The Rural Voice, 1980-05, Page 9getting into a buildup of weeds, but a
certain group of weeds that are favored by
the corn crop. If you were dealing in
rotation, rotation would entirely control
some of them. I suspect that we are getting
some corn diseases that are more difficult
to deal with (in continuous corn cropping).
The farmer plans to plant ten acres of
barley this year on one patch of land where
corn yields have been poor. But basically
Mr. Selves is pleased with growing corn
continuously and said "the greatest benefit
of corn is the winter cover" it provides to
prevent soil erosion.
But he admits one thing farmers have
done "in our struggle to crop the last
acre" is to take out fence rows to make it
easier to operate machinery. This means
there are no places for birds, bumblebees
and there aren't any windbreaks for miles.
Mr. Selves said in his area you could
probably drive for a mile and a half and
"never come to a fence."
TREES ALONG FENCE LINES
To prevent erosion, Mr. Selves and his -
neighbour have decided to plant trees
along the fence line, and they're probably
going to plant more than one row. Mr.
Selves thinks the cost of the windbreak will
be repaid shortly in the land it will save
from the effects of erosion.
Harry Greenwood of R.R. 1, Mitchell,
has some fields on his 220 -acre farm where
corn has been grown for the past 25 years.
While he hasn't found his yields are
decreasing on those fields, "some of the
soil aggregate is working together a little
closer than what we'd like to see and for
this reason, we may consider rotation."
Like Murray Selves, Mr. Greenwood is
finding continuous corn cropping is
creating some problems with weed control.
If the farmer does go the rotation route, he
plans to put in some barley and red clover
to help soil structure on the farm.
Mr. Greenwood said on his land, corn
yields have averaged about 118 bushels per
acre, with yields as high as 140 bushels on
some fields. For this reason, he won't try
crop rotation to improve yields, but rather
for the benefits in soil fertility.
While the farm will all be planted in corn
this spring, Mr. Greenwood said he's
keeping his eye on the experiments being
carriea out by soil scientists, and will likely
get into some rotation next year. He'd like
to try underseeding with two or three
different varieties of red clover and try
growing some barley.
He said, "we're not sorry that we've
continued with corn, because we have the
equipment for corn." He feels he gets
more feed per acre on corn than on any
other crop, but says he wouldn't say corn
can be grown year after year on every
farm. Like many farmers, today Harry
Greenwood has concluded it's time to give
crop rotation a try.
Granula
Urea
The use of urea on Canadian farms has more than doubled
since 1972, and will double again in just a few more years.
Over forty years ago, when urea first went into commercial
production, few people recognized it as the nitrogen
fertilizer of the future.
Today, the word is getting around.
Looking at urea, it's easy to see why:
• Contains 46% nitrogen, more concentrated than any
other dry N Source
• 1/3 more nitrogen per ton than ammonium nitrate
• Completely water soluble
• More immune to denitrifying bacteria in waterlogged soil
• More time efficient to spread than A.N.
C•I•L is now producing urea is new uniform granules
specially developed for more uniform blends and more
uniform spreading. We've made these granules extra hard
and virtually dust -free, for cleaner handling and better
action in your spreader.
Over the next few years, you'll be hearing a lot about
granular urea from your neighbours. Get the word first from
your Agromart or C•I•L fertilizer dealer.
43..N Agromart Brussels
i
Helping things grow" 887-6016
1
THE RURAL VOICE ' MAY 1980 PG. 7