The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-09-07
TO PROSPER
STUDY FARMS
Secretary Wilson's Advice to
Tillers Of the Soil.
At CONSERVATION MEET

the Land More Productive-Thlrd
Days Proceedings of the Big Gath
ering at St. Paul. a., .....
st. Paul, Sept. 1.-THE programme
for the third days session of the Ma
tional Conservation congress con-
tanned a long list Of speakers, includ.
ing Secretary of Agriculture Wilson
and James J. Hill. The speakers and
the topics of discussion follow:
Rational Taxation of Resources
DR.. Franklin L. McVey, president OF
the University of North Dakota, Grand
Forks. General discussion led by John
B. White of Kansas City, Mo-, chair.
man executive committee, National
Conservation congress.
"The Interests of the Railways OF
the South in Conservation" w. w.
Finley, president Southern Railway
company.
Laws That Should Be Passed.
Hon. Frank G.. Newlands, United
States senator from Nevada. General
discussion led by Murdo Mckenzie OF
Trinidad, Colo.
Making Our People Count" DR.. Ed
win Boone Craighead, president Tur
lane university, New Orleans.
1.-THE Press and the People," A. Aus
tin Latshaw, Kansas City Star, Kan
sas City, Mo.
"Women's Influence in National
Questions" Mrs. Emmons Croker of
Massachusetts, chairman conservation
department, General Federation of
Women's Clubs.
1.-THE Farmer and the Nation" Wal
ter H. Page, editor Worlds Work and
member of the country life commits
sion.
Farm Conservation" Hon. James
Wilson, secretary of agriculture.
"Cattle, Food and Leather" Hon.
Jonathan P. Dolliver, United States
senator from Iowa. General discus
sion led by Hon. Frederick G. Stevens,
representative in congress from Min
nesota.
Conservation and Country Life"
Professor Liberty Hyde Bailey, dean
of state agricultural college, Cornell
university, New York.
"Soils, Crops and Clothing" James
J. Hill, St. Paul. General discussion
led by Henry Wallace, editor Wal
lace's Farmer, Des Moines, Ia.
Secretary Wilson's Speech.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson
spoke on Farm Conservation" He
said:
The most important feature of farm
conservation is the soil. The farmer
prospers while the soil responds to his
work and yields good crops; he ceases
to do we'll when the soil refuses to re-
spond to his labor.
The people of the older nations take
care of soil fertility as a matter of
prime necessity and long ago ascer-
tanned the proper succession of crops,
their relation to the soil and the feed
ing of men and animals. They knew
the soil must be fed and the proper
physical conditions to maintain and
learned from experience how to do it.
During the short history of our coun-
try we have had new soils to draw
upon when exhaustion resulted from
the robbing process, and much of the
nations prosperity is the equivalent of
what the soil has lost. Our people
have been we'll fed, and until recently
they have been cheaply fed. This has
been due in part no doubt to the &C.
cupancy of land easily obtainable as
soon as the older refused to yield
abundantly and is one of the prime
causes of farm desertions that are
now attracting so much attention.
The federal government is expend.
ing large sums to irrigate more land,
which is wise, but the amount of wa
ter impounded is small compared with
the volume that flows to waste. In a
recent visit to the Mountain states
saw that the most advanced localities
are every year making more reservoirs
to hold winter and spring flows of wa
tiers that go free of mans restraint to
the ocean. The nation, the state and
private enterprises have ample fields
in which to work toward greater crop
production in this direction.
Search for New Data.
The department of agriculture, in
obedience to congressional require
ment, is exploring similar lands that
exist under similar conditions through
out the old world. Some success is
being had. A wheat from Africa and
Asia gives us 100000 bushels year
from the high lying light rainfall
states; grass and alfalfa from Tur-
kestan, alfalfas, clovers and vetches
from Siberia, oats from Northern
Sweden, millets from the Orient, sor-
ghum from Africa, are samples of
what are being found by our explorers
that thrive on our highlands of the
West. ..... -. ..... u.
At thirteen stations in seven states
we have parties of scientists studying
methods of plant management. on our
dry lands. If our growth in population
Is to continue we must look to the soil
and conserve moisture, which is the
transportation system of the plant.
We furnish heterogeneous mill feeds
to thrifty foreigners who know theil
value to feed their cattle to make
meats and dairy products and keep uI
+ h 49, f0v Nv 81 hot S1e,sas T1ooc