The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-09-22
TO PREVENT LAND
FROM DRIFTING
PROFESSOR SHEPHERD OF THE A.
c. GIVES RESULTS OF HIS
STUDY ALONG THIS LINE
RIGHT CROPPING WILL PRE-
VENT IT.

| VENT IT.
The subject of drifting of soils is
one of the serious problems in many
sections of North Dakota; and as the
land is cultivated 1t gets worse. Prof.
Shepperd has written the following ar
ticle which appeared in the last issue
of the Breeders Gazette. The observa-
tions recorded will prove of great
deal of interest and value to the North
Dakota farmer.
What can be done to keep and
from drifting is a question which /
have raised with the Canadians to the
north Of us, with the people of our own
state. and with those in the states
south of us to the Mexican line. The
Canadians said. PLANT shelter belts OF
trees" and they took me into gardens
5x10 rods cut off with dense boxelder
hedges ten feet or more high, where
scarcely breath of air moved. / saw
the effectiveness of them. but set 1t
down as too tedious and too expensive
except for gardening. / have recently
returned from an 40-mile automobile
ride as a guest and student of COM
petent and experience farmers through
one Of the drifting regions of the
state They have Just had a violent
series of windstorms and what soil will
blow and what won't blow are pretty
weY set off. Old land, that is, land
which has been cropped regularly with
small grain for years, with no manur-
ing, had blown badly. Such land crop
ped to potatoes the past season was
drifting the worst of any to be seen
Next to 1t in drifting was land which
had been cropped to small grain for
years without a change and which had
been fallowed. Similar land which had
been fall plowed had also blown badly.
Consequently cropped land had drifted
in many places even when spring
plowed
MANFRED land did not drift so badly
even when it had been regularly crop
ped to small grain for years, but IL
blew considerably-enoug in most
cases to ruin the crop. Corn land did
not drift much except where other
badly drifting soil blew across it
Drifting seems TO he contagious, and
when blowing dirt passes over a piece
OF land the soil thus trespassed upon
Joins i'm the mad rush before the gale.
Grass land. timothy and clover, which
had been plowed up and cropped had
not drifted to any appreciate extent
even IN the second season after the
grass had been plowed up. and bronze
grass sod was not touched by the
winds even on the lightest soils the
fist season following the breaking of
tha sod. l shall be surprised IL bronze
grass will not be found immune to
blowing the second season also. and
nearly immune the third year after the
sod is turned over Farmers are
afraid to sow brome grass. though as
they have had a sad experience in |
getting quack grass with their bronze |
grass seed. Our pure seed law should |
remedy that condition. but farmers
will have to be certain of 1t. as they
cannot afford to get that pest into
their and.
On the demonstrs ton farms we
have adopted the practice of sowing
five to six pounds OF timothy seed with
each grain crop. These timothy -oots
do not get extensive, particularly on
land fall plowed, but they prove quite
a help. 1t is an inexpensive process,
since the amount of seed costs only
from Is to 25 cents per acre. Land
which has winter rye growing on 1t
cannot drift on account of the crop
holding it and hence is immune a.
blowing. Taking stock then after this
inventory of inspection what do we
have to ward off drifting? First, grass
roots; second, winter rye; third, spring
blowing; fourth, corn land with it's
stalks; fifth, manuring; sixth, sowing
timothy with the grain annually.
That list looks like a mined system
of cropping is required and the keep
ing of live stock is a necessity. docs 1t
not? say so much the better for the
country, for such a system of crop
ping the only permanent one for
any part of this country. A number
of cropping plans can be built up from
that list of wind-resisting items. For
example, the following should do rea-
sonably well at least:
Wheat; clover and timothy; wheat:
wheat on spring blowing; (manured).
Another pan would be: Wheat:
clover and timothy; wheat; barley on
spring blowing; winter rye; corn (ma-
nured).
Constant watching and quick appli-
cation of straw manure whenever
signs of drifting appear will go far
toward warding off this trouble. In
the sandy sections where drifting cases
the trouble destroying bronze grass sod
Is not difficult like 1t is on the heavy
land. Since bronze grass does not do
we'll with nurse-crop, 1t requires
longer rotation Of crops for it to be in
troduced into the system. Where live
stock is kept two or three rotation sys-
TENS on given farm are required and
each must be adjusted to the supply
and kind of stock kept. The fact is.
only suggestions can be made about
the type of cropping to be adopted,
and each farmer will have to take the
facts about soil drifting and plan his
cropping with them in mind.