Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1937)
PAGE TWO HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 1937. Soil Conservation Practices Told at Association Meeting The annual meeting of the Lex ington Wind Blow association, held at Lexington Friday, brought forth much information of interest and value to all interested in farming in the county. Detailed minutes of the meeting, attended by 73 farmers and interested listeners, is given by Le grand Guild, agronomist with the local Soil Conservation service, as follows: Presiding were Henry Smouse, president of the association, and County Agent Belanger, secretary. Mr. Smouse opened the meeting and related accomplishments and ac tivities of the association during the past year. Accomplishments men tioned consist of 4000 acres seeded to crested wheat grass, 4000 acres were furrowed to check blowing, 70,000 acres were trash fallowed, 2000 acres were left to come back na tive, 8 miles of roads were strawed, and 3 miles oiled. Also 26 Morrow county farmers journeyed to Doug las county, Washington. While there they studied special methods used to cultivate blow soils and obtain good wheat yields, lhe previous year only 4 made a similar trip. The problem of controlling blows on land belonging to absentee own ers was discussed. It was brought out that the law prohibits going on to a man's land to work without his consent. One case was cited where a small blow, possibly less than 200 square feet, started on the land of an absentee owner and before long this blow crept over to a neighbor ing farm where 450 acres of growing grain were destroyed before it could be checked. It was estimated that one half hour with plows to furrow with or one half ton of straw would have stopped this at its point of origin. A bill, granting authority to Blow associations whereby they can legally work lands of absentee own ers, is being prepared for the state legislature it was learned. (Editor's note: This bill, H. B. 148, has since passed both houses and awaits the governor's signature.) County Agent Belanger gave an informal explanation of slide pic tures and conducted a roundtable discussion of both wind and water erosion. The slides, forty in number, show both types of erosion as they appear in Morrow county, not some where in Canada, and how, and what is being done to prevent these soil losses in Morrow county. Much en thusiasm was shown as the farmers discussed their vital problems and contributed to the major part of the discussion. Controlling blows after they have started was discussed. The princi pal method used is that of furrow ing. This is accomplished by various implements most of which have been devised by the ingenuity of the far mers themselves. Some have used gang plows with the two outside bottoms remaining, the center ones having been removed. This makes two furrows 8 feet apart. These furrows are plowed just as deep as the plow can be set. Another party has fastened shovels to the goose necks of his rod weeder and furrows with that implement. Mr. Smouse and Mr. Nelson have built a furrow ing machine of 4 x 4 beams. Duck foot type shovels are attached at 41 foot intervals, three to a section, with three sections. This machine will furrow a strip 36 feet in width. The three sections are arranged on . a grain drill hitch. Mr. Smouse even attached seeders on behind the shovels and seeded crested wheat grass in the furrows'. The results of this seding should be known this coming spring. Under certain con ditions just a spring tooth harrow is used to furrow growing grain. Con siderable straw is spread each sea son also. The keynote of the meeting was preventive measures rather than temporary control as mentioned above. Trashy fallow was discussed thoroughly. The object of trashy fallow is to leave on top, as much trash, litter, plant residues or what have you it all means the same thing and clods, as is possible. These clods and trash serve to catch and hold moisture as well as reduce wind action on the soil to a mini mum. Mr. Hill explained that trash on the fallow will protect the soil from the heat of the sun and winds thus increasing moisture penetration, and reducing evaporation. As an example that may be comparable he cited a demonstration made by the Forest Service. "The temperature was 108 degrees. A thermometer coated with lamp black, correspond ing to bare exposed ground imme diately rose to 157 degrees while the temperature underneath the forest litter or duff covering the soil was only 57 degrees." At this time the question of straw decomposition when it is left near the surface and on top was brought up. This was explained by stressing the fact that litter left on top catches moisture. Moisture and air in con tact with the soil causes rotting and quicker and more complete decom position than straw turned under. Straw turned completely under, as in the case of deep plowing with mold boards, is often times shut off from the air and moisture both. The question of water runoff and moisture penetration on stubble compared with smooth or clean till ed fallow was discussed. Orville Cutsforth cited a case where he dug down in a stubble field and found moisture down '32 inches whereas on an adjoining field that was harrowed prior to seeding and in a smooth condition the moisture had penetrat ed to a depth of only 24 inches. An other time he had the opportunity of observing snow runoff from two fields. Each field lay at the head of a small water shed. These two drainages met farther down and emptied into the same gully. One field had been plowed deep, har rowed, and seeded. The other was plowed shallow, with moldboards re moved, rod-weeded instead of har rowed, and furrow drilled. He es timated that he witnessed 50 less runoff from the latter field. Mr. Smouse told of an incident he ex perienced some years back. One fall he plowed part of his field and part he didn't. He