The Dickinson press., 1910-02-19
the YIELDS
OF WHEAT
Supt. L. r. Waldron of Dickinson
Sub Station Gives Comparative
Figures. Amount of Rainfall.

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 ap-
proximtely II, 600. 600 acres of land or
about one-fourth of the total acreage of
the state. Previous to 1904 this larde
area was mostly given over to the
rancher. with the exception of certain
areas in Stark. Oliver and Morton
counties. comprising but a small frac-
ton of the whole. Beginning with the
year indicated. settlement has proceeded
very rapidly.
While many thousands of settlers
have come into the region within the
past six years, yet only q comparatively;
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. It would
seem that an estimate of five millions
of acres would be q conservative one.
The chances are that the tillable land
totals considerably more than this. If
the west Missouri country were being
farmed somewhat approaching the maxi
mum. 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 ex-
cessive amount. With the present yield
Of wheat per acre. n "a easily eSti-
mate the total yield in bushels.
SOIL
The soil from which this yield would
come varies Greatly in character. The
soil as q whole is q loan. This varies
On the one hand from light sand. which
is poorly equipped to resist the action
of protracted droughts. to heavy clay
upon the other, which is as impervious
as the sand is porous. and is little
adapted as q drought resister. .
The soil is generally recognized as
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 deficient and
farmers will find that in comparatively
new soils a fertilizer that contains this
element will produce striking results in
the way of increased yields. This state
ment will hold true for nearly the entire
state and for other states.
RAINFALL
The question of rainfall has been the
all-important n to those interested in
crop production for the semi-arid dis
trict. A few years ADO, the stock areu-
m6nt was, especially with land agents:
that the rainfall was increasing. by
virtue of the fact that 20 much of the
land had been broken. thus raising the
general humidity. 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
alterrated with dry periods in all
countries Eve since Pharaoh dreamed
of the fat1esled and leani1eshed kline
that signified the good and poor year,
Of Egypt, some thousands of years ago.
Western North Dakota has been enjoy.
ing q wet period for the last few year.
and it can be set down with reasonable
certainty that in q few years, We will
have q diminished rainfall, compared
with that which has obtained dur
ing the last five years.
RAINFALL At DICKINSON
Dickinson may be considered as
representative point az far as rainfall
is concerned for the district we are
discussing. Records have been KEEP
since 1892 and the average rainfall