The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-29
NEEDED
UTAH

Prof. F. B. Linfeld in Orange Judd
Farmer: After having Travelled over near
ly all the agricultural sections of the
state 1 have come to the conclusion that
change of methods is necessary among
our farmers. The soil in most of the
valleys of Utah has been produced by the
dSintegration of rocks. For the most
part, the mountains are devoid of timber
and vegetable growth, and the rainfall is
slight. The soil contains very small
amount of decayed vegetation and large
amount of mineral matter. With an
abundance of rainfall, the mineral in
soil and would be no detriment, but in this
region where rainfall is deficient the
salts accumulate in the upper layers,
seriously decreasing the productiveness
of the land, particularly in the southern
counties. This is quite evident in the
older settled portions of the, state. con-
sequently, in order to make the land more
productive, system OF farming should
be followed which will result in an ad-
dition of vegetable matter to the soil
Unfortunately, the method of cropping by
most farmers is exclusive grain growing.
Frequently farm is found on which the
same kind of grain has been produced for
a number of years in succession. Even
when alfalfa is seeded, it is allowed to
obtained The effect of this system has
been to impair the fertility of the land
and decrease it's productivaness. Where
large yields were produced Is OF 20 years
But depicting the fertility of the land
is not the only result of continuous grain
farming. When settlers first came here
the land was almost free from weeds,
which could be easily kept down while the
soil was productive and farm crops grew
vigorously With the reduction of the
fertility has come an increased number of
noviouS weeds, which are fourishing
luxuriantly and threaten to make many
fields Improbable.
Of the native weeds, only few are
troublesome, possibly five or six, but
great many have been imported and seem
to grow more readily than those WHICH
IL or Is weeds which are the most trouble
some are named in the following list:
FoXtail, wild oats, dandelion, sunfiower,
pigweed, milkweed, cockleburr, .purslane,
mustard, barnyard grass and shepherds
purse. These are at present most gen.
orally troublesome, although there are
a number of others, apparently just intro
duced, which may become our worst pets
if not suppressed at once The Canada
thistle is present only in a few places,
but near Coyote there is a field of espec-
False fax is another bad weed. which is
just getting hold, but it seems to grow
well and may become a serious pest.
Dodder, called by some love vine. is scat
tered here and there but in some fields
is sufficiently abundant to kill out alfalfa.
Bindweed or morning glory, as 1t is called
by some, grows thriftily and IS very diff
cult to eradicate.
Weeds may be divided into three classes,
the division being based on the length of
time required to mature seed. Animals
are those which grow from seed each year
and are easiest to get rid of: Prevent
seeding and by shallow and frequent
culture induce the seeds in the ground to
germinata Careful treatment for a year
or two will enable the farmer to hold
this class in check. Biennials require two
years for maturing. and perennials live
from year to year, reproduce themselves
both from seed and roots, and can be
given the same treatment. To get rid
of these thorough cultivation, preventing
/ Of growth above ground and smothering
! crops are required.
The question here Is how to maintain and