The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1906-01-19

lat o.3o President Worst called today's
session Of the Tri-S State Grain and Stock
Growers convention TO order.
Despite the fact that today program
me involved many interesting and ex-
|tren1ely valuable topics, many Of the
delegates from extreme outside points
| left for home last night and on the early
imorning trains today
The ardor of those remaining how
| ever, was no whit diminished by the
ismallers attendance and great interest
was displayed in the papers and adj
Idresses presented. rs ~
| During the first hottr late arrivals
Istraggled in until the lower floor was
comfortably filled by the end Of the
| first address.
President Worst prefaced the COM
lmercement Of the programme by a few
general remarks on the Importance and
| dvalue of drainage, particularly IN the
| Red river valley. 81 5gsf
| He then introduced L. G, Johnson
of Fargo whose address on the Effect
lof Drainage Upon the Mechanical Con-
] dition of the Soil, follows: y. " d 81
| Remarks of r. q. Johnson, before the
Tri-State Grain and Stock Growers con.
Iyention at Fargo, N. d., Jan. I'D, 1906,
upon .'rhe Effect of Drainage Upon the
Mechanical Condition Of the Soil {, 2s ss
/ The soil of the Red river valley and
other parts of North and South Dakota
and Minnesota probably contains enough
Iplant food to maintain It's fertility and
l produce abundant crops for the next thons.
land years IL 1T Is properly managed and
/ the fertilizers produced here are returned
| to the soil, Twenty-Five years or more ago
ltxy
fertility of the soil depended on its chem
II icale composition, and farmers and hortt-
Iculturalists would box up samples OF soil
i from different parts of their farms and
tturaI colleges and experiment stations fpr
Ia chemical analysis to determine what
i crops would best thrive there and what
fertilizers were needed to restore the lost
VITALITY of worn OUT lands; ant the chem
lists would analyze the different samples
land find they contained SO and so large q
ash and other elements Of plant foed. and
compare them with analyses OF the diff
Eferent cereals vegetables and fruits. and
i report that this sample or that was suit
Il able for wheat, oats, corn, potataest cab
ibages. apples. Strawberries or other prod
luce as the case might be; and the aClSii.
i tion of so and SO many pounds OF nitro.
gen, phosphoric acid potash, etc, to the
i the other crop, and the advice was follow
led with more or less disappointing results.
il Perhaps the other extreme was reached q
\ few years ago when the agricultural de.
il partment issued n bulletin announcing, that
manures were of no benefit to land except
Ias 1t directly affected its mechanical con-
Idition, and this was corr0bofated by sew
erai of the experiment stations through
i out the country. ER q if
i Possibly until further tests have been
made 1t may be well for the average man
4 who tills the soil to adopt q happy mean
lbetween these extremes and while look
i ing well to the mechanical condition of
i his soil. not neglect Its chemical compo-
Isiti0n. IS Isl rs ,s
1 Before entering upon a more minute dis
lcusslon of this subject 1t may be we'll to
look into the origin, form and other char
Iacteristics of the earth's surface so we
jmay more clearly understand the changes
| we see going on and those we desire to
i make. a3j N s553. 53 Il
i The soil Is made from decomposed rocks
with the addition of humus from decayed
lvegetation to the surface soil which we
4 call loan. These original rocks were form
ed when the earth's surface cooled and
Icomposed the outer crust, which was FREE
4 land upheayals, leaving a very rough and
uneven surface. These projecting points
4 were in turn broken off during the glacial
period by the immense masses of Zee in Its
4 lequator and ground and crushed against
leach other and the underlying rocks form
i ing huge boulders, these In turn were brok.
Len Into gravel and this into sand. and the
tsand was worn down to silt and clay. The
lterm soil includes only sand, silt and clay; !;
land we can eliminate the sand from this
FLOR amy length of time and be subjected
Ito amy amount OF stirring while submerged
without affecting Its mechanical construc:
4 tion, but after the. water subsidies eaclf
IpaTtielc OF sand maintains Its separate ex-
I istence without change OF form or other
IchaTacterisfics. Not 50, however, with the
i finer subdivisions called silt and clay. They.
anbts oae ind atnatea he
humber of the small particles eOngregate
/ together and form small granules to which
I0thers PARTICLES are In tain attracted until
lclay are grouped and punched together IN
! to small colonies or families, which we call
soil grains; and when the soil Isl In this
icondition We say 1t is granulated. This
may be Illustrated by 4 pop corn bail. In
which Il Number of hitherto independent
| kernels OF corn are grouped together into
lone ball. This may be considered as IL
we may see how granuiated soil Is suited
for growing crops. You will notice that
/ there are, large open spaces between these
porous f ad snowy wi reaiy e absorp n
4 the water from. q heavy rain Without any
t0f 1t running off, and when the rain is
lover the water will soak deeper into the
ground and there are abundant open spaces
flor the MIR to enter as soon as the water
fsettles down into the ground below. But
Ithis grannlated condition OF the soil net
l0nly allows room for the temporary stOr.
Eage Of the water from d heavy rainfall
until Il cun soak into the ground. ana pro-
4 vides for the circulation OF the mir after
Iwards; but each particle Of silt or clay
/ water al around Il by capillary attracs
/ tfOr, and the combined action OF all the
PARTICLES forming the grain working in
holds spug water m e compiefslS
8 a force strong enough to overcome the
force of gravity tending to psfIl It down.