County’s 4-H Youth Are Vitally
Interested in Soil Conservation
By A. NEIL DAWES
Holt County Agent
Throughout this large county
of Holt are many boys and girls
who are enrolled in 4-H clubs
and who are interested in all the
things that surround them. They
are not afraid to tackle problems
that sometimes seem large to
adults. They are striving to make
their home and their communi
ty a more pleasant place to live.
Through education in club work,
the extension service has made
these boys and girls conscious of
the need of conserving our natur
al resources.
It is only through these boys
and girls along with others that
there is hope of developing and
practicing a sound conservation
program.
Did you know that there were
definite soil conservation 4-H
club projects? In these projects
the members study the causes of
soil losses and what they can do
to stop the losses. They study
native vegetation and the part it
plays in holding the soil. While
carrying this project they learn
what is meant by land use capa
bility, contouring, terracing, di
versions and conservation plans.
liiiuu^n uic tuuuciaiiuu
Soil Conservation district super
visors and personel they may
make arrangements to actually
help put some of the various con
servation practices on the land.
As a part of the project they stu
dy their own place and after hav
ing decided what some of the
problems are they undertake to
correct them by applying soil
conservation practices that apply
to their area and conditions.
Soil Conservation district su
pervisors are anxious to see more
4-H soil conservation projects
started. If you are interested or
know of any boys who are inter
ested, why don’t you get in touch
with one of the supervisors or the
county agent and we will be glad
to help them get started in a
club.
Recently Elmer Allyn, of Stu
art, who is one df the supervisors,
succeeded in getting Fred Mitch
ell to lead the soil conservation
project in the Cleveland 4-il
club. He then got in touch with
the county agent who arranged
for Fred to go to Lincoln to a
training meeting for soil conser
vation club leaders, all expenses
paid. While at the coilego of ag
riculture, he was given help on
materials to give to his club. He
got acquainted with men who are
working on soil conservation all
the time and was given a chance
.to see the value of working with
youth.
On Saturday, January 27, Mar
vin Strong, of Chambers, who
belongs to the South Fork 212
4-H club, gave a talk at the 4-H
public speaking contest. His top
ic was “Soil Conservation.” He
told how we must realize Ihe
need and to show others the need
of conservation. He told of a dust
storm he was in while in school
[ n Kansas. The authorities
estimated that one inch of soii
was blown away because then
i was no cover on the land.
Marvin brought out tfi3 fad
that Nebraska was not a manu
facturing area nor a mining aiea
but was an area that had to de
pend upon the fertility of its
soil.
“Therefore,” he said, “we must
save, protect and increase the
fertility of the soil in order to
support ourselves and help feid
the many people of this and oth
er countries.”
Marvin’s talk is another exam
ple of how 4-H club members are
| trying to promote soil conserva
tion.
Murray Mellor, of Atkinson,
i has been active in soil conservn
i tion projects for a number of
years and was the county 4-H
champion in 1949 and 1950.
He has drawn a soil conser
vation plan on their land and
has done such things as seed
ing down waterways, laid out
contour lines, made pasturo
furrows, constructed diversions
to keep water out of gullies.
In addition he and Centon
started a grass nursery so as to
study native grasses. His club,
the Clover 4-H club, of Atkinson,
made a collection of native grass
es as did the Martha 4-H club and
the Holt Creek 4-H club. These
displays were put up at hay
days in Atkinson and at the
county fair. It helped to acquaint
people of this area with the im
portant grasses and to know
their names.
jonn uoermire ana i_,avern
Engler, both of Stuart Eve* On
ward 4-H club, felt that people
should know more about the val
ue of grasses to prevent runoff
and water erosion. They worked
up a team demonstration on the
amount of runoff from bare soil
or cropland, over-grazed grass
1 a n d and properly managed
grassland. The results were a
mazing and the approximate 200
people who saw this demonstra
tion saw the value of grass cov
er. John and LaVern represent
ed Holt county at the state fair
and were awarded a red ribbon.
The Eagle Hustlers club, of Page,
also gave a demonstration on wa
ter runoff at achievement day.
As these youths grow older and
become members of the Rural
Youth groups they bring in
to their education meetings soil
j conservation pictures and talks
in order to know more about con
servation practices.
Education of our youth is very
important, not only in conserva
tion of soil but in conservation
of our American freedoms, privi
leges and individual responsibil
ity.
Four-H clubs are helping and
striving to “make the best bet
ter.”
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Harley
and Sheryl had the following as
supper guests on Saturday: Mr.
and Mrs. Ralph Beckwith and
son; Miss Shirley Brittell, of O’
Neill; Mr. and Mrs. Dean Beck
with and Gary, Mr. and Mrs. Le
on Beckwith and Miss Leona, all
of Emmet,
"Voice of The Frontier” . . .
WJAG (780 k. c.)
Archie L. McMaster, former Holt county I
SCS technician, is shown (above) inspecting a
-- -
s+// M''~-i.^/* ' Vi.fUFWQafcv?
field of partridge pea. Typical of partridge pea
fields are those at the E. J. Revell, Louis Sobot
ka and John Dick farms.
GRASS, TREES ARE
BEST COMBINATION
Land that has been judged
lirst-rate for growing cultivated
crops may still yield greater re
turns in grass.
At least, that is what Leonard
Juracek, cooperating with the
Holt Soil Conservation District,
has decided from his experiences
on the 800-acre farm, 18 miles
northeast of O’Neill, he bought
four years ago.
