The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-07-25

The Farmers Institute held on the
Bathgate demonstration farm on We'd
nesday combined both picnic and in
stitute in one. The first thing on the
programme consisted of a picnic din
ner in the grove, and after that the
demonstration farm was gone over.
Professor Shepperd, dean of agricul-
ture at the Agricultural college, had
charge of the meeting, as Superintend-
ent Hoverstad has been called home
by the serious illness of his sister.
&C. Palmer assisted.
In going over the demonstration
farm Mr. Porter gave a history of each
of the fields and brought out very in
teresting things. Mr.. Morrison who
runs this farm was also called on
for explanations. A hail storm had
lately passed over this section which
had played havoc with the crops, yet
they were standing up in a fairly good
condition. The corn stands about three
feet high and is tasseling out. The
stand IS good. 1t is clean and has
been wen cultivated. 1t promises to
make splendid crop and would even
at this season make a lot of forage.
Adjoining this corn field was one that
had been in wheat the year previous
and two pounds of clover seed had
been sown with the wheat for the pur-
pose of growing some clover to pillow
under. The result, however, was ouch
a good stand that 1t was kept for hay.
In 1908 this field was in clover which
was cut for seed and eleven bushels
were secured off from the four acres.
More seed could have been secured if
1t had been threshed out with huller;
just common threshing machine does
not get it all. The second growth is
coming on fine and now stands about
eight inches high. The next plot had
a little heavier stand The second
growth is also about eight inches high,
though it stands more dense than on
the other plot.
Another interesting experiment was
carried out on piece of barley. The
surface had become hard and cracked,
so half of it had been gone over with
weeder which had closed up the
cracks, produced a dust mulch and in
a week this barley had assumed a
darker color and showed less drying
of the leaves at the bottom, and there
was no evidence that going over it had
in any way hurt it. Some alfalfa was
also examined. A few stalks of it in
the fence corners had not been cut and
these were simply loaded with seed
The clover in the fence corners were
likewise full of seed.
Shepperd Talks Glover.
The meeting was then adjourned to
the grove. Here Professor Shepperd
discussed the subject of clover and
alfalfa growing. He had samples that
he had collected in the field which
showed plainly how abundantly these
plants produce seed in this section.
He also had clover plant with the
root and this was Just full Of the little
nodules. The professor then explained
that the clover and alfalfa plants could
not grow well alone, but had to have
germ growing on their roots, that
it was a kind of company affair, and
that the plants would do well only as
these germs were present. While the
germs are too small to be seen, yet
the nodules In which they live are
about the size Of clover seed. II a
clover or an alfalfa plant does not
have these nodules on it's roots 1T will
not thrive; it becomes pale and in a
short time dies. To introduce these,
one good way is to take soil from a
field growing clover successfully and
sow on at the rate Of 100 pounds per
acre, and harrow in thoroughly. When
they once become established on a
farm thew seem to become distributed
over it in some way or other. In start
ing to grow these crops it is always
very helpful to manure them. The
professor thought that considerable
attention should be given to the grow
ing of clover seed in this section. In
the first place 1t seeds very freely
and then again the seed grown in
North Dakota is free from dodder and
other weed seeds, that are very OBJ
fashionable, and at the present
price of seed it is a very profitable
crop to raise. He advised cutting