Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-10-21

10 ~ "hi\h = h0'C w pun oii Vi NY
ideas on paper so that | may not lead
you or myself astray.
How to Increase Products.
Agriculture is and will always con
tinue to be the greatest source of
wealth in the State of North Dakota.
The problem before your people is
how they may increase to the largest
n fullest extent the agricultural pos
sibilities of their state. and the wealth
that will follow from it.
Agricultural production must have
as a basis a soil which will yield its
products in bountiful measure as the
reward for the toll of man. North Da-
kota has been generally endowed with
such a soil but its future profitable
cultivation demands that its fertility
should be maintained and increased
by correct methods of agriculture and
fertilization.
You cannot continue to draw each
year upon the sources of production
which are latent in the soil without re-
plenishing them or returning to it that
which has been taken from ii any more
than. you can draw forever from an
elevator filled with grain without di-
iliiii.lIi2s1 tI,t 6hlhtttN htItln
There are many ways of fertilizing
the soil in order to increase and main
tain its fertility. and one of the great
est fertilizers known is water.
1t is this aspect of irrigation which
should have the closest consideration
by the people of North Dakota.
Throughout a large portion of the
state crops can be grown without irri-
cation and we are unwilling to adopt
the idea that North Dakota is an arid
state. 1t is not necessary hat the
state should be arid in order that irri-
cation will be of Importance to her
farmers. Treating water as a ferti-
lizer and irrigation as a method of in
creasing the product by fertilization.
just as you would increase it by the
application of guano or ordinary farm
manure, and we open up an almost
illimitable field for the increased pro
duction of the rich and prolific soil of
North Dakota.
In those sections of the state in its
western portions. where the rainfall is
insufficient to produce crops without
annual irrigation. of course. the pro
blam is one that forces itself more
closely upon the minds of the people,
but it is none the less important in
sections where crops can be grown
without the application of artificial
moisture
Necessity of Careful Cultivation.
The annual product of any good
tract of farming land is in proportion
to the care with which it is cultivated.
the skill with which the crops are
planted, titled and harvested. and the
elements of fertility maintained in the
soil. The close and careful c%ultiva-
ton which will yield the highest profit
per acre to the farm can only be given
to the land when it is cultivated in
comparatively small farms: and for
this reason. in the future development
of this state. we should never lose
sight of the fact that in proportion as
the farms are subdivided into com
paratively small areas among the null
titude of farmers will the highest pros
Derity come. moi only to the farmers
of the state but to her whole people.
The greater the number of prosper
Gus farmers. the greater will be the
prosperity of every business mar in
the state. Ten farmers, each cultivat-
ing 100 acres of land by the most ap-
proved methods. supplemented by irri-
cation. can each earn a profit from
their farms equal in amount to that
which would be earned by the same
number of farmers tilling many times
the number of acres by the loose
wholesale methods of agriculture
sometimes practiced in this state.
And ten farmers, each with 100 acres
of land. occupy no more of the states
surface than one farmer would with
ten times as much land and the ten
farmers instead of the one would in
crease ten fold the aggregate volume
of trade with the merchants of the
state. and its commercial prosperity.
The bonanza wheat farms of the
olden times are destined to pass into
snallr holdings. 1t is as certain as
fate that the lands of this state must
and will be subdivided and resubdivid-
ed until each farmer has only as much
land as will yield him the highest re-
ward for his labor and enable him to
support in comfort and prosperity the
family which he has gathered around
his hearthstOne. 1t is better hat it
should be so. The farm life of the flu
ture will have many advantages over
the isolation of the old farm life be
cause the subdivision of the land into
smaller farms will bring good roads,
good schools, nearby neighbors, farm
telephones, churches, Libraries and a
social environment in communities If
small farmers which would be impos
sible in a country where the farms are
of vast extent and the homes far re-
moved from each other.
Evil Of Single Cropping.
We must never lose sight of the fact
that continued cropping to a single
crop through a long series of years
will inevitably reduce the annual prod
uct of that crop upon the richest land
Even the fat black land Of the Red
River Valley, il cropped through all
the years to wheat, will lose its
strength, and the result will be a de-
crease of the annual profits of the
farm. The remedy for this is the di.
versifcation of crops, and the planting
Of other products which will draw diff.
farent lementsfrOm the soil There