Bismarck daily tribune., 1908-11-25
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.

SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.
Some of the work being done by
8 the government department Of agri-
culture toward discovering new and
a hardy crops that will thrive in the
soils and climate of parts of the
northwest, where the weather is
inclined to be severe and where the
supply of rainfall is moderate, is set
forth in a recent statement of Sec.
retary Wilson of the department of
agriculture. Durum wheat is one
of the grains introduced to the north
west by the department, and the
1 work of experimenting with hardy
varieties of clover, alfalfa and other
fodder plants, is now in progress. In
speaking of the work that has been
done, the secretary says: r.
We have consequently surveyed
this summer 10000 square miles of
the soil of North Dakota, and have
finished the work in that state. Win
ter has now come and our people
go south to that lower end of the
dry belt of Texas, and begin survey
/ ing north through the cold weather.
Next spring they will go back to the
north again, and will continue to
work southwark. .ss S.s,s
rs y "a I.
The attention of the department
has been particularly directed to
the Improvement Of conditions now
existing in the far northwest. We
found for them a wheat that will
grow in dry conditions, that would
survive cold winters, and they have
cold winters. The homeseeker NOV
ed out there several years ago and
4 began growing that wheat, succeed
ing fairly well, and wheat was pref
I ty well the only crop he could grow
there. And then the soil refused to
produce printable crops of wheat,
i that Of ..orth Dakota, particularly.
No soil will grow crops of wheat
continuously unless other crops are
grown in conjunction with it or fer
tilizers are used,$ or something of
} that nature. These people, Of course,
] could not use fertilizers. They had
no money to buy them with, and they
\ had no place to get them-to Chilli
4 for nitrates and to Florida for p11os-
phates. So they resorted to GUS
tom quite prevalent in European
counties half century ago and far.
tier back than that a custom known
as summer fal1owing.
They supposed they could grow
wheat longer by that means; that
is, by giving nature two years in her
laboratory to prepare plant food for
4 the crop. But it was not a profita-
BE policy and was abandoned long
ago where farming is properly con-
Quoted. This came to the attention
y of the department people and they
resolved to find something to supply
what was needed up there. They
y have found, some years ago, a wheat
I that will grow under these conditions
and it was known as durum or hard
wheat. But 1t was wheat. n
tsThen they needed legumes. We
had no cIovers that could be depend
ed upon with any certainty in that
Iatitude. We had no alfalfa that we
were positive would answer the
purpose in the far north. So the
department decided to send its best
explorer into the old world. where
farming had been carried on for 9
long time, In order to find legumes
suitable for the summer drouth and
winter cold Of our northern latitudes
and such that could be used in rota
4 fion with the wheat that had alread.
been furnished. Two years agt
Professor Hansen Of the South Da
kcta Agricultural college, was sen
to Norway, Sweden, Finland, Lap
4. land and Siberia to find these La
gumes. He found them. That is
he found alfa1fas that We had neve
seen. with yellow blossoms insteat
OF blue He found cloyers tfa
flourished lip there through the sum
snerss heat and the winters cold. II
found vetches and several othe
things. but as far as the story Of th
northwest is concerned, these suffie
s0 iIlustrate he brought home sam