Juracek’s land is in two pieces
—a section on which about 430
! acres had been in crops, and a
quarter-section of which only 70
acres had been cultivated.
Soon after he bought the land,
he got the aid of Soil Conserva
tion Service technicians to help
work out a farm conservation
plan. The conservation survey
made by the SCS showed that
virtually all of the land in the
home section falls in capability
class I — that is, suited for cul
i tivation with very little danger
of erosion.
Nevertheless, a system of
i windbreaks are planned, and
Juracek decided to seed the land
down to grass. The 430 acres of
cultivated land on the home sec
tion was seeded to bromegrass
alfalfa, and the 70 acres of culti
vated land in the quarter-section
was seeded, to native grasses.
He has fenced the land and
put down wells so that he can
follow a rotation grazing sys
tem. using the bromegrass-al
falfa in the spring and fall, and
the native grasses which total
320 acres—160 acres each of
the two parts of the farm—for
summer grazing. His system
is to buy calves in the fall and
sell them about a year later.
Last year was the first that lie
used his bromegrass and then on
ly about 70 acres. He bought
135 calves in the fall of 1949.
“The weight gains made by
those calves figures out at 30
pounds of beef per acre for the
500-odd acres that were ready
for use,” he said. “They received
nothing but hay that was cut on
this farm and pasture. No cot
tonseed cake or range cubes —
just bromegrass and alfalfa.
“But that’s not the whole sto
ry," he continued. "I harvested
30,000 pounds o f bromegrass
seed, which I sold right from the
combine, and pastured a few
hogs. And I had a good reserve
supply of hay left. I really dou*bi
that crops would have yielded a:
much net income as the beef pro.
duction and grass seed. The la
ter seeded bromegrass-alfalfi
will be ready for use this yeai
and add that much to the farm’:
production. It wasn't grazed a
all last year.”
pituivaug uuiic oil wauj ui
j eludes a mile-long shelterbel
I along the south side of the sec
jtion, another a half-mile long ir
the quarter-section line. In this
I way, he points out, he is .develop
! ing a quarter-section protectee
pasture in which to winter th<
I cattle.
Besides tjiat, he has establishec
a farmstead windbreak north anc
west of the house and trees sur
| rounding a 5-acre feed lot soutl
jof the farmstead, hauled accum
Sulated manure that was in th<
j barnyard when he got the placi
j out onto the land, filled in anc
| leveled the barnyard, and repair
ed all of the buildings and buil
new high-board-fence corrals.
"My experiences so far,"
Juracek said, "have convinced
me that grass and trees togeth
er are the best combination we
can get for conserving land.
And I believe that year in and
year out, the grass-alfalfa com
bination will pay more than
cultivated crops.
"And if it becomes necessary
I to grow some crops? Well, thi
land will still be there, bette:
jthan it was because of the gras
and alfalfa and the manure thi
cattle w'ill spread over the land.1
He admits that he took sonv
chances in going ahead so fas
with his seeding program, an<
that if he were doing it again hi
i would proceed a little more slow
ly.
“I was lucky,” he concluded
"Seeding that much land cost
quite a bit of money, but I wen
ahead anyway. Seasons wen
J good, and I got good stand
| quickly. Im glad now that I tool
the chance, because it has put thi
j land under cover that mucl
quicker and from the produc
I tion so far, I don’t see how I cai
l afford to have the equipment an<
i hire the labor to grow cultivate!
crops.”
Partridge Pea Is
a Starting Point
—
There is really no need to let
Ihe fertility of the soil run down,
according to Lewis Sobotka, who
lives 2!6 miles south of Inman,
but is a cooperator with the Holt
Soil Conservation District.
But where fertility is low and
there is a reasonable amount of
soil remaining, its fertility can be
restored to a surprising degree
through proper protection of the
land from erosion, use of the
right kind of crop rotation, and
the use of barnyard manure.
He points to one field on his
farm.
“When I got that land," he
said, “it produced very little.
Well, the first thing was to plant
a shelterbelt to help protect it
! from wind erosion.
‘‘We continued to crop it us
ing a corn, oats and sweet clo
\er rotation. After the wind
break was tall enough to afford
protction we did a lot of winter
feeding on this field. This great
ly increased the organic matter
and fertility of the land. Before
where it would hardly grow rye
it will now produce 70 to 80
bushel of corn per acre. And
as for a feeding place it beats a
barn or a shed in many ways.”
Sobotka has another field,
bought recently, that was unpro
ductive. In addition to cooperat
ing with the soil conservation
district in developing his farm
conservation plan, he is cooperat
ing with Dr. F. L. Duley, of Soil
Conservation research, and J. C.
Russel, of the University of Ne
braska, in trying out partridge
pea and vetch on sandy, infer
tile land.
“My observations are,” h e
said, "that partridge pea is the
plant needed as the starting point
in building up land as poor as
that field is. The partridge pea
took hold well, and provides a
lot of organic matter. But the
vetch planted there didn’t a
mount to much.”
1951 DOG LICENSES
Dog license tags for the year
1951 are due and must be secured
before March 31, 1951, or your
dog will be taken up and dispos
ed of. See the undersigned for
your license.
JOE WERT, Assistant
43-44c Chief of Police.
W. F. FINLEY. M. D.
OFFICE PHONE: 21
Flrft National Bank Bldg.
O'NEILL
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