway, station, is covered with a layer 3 peat from 12 to 36 inches in,depth. Underneath the peat is a thin layer of black muck, below which is a yellowish gray clay loam. In 1918 the Depart ment of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota conducted experiments with various crops on two fields with typicaL peat soil near the postoffice, I there being 384 plots. Nothwithstand ing the distance from the railway, these fields were visited, during the latter part of the summer by many hundreds of people, most of whom are personally interested in the cultivation of peat lands. This brief statement of the crop returns is intended chiefly for these visitors. A bulletin giving a detailed descrip tion of the experiments, and the yields from all the individual plots is now in the course of preparation, together with one dealing with peat soils in general, and these will be sent as soon as pub lished to anyone who sends his name and address to the office of publications, University Farm, St. Paul. Previous Cropping of the Fields For the information of those who have not visited Golden Valley, it may be said that both fields were on the same farm, and separated by only a few rods. One had never been manured, fertilized or burned over, while -the other one had been deeply burned in the autumn of 1917. Both had origin ally been covered with a layer of peat from 12 to 36 inches deep covered by grasses and sedges, and both are now thoroughly drained by a large open ditch. Both had first been plowed in 1913, seeded to flax in 1914 and to oats and barley in 1915 and 1916. The flax yielded about three bushels per acre, while neither of the other crops was considered worth cutting. Late in 1916 part of the one field was lightly burned over and in 1917 a fair crop of oats was secured while on the rest of the field and on the whole of the other the crop was again a failure. In the autumn of 1917 the whole of the first field was burned over, from 9 to 18 inches of peat being thus removed and on about a third of the portion used for experimental plots the black muck was exposed, while on the rest of the field the peat remaining was from 10 to 18 inches deep. The other field was not touched by the fire and receiv ed no ash from the near-by burned land. The peat on this varied from 18 to 30 inches in depth. Fertilizers Tried On the field of burned peat, part of the plots were prepared by disking without plowing, others were first plow ed and still others were plowed, disked and rolled. All were worked smooth with a spike-toothed harrow and seeded i at the same time as those on the field of unburned peat, which was plowed late in the autumn of 1917, in the fol lowing spring laid out in plots, fertil ized as shown in sTable "iVhea llfflpltSpring Rye __ -rtfiif.*"'""Oats _-_ ^BarleyOderbrucker ___ ^g. ipBarleylocal variety __ VlllllpFlax __ f^ield Peas ^Potatoes Rutabagas I and, as soon as the ground was sufficiently thawed was disked, harrowed, rolled with a neavy concrete roller and seeded to the various crops shown in Tables II and III. Immediate Fertilizer Needs The immediate fertilizer require ments of peat soil at Golden Valley are evident. To secure a satisfactory growth of plants, phosphate must be supplied in some form by either man Tiring, burning or adding a phosphate fertilizer. The benefit from the burn- No. 1 2 3 4 5 Treatment. No manure or fertilizer Manure Potash Phosphate Phosphate and potash ^jBed Clover, Timothy and ItBed Top ^Alsike, Timothy and Red Top Alfalfa I Sweet Clover Brome Grass Western Bye Grass fiape, sreen Table IFertilizers Tried on Unburned Peat. "The tables need little comment. They show the poor yields on the unburned, Smnfertilized soil and the great increases caused by manuring, the use of phos- ^phate or burning. Flax is an exception. On all the burned plots it was a com- plete failure while on the.unburned peat it showed no benefit from phosphate. JfWheat, on account of rust and other plant diseases, was a very poor crop on all Ijtheplots. I The hay yields shown in Table III are from plots sown without a nurse crop Hon May 16, 1918. The main yields on these are not to be expected until 1919. 'There was an excellent stand on all the plots, the differences in yield being due ltd differences in growth and not to differences in stand. ing is due to the addition of ash and not simply to the removal of the whole or part of the peat layer. If the ash should be largely blown away by the wind, the beneficial effect of the burn ing may prove very slight While the peat contains much phosphate it is present in such a form that the plants can not make use of it, but the burning changes it into a form readily available to the plants. The peat ash may be re garded as a low-grade-phosphate fer tilizer, and when added to the unburn ed peat in sufficient amounts will cause good fields. Future Fertilizer Needs This feature of the peat land pro blem will be discussed in one of the bulletins mentioned above. It is prob able that potash also will be required within a few years on part of these peat soils if the good crops secured by burning or the use of phosphates are removed and no manure returned. A Warning Most peat soils need applications of potash as well as of phosphate, some need potash only and again others need lime as well as potash and phosphate. There are various kinds of peat soils and a peat land owner, especially if his land is at any distance from Golden Valley, should not be led by the above results to believe that a similar treat ment of his peat soil will give similar results and as a consequence be induced to enter upon peat land reclamation on a large scale, The weather at Golden Valley during the last season was exceptionally favor able for grain crops on peat soils, there being no injury from summer frosts, early autumn frosts or excess water. For the hay crops, however, the season is