Morris tribune., 1909-07-24
CROP ROTATION
MEANS MILLIONS.
State Experiment Farm Suggests
System Suited To This
Climate.

"Ino farmers OF the state could
save millions of dollars annually
through the proper rotation of crops
and the careful selection of seed, - said
Professor Andrew Boss, chief agricul-
turist at the state experiment station.
Professor Boss is in charge of all the
plant breeding experiments which are
being carried on at the station, as well
as instructor of agriculture and farm
management at the university farm.
The rotation advised by the officers
Of the station is five-year rotation.
One year the field is sown to corn
then it is left in pasture for year;
the next year wheat, then oats, and
the last year hay, after which the ro-
tatior is repeated in the same order.
The idea of this rotation is that the
corn cultivation will free the land of
weeds and prepare it for the money
making crops which are to follow.
The hay year will fill the ground with
humus, that is, the vegetable matter
which is left in the ground when the
land is turned over preparatory to
planting the next years grain crop.
The wheat and oats crops are the
ones which bring in the money, and
there is no reason why the farmer
should not get from twenty to thirty
bushels an acre with the proper selec-
ton of seed, says Professor Boss.
A great deal is being done by the
station in experimenting with the se-
lection of seed which is best adapted
to the Minnesota climate, and though
along this line the work is more in it's
experimental stage than in the crop
rotation, much valuable information
has been gained and many new var
ieties of grain have been bred. The
method employed in breeding a new
grain is to select the grains which
have proved most successful and plant
them in one-twentieth or fourth
of an acre plot, usually 1000 plants
in plot. These plants are given the
same kind of cultivation they would
receive in an ordinary field. Of these
1000 plants, the best one is selected
out of the best ten which can be found
in the field.
The following year the seed from
this plant is planted and the same pro-
cess of selection is gone through. Af-s
ter perfect plant of one variety has
been secured, these plants are bred
with the other variety, and the best
specimen of the type which the exper-
imenter is trying to get is selected,
and the following year the plants from
this seed are again selected and the
hybridizing process continued until
the type is secured.
Then the plants are tested in fields
varying from ten to twenty acres, and
if after three years test in the field
they prove successful the seed is dis
tributed to the farmers, no man being
allowed to get more than twenty BUSH
els. This is to secure as broad a use.
as possible and, if the crop is not sue
cessful, the farmer will not be great
loser.
One of the latest varieties tho sta
ton has sent out is rye which is early
and at the same time yields high.
Last year this seed was distributed
and nearly 1000 bushels were sent out.
From the reports of the farmers, it
has proved successful in the fields,
though reports of Jhe yields have not
been received. Three years ago Min
nesota Nos. 1853 and 169 wheat were
sent out and in that time they have