The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-02
DECLARES CROP
ALL U.RES PAST
u .-ssa3 ss5sA
Secretary Wilson Says Modern
Farming Methods Make Fail
ure Improb able. Il

ure Improb able.
Journal Special Service. III
Washington, April 2.There will be
no more crop failures. This prediction
is confidently made by Secretary Will
son, who knows more about agriculture
than any other man in public life. The
secretary is anticipating only normal
conditions, such as the weather expert
that some great calamity in the form of
floods or q wide area of freezing wealth
er in July may not descend upon the
earth out of some remote corner Of the
heavens.
EARLY and late frosts, drought and
prolonged rainy seasons. torrid heat and
lack of sunshine, grasshoppers rust and
by the secretary as conditions which
the farmers must guard against to in
| sure crops.
Material improvements.
"There have been material improve
lfdecade,'' said Secretary Wilson. I'M
lfportant improvements have been made
in agricultural machinery, which are of
great advantage to the farmers. The
department Of agriculture has, by ex-
periments, demonstrated what Is posi-
bic to do in preparing for climatic huct-
|{uation in heat and moisture, and has
l.ble benefit to the tillers.
It Is not only possible, but it Is
practical and is the general rule now
adays, for the farmer to study the soil
he has to work, and intelligently select
the crops best adapted. The, days of
old, when the farmers, year after year,
would plant the same crops to gather
conditions were exceptionally good and
to experience failures under adverse
conditions, have gone, never to return.
The farmers now make it their business
to know what their lands will do, and
the yutilize the INTO the best possible
advantage.
Double in Ten Years.
"In 1910 the production per, acre will
/ be twice as great as it was in 1900.
i This increase will be due entirely to the
advance which the farmers are MAX
/ ing in the direction of selection and
methods. The work of the department.
this result is Of sufficient Importance to
warrant all the appropriations that
have been made during the last six
years for it's maintenance.
"But the work Of the department. has
not stopped with increased acreage, pro;
over the world searching for crops best
adapted to conditions existing in va
rious sections Of our wide expense Of
territory. They have brought us crops
which blossom in the deserts, and now
in the arid tracts in parts of the west
crops are being produced where it was
thought only rattlesnakes and lizards
could thrive. Ill., -..,....s.a. TX a
| Irrigation's Help. I.
rIrrigation is doing much to make
waste lands fertile, but any experienced
farmer given an abundant water sup.
ply, which he can control, can produce
good results. What the agricultural
come the natural conditions and I think
much has already been done in this
line. More will be done. = - ~ s
"When I say there will be no more
crop failures, do not mean that every
lseeds every farmer plants will thrive
and produce, - explained the secretary
eve may, however, safely count upon
sufficient crops to supply our own needs
may visit some valley and acres OF
growing crops may be washed away
Grasshoppers may, and probably will
again. appear in Kansas. ., Hot winds
will blow, but we will not hear SO much
of the grasshoppers and hot winds II
the future. :,
Plenty for the Insects.
"The grasshoppers will find so mucl
; to eat that they will not be noticed
, and hot winds, will find so much fresl
and green to bio wagainst that they
will be checked and cooled. ls--z
Speaking seriously, however, tn!
| 70 I1, IL
with cool deliberatlon and :Knowledg.
Of, what they ca naccomplish The,
select the seeds and the crops the
know will produce the best results upo1
the soil to be cultivated.
'Certaln varieties of corn and wheat
FOR. instance, require more heat an,
moisture than others. Where the grow
ing seasons are usually dry and hot tn
farmer will not plant the corn whic
the farmer where more moisture is
be expected would use.
Farming II is fast being reduced to
0 reached that stage already. Scientif
q methods now widely prevail. Dee
: blowing, soil investigation, seed se1et
: ton, improved machinery, all combin
t Of a fair reward for their toll and ou1
9 lay. They have intrenched themselve
9 t osuch an extent that dispatches i
the newspapers of variations in norma
4 climatic conditions during crop season
J will not cause the apprehension Of GRO
e failures as in years gone by.
), No Real Crop Failure.
= t"There may and probably will I
y poor crops in certain counties and wi
I not say that the crops this wear wi
l. be as large as last year, but I repes
10 we will not have what can be xcalle
y crop failures ~
g. Under the administration Of Seer
e tary, Wilson the work Of the depar
n ment of agriculture has been advance
Il rapidly until it is well equipped to a
l. complish what is predicted by its chic
d Several news bureaus havd been adde
ic and, owing largely to the scand
m caused by the premature revelation
II the cotton crop report, a general owe
d hauling has been made.
n NORTHWEST PATENTS.
m Washington, D. c., April 2.-{Sp
E. ciaD -The following patents we we
: issued this week to Minnesota and b