Rocky Ford enterprise., 1902-05-02
L..,.s u.... 49, v.,,u,.,.

scab.
LasisG usass SD ys,stity. q.
Growing wheat continuously ON land
depietes the nitrogen and humus In II
In addition to what 10 taken up by
the crops themselves Just how this
depletion takes place We do not know.
but II does take place to . surprising
degree. This fact largely accounts for
tho rapid deterioration OF lands de-
voted exclusively to wheat growing
and to summer failow. This latter
practice. though hoaTy In age. Ii .
greater waster Of nitrogen and OF hu-
mus than Ia even wheat growing. A.
ST. Anthony's Park. Minnesota. . plat
Of ground that was used In tho grow
Ing Of wheat continuously for eight
years lost i.700 pounds OF nitrogen.
OF this only 500 pounds was taken up
by the wheat crop. -Four times as
much nitrogen was lost BY soil and air
ns was used by the WHEAT That
meant q ioss OF l.&00 pounds. which
was more than one-nfth Of all the nj
trogcn In the soil at the time the wheat
was nrst grown. What then would be
the result In Ave timcs ~ many ycars
forty years. The land would GER
tainiy become useless for the growing
OF wheat and would reach . condition
In which tho recovery Of IT. nitrogen
would be extremely dimcult. In ad-
dition to tho loss OF nitrogen there
was . yearly loss OF 5000 pounds OF
humus. through chemical action.
usas-0sevs Clsvss sssA 1es1
Owing to o controversy In Europe
regarding tho relative value OF Amer
lean and European clover seed. tho
Department OF Agriculture has under
taken some comparative experiments.
the initial series Of which was con-
Quoted at Washington. Many samples
Of clover seed Of known origin from the
different countries Of Europe and from
different parts Of tho United States
and Canada were grown under like
conditions. cuttinEs Of hay werc made
at suitable intervals. the product OF
each plat being carefully weighed
These experiments. which have now
been under way for two years. show
conciusivcly that under the conditions
existing here tho European rcd clover
ID decidedly inferior In productivcncss
to the American. Apparently the
American strain IL better adapted to
the conditions Of bright sunshine. pc
riodic heat. and dryncss that exist
here. For the purposes Of our farm
crs. therefore. a dccision Of tho qucs-
ton whether 70 use American or i'm
ported seed Is easily reached. During
the past year series Of supplementary
experiments has been started Mt typi-
cal selected areas In different parts
of the United States. to sec whether
these results hold In tho principal
clovcr-growing states.
SLOW spread Of Dairy kaewie des
In reading the foreign exchanges
one Is struck with the slow spread OF
dairy knowledge. We have been max
ing siiase in this country for more
than twenty-five years. In Victoria.
Australia, silage has been made by
the leading dairymcn for more than
twenty years. One Of the best Of
them has made 200 tons every winter
and has wintered 100 cows on II. and
he has done II for twenty years with
out failure. Yet to-day the New Zea-
land papers are urging their readers
to investigate the silage question and
are telling their readers that they are
twenty years behind the times. They
are proposing that the government call
conference. give the farmers free
passes on the railroads to attend It.
and import for speakers dairymcn in
Australia or other parts that have
made silage successfully. But the New
Z,o1andera are not the onlv peOple
that are behind in their appreciation
OF the silo. In the great state Of Illi-
nois there are few silos despite the
fact that Just across the border in
Wisconsin are whole counties dotted
over with silos. and where the money
returns have been very great and the
increase Of wealth due to the silos
enormous.