not,to be regarded as unusually fa vorable. Acid Phosphate for the Northwestern Counties As most of the grass-covered peat lands of Marshall, Pennington, Clear water, Polk, Kittson and Boseau counties and the western-part of Bel trami county appear similar in origin and composition to those at Golden Valley, it is not improbable that most of them will behave similarly. with phosphate, manure and burning. Peat land owners in these districts are ad vised to experiment on their own fields with acid phosphate on a small scale. One who wishes to secure a supply of this fertilizer at actual cost for experi mental purposes should get into com munication with the farm bureau of his county. As trial crops, spring rye, oats, bar ley, and a mixture of alsike clover and timothy are recommended. The acid phosphate, applied brodcast at the rate of from 200 to 400 pounds per acre, should be well worked into the soil be fore seeding. To Owners of Burned Peat Land If you have land on which at least 4 inches of peat has been burned off, it should be seeded to a crop before the weeds have a chance to get a foothold. On all such burned peat soils a good growth of crops may be expected the first year after burning, but on some there will be only a poor yield in the second and following years, on others the beneficial effect will gradually dis appear during the course of four or five years while on some very shallow peats the productivity may continue as on ordinary soils. To the burned peat apply neither manure nor phosphate as they are un necessary. Prepare a good seed-bed, using plow, disk, and drag according to local conditions. As crops, plant rye, barley, oats or a grass mixture of timothy and alsike. Do not sow flax on burned peat. F. J. Alway C. G. Selvig. Table IIYields of Graiu and Roots in Bushels per Acre. UNBURNED PEAT BURNED PEAT J5 "3 -2 CB "2 CS A a ftfri CO 6.6 14.6 32.8 7.4 14.4 8.2 10.8 59.0 45.0 Cost per acre Form and rate per acre in 1918 Good Yields From Manure Phosphate and Burning. 12 tons Nebraska potash salts, 1,000-lbs. $ 53.00 Acid phosphate, 400 pounds 4.60 Like No. 3 and 4 combined 57.60 a a J3 (U 3 4.8 4.1 6.6 13.9 36.8 71.7 25.3 32.7 10.7 24. 2 39.6 81.3 24.6 26.3 5.9 18.2 38.5 72.1 14.1 35.0 11.2 14.1 8.7 10.2 63.0 ^90.0 101.0 102.0 35.0 144.0 148.0 241.0 .30.0 31.7 7.7 15.7 Table mYields of Cured Hay and Green Rape, in tons per acre. UNBURNED PEAT BURNED PEAT a 12.9 46.0 70.0 46.6 58.3 12.5 45.6 53.3 42.6 47.2 12.4 59.7 66.4 42.4 49.9 Complete failure" 19.3 24.1 22.0 157.0 176.0 173.0 394.0 371.0 388.0 I: "S-S *J I .1 2 OS & 0.84 0.6 0.80 -0.44 0.50 0.20 2.68 3.64 0.62 0.64 1.18 0.72 12.2 12.7 iWJ=aas\ J*k "SO S3- a ft 08 8 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 4.04 0.12 1.7 I 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.36 0.08 0.16 1.8 ft &> S3 1.48 1.82 1.08 3.96 1.62 2.09 ft 0.66 0.68 "0.66 2.64 0.44 0.68 11.4 1.20i 1.39 1.36 1.53 0.5 6 2.94 0.02 1.12 20.6 0.6 8 3.42 1.44 1.22 17.6 16.0- Northeast of Warren) Mr. and Mra. Klopp entertained a number of friends Sunday afternoon in honor of their son William,, wno recent ly returned from Franc&lS''-:*"''- Miss Stella Kvalle is again at the McCartney home, after having spent several weeks assisting with the house work at the Garfield Nicholls home. Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Brown were re cent guests at the August Peterson home. W^v: ^%?^-YFr: Mrs. Ralph Karr and son spent Sun day at the Ole Kvale home. George Kvalle returned last week from Grand Forks, where he has been having his ears treated. He returned greatly improved. Mrs. Elmer Brown was hostess' to the Willing Workers Club and a few invited friends Thursday afternoon. & 45 qt. Tea Kettles, worth $3.50. This Sale 122 qt. Double Boiler, worth $3.00. This Sale 89 cup Coffee Pots, worth $2.75. This Sale 124 qt. Colonial Kettles, worth $2.00. This Sale 246qt. Preserving Kettle, worth $2.00. This Sale nFFFf5TI\/F PA The-time was spent socially and listen ing to the Victrola. At the close of the afternoon lunch was served. H. L. Lewis, a grain man from south easternIS^Irecently spent few days at the Brown Borne. The Misses Elda and Florence Palm er spent Saturday and Sunday with home folks, returning to their school work Sunday evening. The Kvalle young folks were enter tained at the McCartney home Sunday evening. Edward Nelson is the owner of a new car. Mr. Nelson is another one of our soldiers boy3 who recently returned from France. FARMERS! If you have some you do not need or wish to sell, find a buyer In a fews days' time by putting a little 25 cent advertise ment in The Sheaf. Paul Ryan's name Is Ir!sh7 amTso is Paul. As office boy in the editorial rooms of the Indianapolis News, Paul makes frequent trips to theater box offices to pay the war tax and reserve theater seats. The other day as Paul returned and was about to hand over the changevMr. L. asked: "Well, Paul, did yon keep out a nickel Quickly came the reply, "Not yet" Easily Explained. WifeI used to like the smell of cigar smoke before we were married, but I don't now. HubWell, you see, my dear, I could afford to buy quite a different-brand before we were married.Boston Tran script ASSORTMENT CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING: _$L39 $1.39 $1.39 $1.39 $1.39 REMEMBER THE DATE, THE PLACE AND THE PRICE. THE ONE PRICE STORE -ra- DOLLAR BUYS AS MUCH ASTXWJR NEIGHBOR'S DOLLAR, 1_____._ij3.-.i 244 qt. Covered Sauce Pan, worth $2.00. This Sale 81 cup Coffee Perculator, worth $2.50. This Sale 12Self-basting Roasters, worth $2.25. This Sale __ 126qt. Covered Kettles, worth $2.50. This Sale W can turn out any~ thing in the printing line that you need, at a price as low as any one, quality, material and workmanship cork sidered. Come in and see us before placing your order elsewhere. $1.39 $1.39 $1.39 $1.39 S IWt 'to' -i&^ik,,. .__. (Si Iters is-* S^^^^^^^k i5 Wtmsg'Ati *-y &>% Wk