The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1906-06-30

The farmers institute closed on Satur-
day and, although the attendance was
not as large as it should have been, those
present took keen interest in the dis
cussions and certainly found the sessions
very profitable.
The following reports will be of inter-
est to our readers:
Mr.. Hoverstad: While many trees
may be grown here, we may get salts
factory results with but two or three va
rieties. Really, the most important thing
in tree planting is to plant the trees.
Trees should be planted in masses.
They are preferably planted in rows so
that they may be cultivated when young.
This will keep the weeds down and en-
able them to grow faster. AS the trees
become larger and begin to Shade the
ground, forest conditions are furnished
and the ground becomes covered with
leaf mold. If we have real forest once
started, it cannot help but succeed. The
cottonwood and boxelder trees are good,
hardy pioneer trees. They may be
planted mixed with other trees. They
grow rapidly and this rapid growing
forces the other trees planted with them,
such as green ash and elm, to reach
upward towards the light. After the for
est or windbreak is once established, we
may then begin to think of fruit and
ornamental shrubs. once thought that
if apples were ever to be grown in North
Dakota, we would have to discover the
apple hardy enough for the state. l am
beginning to think that we already have
apples that can be grown here. Prob
ably an improvement can be made and
if so, it will probably come through the
Seeding apple. In growing apples it is
better to grow the trees in bush form,
thus preventing tree scald. A good time
to prune apple trees is after you have
lost your knife. In other words, do very
little pruning.
Pres. Worst: am interested in this
meeting particularly because you are
undergoing remarkable changes in chang
ing from ranch country to farm coun-
try. wish we may take up the subject
of diversified crops. We should have
an institute here each year and better
yet, have two each year. :
One of the questions here is, can the
farmer make living on 16o acres? That
is big farm. The large farms farther
east are only 20, 80 or 100 acres. have
threatened to go to Europe and stay
there two or three months and study
those H. and 15-acre farms, where 10 or
IL children are being raised.
My ancestors have lived frontier life
for $50 years. They have found that
they can raise fine crops for IS or 20
years. After that the fertility diminishes.
We must then begin to diversity the
crops. This is not our country alone. It
is our children's country and our grand
children's country. We have no right to
rob the land of all its available fertility.
If our ancestors were willing to bleed for
our country, we should be willing to live
for it.
A crop of 40 bushels per acre means
that great amount of plant food is re-
moved from the soil. If this is continued
many years. nature is going to protect
herself. One of the most important
plant foods is nitrogen. The air is made
up Of four-ffths nitrogen. There is but
one class Of plants that is able to take
the nitrogen from the air and add it to
the soil as plant food. If we could
grow clover one year in FIVE we could