Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-01-25
CAREFUL FARf1ING.
President Worst Before the State
Grain Growers Association at
" Fargo. g #s...'

In his opening address to- the grain
growers of the state at Fargo Presi-
dent Worst of the agricultural college
made the following remarks, which
will be of general interest and benefit:
The, belief is general that agricul-
tural education, and state prosperity
are i~nseparably united. True, for a
brief period, while our rich soils are
giving up the accumulated fertility of
countless ages, 8. prodical system of
grand larceny against nitrogen, humus
and other soil constituents may be pur-
sued with impu11ity and apparently
without detriment;r but as" surely as
the present destruction of pine in the
northwest will in a few years depopu-
late the forests, so certainly will our
prevailing methods of farming end in
soil exhaustion. We have ALREADY
reached a point where discussion is
profitable, although but two, decades
have passed since the sod was broken.
The farmers of the r embraced by
this convention perhaps do not fully
realize the wonderful wealth nature.
has placed in the soil at their disposal.
This great wealth must not be wasted.
The farm should be- so cultivated and
the ~blproducts so utilized, and such re-
turns made to the soil as will perpet-
uate- its productiveness. "A Thousand
years hence it should be richer in those
elements necessary to- produce profit
able crops than 1T lis today. mi Common
patriotism demands, therefore, that the
tremendous burden of restoring a.
wasted fertility be not forced upon OUT.
c~hIldren'S children. not that we NAV
do better, but that we may perform
our work wit more skill, These
northwestern states + peculiarly sit
uated, and the soil and climatic con
ditlons specially adapt them to fill a
great place in the future of our coun-
try and of the world. The net surplus
product of Ii bread and meat will
constitute our future wealth, and tire
demand for it will increase as the
worlds population is augmented and
the production of food is driven with
in ever narrowing circles: We can
afford to husband cur wonderful re-
sources. 1t is little less than Grim
inal to do otherwise. 9.>
Every farmer should be a close OBJ
server. an ardent student of nature
and he should look upon unscienti6(
agriculture and slip-shod farm work
as we all do upon malpractice in sur.
gerry or dentistry.
Ihe Law does not permit of medica
practice until the practitioner lla.
earned qualification credentials. tina
his patients may not suffer harm on
account of quackery or ineompetency
but a careless farmer may butcher TIL,
soil and propagate weeds for a who'll
township without serious comment. i
he is a good fellow. '~'
why should sc much care be eXer
cised for the health CT this generation
and SO little Tor what shall produc
the food fo~ the next? 9 Or. rather
why should we not take reasonabl
cognizance of both? For the latte
is as serious a problem as the former
AS we express it, "soil wears our
crops average lighter and of inferio
quality; Hessian fly, weeds and rus
greatly lnJure large grain areas. an,
smut is no respecter of persons, fields
or localities. Frost, hail and gopher
do untold mischief as we'll.
Some of the plaques are utterly be
yond human control, but most of then
are either largely Or absolutely con
trollable and others are durable.
The net annual losses to the farm
ers from these causes, even from evil
that are durable, are appalling. Tn,
amount reaches far up into millions
Weeds and smut alone cause a net los.
to the farmers of North Dakota of nc,
less than $5,00O,OO0 annually, and il
the long run we give away bi-product!
that are worth as much more. In par,
OF this we are the immediate losers
and in part the 'CSS falls upon poster,
ity.