The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-03-03

Ill, contributes the following article to
The Country Gentleman:
There is probably no single crop CON-
mon to the West about which there is so
much mystery as that of spring wheat;
and, considering its magnitude and the
vast amount of capital and labor en-
gagged in cultivating it, there is no crop
more worthy of special attention at this
time. The mystery about the crop is,
that so far as central and northern Illi-
nois is concerned, and larger portions of
Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the land
will not produce over a certain number
of crops of spring wheat, while most of
those very same soils never fail to yield
winter wheat except for good. reasons.
But the future of spring wheat has very
special interest for those who are now
growing it so successfully in upper Min
nesota and Dakota. Will these lands,
which now produce such profitable
crops, do so for an indefinite time, or
will they fail finally, as in central and
northern Illinois and Wisconsin? If
spring wheat fails in these regions, can
they fall back on the winter crop, as in
Illinois, or is such recourse out of the
question, because the ground in those
northern regions is very apt to freeze dry
in March or February?
Who is able to solve the mystery that
in certain portions of Illinois, at this
time, spring wheat is almost as certain u
failure as the winter crop is uniform
success, although when the country was
new and the soil virgin. one was nearly
rs sure as the other? What constituents
ho, hn coil Loot
has its condition, mechanical or other
wise, been changed, that totally oppo-
site results are obtained now, when We
SOW in August OF September, from those
following when We SOW in March or
April? It must be that the soil has lost
some active constituent element, or that
the quantity has been SO reduced that
the spring crop does not find that food
in sufficient measure to enable it TO come
to maturity between the middle of April
and that time in July, whereas in case of
winter wheat the growing season is prac-
tically doubled. But what is this fugi-
tive element so essential for the success
of spring wheat? Do we get hint of it
in the circumstance that when the coun
try was first settled. the bitches, when
opened, carried volumes of turbid and
milky water, as long as there was any
water in them. whereas now the water
settles and clears few hours after a
rain-storm?
If were required to make a crop of
spring wheat, and were left free to do
the work regardless of expense, l should
choose a piece of we'll drained upland,
remove from six to ten inches of the top
soil in the fall; pillow four or five inches
deep Immediately thereafter; fine the
surface just before seeding time in
March, and then drill in the crop we'll.
1 believe in so doing should restore
the original condition, so far as relates to
certain elements of plant food essential
to spring wheat, and because l have
noticed again and again that when the
top soil has been removed for the pur-
pose of making brick, and along rail-
roads in surface-grading, tn re was
always, when the surrounding circum-
stances favored, an extraordinary volun-
teer crop of either red or white clover.
But if l was required to make
the same crop on piece OF old and
well-worn prairie, and allowed the use Of
fertilizers, 1 would pillow in the fall four
or five inches deep, SOW from two to four
hundred pounds of superphosphate of
lime per acre Immediately thereafter,
harrow in lightly, and at seeding time
prepare shallow seed-bed and proceed
as above | would SOW the fertilizer in
the fall, because modern Silence, or, what
is quite as good, recent successful prac-
tice. has demonstrated that nearly all
crops do better when put upon the same
land some weeks or months in advance of
the planting Of the crop-time being an
essential thing to bring those actions and
reactions about, which prepare the food
so it will be taken up by the feeding
roots.
In respect to the future of spring
wheat in the upper northwestern regions,
it is probable good deal must be cred
tied to latitude and long, cool summer;
and that though after few years of cult
walton in more southern situations, the
crop fails, it will not fail in those high lati-
tudes, because tie average mean tenn
perature of the summer season is per.
haps pretty nearly the same as that OF
the wheat growipg season in the lower
winter belt. But il the same dis
asters overtake the crop in Dakota and
Minnesota that have attended its grad
ual retreat to the north, it is only ques-
ton OF time when these new lands will
Become exhausted, and the worlds mar
ket will have to fall back upon the
production Of the lower wheat belt.
Meantime, il some OF those public
institutions endowed for the purpose,
and situated within the original spring
wheat belt. between 80 and 43 degrees,