The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-01-21
Farming in Holland.

has been donei upon these farms / will
not go into detail in regard to their
work.
Farming in Holland.
However in speaking of more in
tensive farming | will tell you what is
being done in Holland in this line.
When l visited there / had ample OBJ
portunity to study the conditions and
made the most of my time. In north
ern Holland where the. country is
composed of sand dunes to a depth of
several feet the farmers went in with
wheel barrows and hauled off the
sand, piling it up i'm ridges around
their fields which never consist Of
more than a few acres These ridges
risa to the height of fifteen or twenty
feet. In order to keep this from blow
ing the owner went to the sea snore
where he cut sod and placed it over
the sand and then planted trees on
this. In the dow place, which is below
sea level at middle tide is planted the
garden truck. AS the farms are small
the most must be made out of every
inch: One man / became acquainted
with employed about forty men the
year around. Of course these were
paid small wages ranging from to
gelders, about $3.50 American
money. They furnished their own
board. OF course living there is not
nearly so nigh as it is in this coun-
try
'This particular man of whom /
speak only had farm of few acres.
but with strong fertilization and in
tensive farming he was able to make
net profit each year. of about $4,000.
OF course he had good markets. but it
shows what can be accomplished with
Intensive methods. 1t shows also
what can be expected of this rich
North Dakota land when the right
methods are used in making 1t pro-
duce.
How He Made $4,000 a Year.
The man of which speak told me
of the system he employed in produc-
ing his crops. In the first place it is
well to know that nearly all transports
tion is done on the canals. Using these
canals this man would go to the dairy
centers and secure horse and COW ma
nure and ship 1t to his farm Here he
kept 1t in concrete tanks until ready
to use.
THE first thing that he had his men
do after the crops had all been harvest
ed was to spade up the entire field
no plows were used-and mix with the
sand an amount of horse manure. Over
this he would put a layer of sand, then
a layer of COW manure and finally an
oCher layer of sand, then q layer of
cow manure and anally another layer
of sand In planting he would 30 ar
range his plants that he would have
crops growing all summer long. When
one crop was about half matured he
would plant a new crop between the
rows and these would be about half
grown when the first crop was harv-
ested.
He told me that each year 1t was
necessary to repeat the fertilizing pro-
cess as the rains and SHOWS of the
winter would cause all the crops pro-
dncing materials to percolate through
the deeper sands where they were use
less to crops. However with all this
work and cost of employing forty men
he cleared $4,000 on am average every
year. It shows what can be done
The Other Speakers.
Following President Worst w. II.
Porter, superintendent of the demon
stration farms of the state gave
most comprehensive talk or the work |
which has been done on the farms. |
He used charts to illustrate and an |
swered large number 81 questions