The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-01-21
Prof. Bolley Discusses Weed and
Plant Diseases at Farmers Meet

wheat is not successful against loose
smut of wheat, and the methods If
controlling fax-wilt, though similhI a.
some respects to those used in control
ling diseaseskpf other cereal grains.
differ materially in some features.
Gradually by persistent experiments
and by long experience the most able
farmers are learning to control the
kinds of weeds and the kinds of disease
which appear upon their crops. How
ever, the results well who unders and
the characteristics of the weeds of fun
gus pests which they are trying to con-
troll. 1t is equally true that they Co
not succeed If they do not understand
we'll the needs OF the farm crop which
they are growing, irrespective of the
habits of the weeds and disease pro-
ducing plants.
Loss oceasioned by Weeds Pests.
1t would hardly seem necessary at
this meeting to discuss this point to
any length, though there may be some
who do not as yet fully appreciate the
very great influence which weeds and
disease producing fungi exercise upon
the value of farm cropping and thus
directly on the business and commerce
of the country. Too commonly, when
crop fails, as farmer, we have hid
den behind the easiest excuse possible
to make, and have not made a study
of the conditions under which the crop
was grown. 1t has been easy to say
"the seed is run out" ''the soil Is worn
out" or "the weather is unpropitious.
Such expressions are only subterfuged
and do not usually represent intelli-
gence. They are simply blind excuses
that one makes to relieve himself
of undue intellectual effort. 1t is pos
sible that the farmers are not the only
ones that make such excuses to them
selves. Certain it is. that weather is
often very destructive to crops, special
| ly If no effort is made to modify the
condition which had climate or weather
conditions may bring about Weather
may spoil the crop after it is throughly
mature and in good yield. Weather
condition may bring about certain soil
condition which are impossible to ordi-
nary land crops Weather conditions
often interfere with the conditions of
fertility, etc. Again it is impossible
for land to be actually impoverished or
worn out for cropping, that is. il is
1
withdraw fertility to such extent that
a crop no longer produce yield suf-
fcient to pay for the labor. There are
however, conditions under which no
crop can be produced. even the wealth
er conditions and the soil fertility each
good. The writer believes that soils
fail to produce crops as often because
of improper physical conditions and
because of the presence OF weeds and
parasitic growths as because of the
actual absence of fertility Indeed.
in the most fertile lands. weeds and
parasitic fungi cause pnnually an
enormous loss throughout the country.
which is greatly exaggerated through
cropping methods unsuited to the pre-
yailing conditions. ! need to cite
but a few Instances to Illustrate the
point: Spraying experiments over a.
large number of areas in wheat fields
by which mustard in the crop Is elm
mated, shows that the average In
crease for such sprayed crop approx
mates closely one-third, the normal
yield It actually amounts essentially
to the weight Of weeds seeds, stems
land roots taken together, which would
have been produced on the land were
| the spraying not conducted.
Disinfeotion of Seed.
Sinking smut OF wheat is essentially
eliminated by seed 1isinfection
through the formaldehyde method
originated at the North Dakota expert
ment station. My experiments have
run long enough to allow me to assert
with confidence that the proper use of
the formaldehyde for the prevention
of that smut amounts to approximately
1.-TWO and one-half bushels per acre on