Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-02-19
Wheat Production in II; 4. y.
Western North Dakota
By z. Waldron Supt Dickinson SubExperiment Station

In this discussion we will regard
that portion of North Dakota lying
west of the Missouri river as our
unit. This portion comprises 10
counties and approximately 1,000,-
600 acres of land or about one.fourtf'
of the total acreage of the state.
Previous to 1904 this large area was
mostly given over to the rancher,
with the exception Of certain areas
in Stark, Oliver and Morton counties,
comprising but small fraction of
the whole. Beginning with the year
indicated, settlement has proceeded
very rapidly.
While many thousands of settlers
have come into this region within
past six years, yet only compare.
lively small portion of the land is
actually under cultivation. A large
number of tillable sections of land
have never been touched by the pillow
and upon thousands of 'quarters"
the homesteader is still farming in
the future. No reliable data are at
hand to indicate to us what portion
of the eleven millions of acres could
be put under the plow. 1t would
seem that an estimate of five mil
lions of acres would be a conserva.
tive one. The chances are that the
tillable land totals considerable more
than this. If the west Missouri coun-
try were being farmed somewhat ap-
preaching the maximum, and If the
method of farming was along the
line of grains, then three millions
of acres devoted to wheat each year
should not be considered an Excess
sive amount. With the present yield
of wheat per acre, one can easily es-
innate teh total yield in bushels.
The soil from which this yield
would come varies greatly in char
acter. The soil as whole is
loan. This varies on the one hand
from light sand, which is poorly
equipped to resist the action Of pro-
tracted droughts, to heavy clayS up
on the other, which is as impervious
as the sand is porous, and is little
adapted as drought resister.
Areas.
fertile though those areas showing
abundant fertility, as is found in old
lake beds, are restricted in extent.
The plant food, phosphoric acid, is
the one most liable to be found de-
fcient and farmers will find that in
comparatively new soils fertilizer
that contains this element will pro-
duce striking results in the way of
increased yields. This statement will
hold true for nearly the entire state
and for other states.
Rainfall. -,
The question of rainfall has. been
the all-important one to those inter-
ested in crop production for the semi
arid district. A few years ago, the
stock argument was, especially with
land agents, that the rainfall was in
creasing, by virtue of the fact that
SO much of the land had been brok-
en-, thus raising the general humid
ity. AS practically none of the land
had been broken in this great tract
at that time, it was difficult, to see
the validity of this argument. AS a
matter of fact, wet periods have al
ternated with dry periods in all
countries. ever since Pharaoh dream.
ed of the fat-feshed and lean-flesh-
ed kline that signified the good and
poor years of Egypt, some thousands
Of years ago. Western North Dako.
ia has been enjoying a wet period
for the last few years and it can be
set down with reasonable certainty
that in few years, we will have a
diminished rainfall. compared with
that which has obtained during the
last five years. t y