The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1909-10-15
GOOD ACREAGE
SHOWS LABOR

3AAA VAssAAAS AAssVS DSS0 va essS 80
crease Since In 1902. Some
Soil Is 0verworked
That wheat acreage has steadily
been growing in this state will be
seen by the following article taken
from the North Dakota Magazine:
Since 1902 the wheat ecreage Of
the state has more than doubled.
The area planted this spring (19O9)
was 6,872,6Ol acres as compared
with 2,946,723 acres in 1902. With
the exception of one year-l9O6--
the increase has been steadily pro-
gressive, and in that year the in
crease over 1905 was so large that
a falling off was noticeable in
1907. This increase was doubtless
due to the large crop raised in
1905, which induced many farmers
to put in a larger acreage on poor
ly prepared land with inferior seed
in zoos, in the hopes of securing
the same handsome returns as the
year before. The resulting crop.
as an average, was disappointing,
for less grain was raised from more
acres than in 1908, and bore fruit
in a reduced wheat acreage in
1907. The 1908 acerage, however,
again showed an average increase,
while the estimated acreage for
1909 shows the most remarkable
advance in the history of the state
viz, l,279,971 acres more than in
1908. Nor is this heavy gain to be
attributed except in small de-
gree, to the fat prices realized for
the cereal in 1908. but rather it is
due Ito the breaking of fresh
ground and the healthy develop
ment of the state as q whole.
The one unfavorable feature Of
wheat culture in North Dakota is
the low average yield as compared
with other wheat raising countries
notably Great Britain, where the
annual average yield often exceeds
thirty bushels to the acre. It
should be remembered, however,
in making this comparison, that
the wheat grown in England is of
the soft, heavy-yielding variety,
which is much more prolific than
the hard spring wheats under equal
soil and climatic conditions; also
that the English farmer spends as
much per annum in fertilize as
would, but few years ago, have
bought the land in North Dakota,
and further, that the necessity Of
the English farmer securing the
utmost return from his farm is
much more insistent in that land
of high land values and rentals
than in North Dakota, where the
comparative ease of culture and,
unlimited area available have in
duced a less intensified method of
farming. Nevertheless, making
all reasonable allowance for these
differences between the two coun-
tries, it must be admitted that the
average yield in North Dakota
could be greatly increased by a re-
cognition Of the fact that soil is
not inexhaustible and cannot with
stand continuous depletion with
no compensating return. That
our farmers have at last realized
this important fact is becoming
more and more apparent in the in
creasing acreage Of the clovers,
timothy and other fodder crops
which are now we'll recognized as
the natural rejuvenators Of a hard
worked soil, when grown in = pro-
per rotation.
Other hopeful sigus are the
more extended eoognition of the
value Of chemical baths for fun
gus growth il seed wheat and oats
greater care il the selection Of
fertile seed, and il the elimination
Of foul extraneous reed therefrom,
and akeener interest ia any new.
varieties which promise improve