expected to have much more penetration on the plowed part. When he harvested the two he was much surprised to find the yield much heavier on the field left in stubble over the winter. This would indicate more moisture retention and penetration. The point here is not one of the advisability of fall or spring plowing, but why did one field show more moisture retention than contrasting type of cultivation. This was answered by the group in this way. Soil, clean tilled and pul verized tends to seal over when ex posed to water while rough tilled soil is protected by the trash and re mains open to penetration. Apparently the secret to trash tillage is shallow plowing. It is im possible to plow shallow with mold board plows unless the moldboards are removed. The problem of side draft arose- Mr. Smouse said he was trying to overcome sidedraft by de veloping a duckfoot type of plow with a reduced frog. He has inter ested the Oliver Plow people in his problem and hopes to have them make a special type plow. Another trouble experienced when plowing shallow, with moldboards removed, was that of "the frog scouring." One individual said he had over come that problem to a large extert by cutting the moldboard and frog about half off. Also Mr. Smouse thinks his duckfoot type of plow will overcome the scouring prob lem. Disc plows are the best for trashy and shallow plowing. The farmers in this area favor the small er discs from 20 to 22 inch discs with 8 to 10 inch spools. The ques tion arose of how deep should shal low plowing be. The amount of stubble and the prevalence of weeds will affect the depth. The- answer, based on the results of the outstand ing crop of Douglas county, is that plowing should be just as shallow as will control weeds and volunteer. Other advantages of shallow plow ing referred to throughout the dis cussion was that of less draft com pared to deep plowing thus reduc ing cost of tillage. Also it was ex pressed by some that shallow plow ing will not develop a plow sole and will even in time cure plow sole in old fields by increasing water, and root penetration. Mr. Hill stat ed that the best results of trashy shallow plowing are not obtained until after the third year . (Continued Next Week) F.F.A. Have Joint Meet With Pendleton The local chapter of the, Future Farmers of America held a joint meeting with the Pendleton chapter last Friday in the high school assem bly room. President Strong of Pen dleton took over the meeting and made a brief talk in which he sum marized the work that the Pendleton chapter had done the past year. He emphasized the points that contrib uted to the success of the chapter, and also told what accounted for some of the things they failed to do. The meeting was then turned over to President Munkers, who explain ed the Heppner program of work and activities of this chapter. It seems that the Heppner organization has progressed very much in the short period of time that it has been active. The local FF.A. basketball team lost a hard fought game to the Pen dleton F. F. A. hoopsters that eve ning, with a final score of 19-27. The lineup was as follows: Heppner: Taylor f, 8; Williams g; Kenny c, 5; Cason g; Barratt f, 6; Johnston. Pendleton: Snyder f, 6; Warmstrom g, 9; Smith c, 2; Young f, 8; Har vey g, 2. A. K. McMurdo was in town Tues day from Rhea creek. He reported having lambed a band of 200 ewes during the severest weather with a net increase of 112 per cent. See theseT hor Models Prices on 1937 modelThorWash. ers and Ironers are still low. Buy now before prices advance i ,3331 n New TTior Ironers $44.95 up NewTior 'Gentle Hand'' Washers $79.95 up Other Thor models as low as $59.50 The new "Gentle Hand" unit washes clothes with the gentleness of hu man hands, yet cleanses them faster than ever before. The new Thor Ironers make ironing effortless cut your ironing time in half. Buy now on convenient terms! Pacific Power & Light Company Always at Your Service I You can't afford the WASHBOARD WOBBLES" BUY YOUR APPLIANCES NOW, BEFORE PRICES ADVANCE! Electric Washer. The new washers are extremely gentle, yet so efficient that dirt is removed in S to 7 min utes. Sturdy construction insures years of trouble-free service. Prices are still low. Be thrifty. Buy nowl Electric Ironer. An ironer takes the bachache out of ironing. It exerts all needed pressure, does all the lift ing and pushing. You merely sit and feed your pieces through in half the time you ioimetly took to iron. Electric Water Heater. With an automatic electric water heater, you not only have plentiful hot water for laundering, but also for every household use every time you turn a faucet, day or night, winter or summer. Low heater costs and our low water heating rate make this service a convenience you can easily afford. For electric washers, ironers and water heaters SEE ANY DEALER IN ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT or PACIFIC POWER & LIGHT COMPANY Always at Your Servtce ...WHEN CHEAP ELECTRICITY WILL DO YOUR LAUNDERING SO MUCH EASIER AND BETTER! It's just plain drudgery when you use old-fashioned methods or worn-out equipment to do your washing and ironing. Foo ish drudgery, too when you can do your laundering so easily and cheaply with electricity. Pacific Power & Light Com pany's rates are down in fact, lower than ever before. And modern, time saving, work-saving electric laundry equipment is still most reasonable in price and sold on convenient terms. Or Start your all-electric home laundry now! Declare against laundering drudgery. Decide to have an all-electric home laundry containing an electric washer, electric ironer and automatic electric water heater. Design your laundry to give you the utmost in efficiency. Work toward the completion of your plan as you buy equipment. Any dealer or our nearest of fice will be glad to help you with your plan and to show you their dis plays of 1937 model laun dry equipment.