The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-10-06
(Continued From Page enc


many wheat raisers, cereal cropper
who to my knowledge have more o.
Hess constantly followed the best ad
vice available in cropping methods, a
times with success and at times will
Indifferent success Many are ignor.
antly soil spoilers and crop deterior.
ators. 1t is this phase Of crop deter,
| ioration by soil contamination rather
than to chemical depletion that / wish
to especially call attention.
/ recommend both our trained agri.
/ culturists and the farmer to look fol
help from careful consideration Of
soil sanitation. or, if you will, from
proper conservation of the purity OF
the soil.
When soil fertility is removed by
| persistent or constant cropping there
must be some means provided for q
reasonable replacing of the same; and
crop rotation as such, has been proven
to be a matter essential to cereal agri-
culture. | believe, however, that the
/ emphasis as to the cause of the neces
| sity of crop rotation has not always
been placed wholly in the right place
| We have paid too little attention to
physical or mechanical texture of the
soil and too slight attention to cultiva-
ton methods as such, and no attention
whatever to the sanitary condition OF
the soil We have continued to tell the
farmer that he must rotate because his
methods of cropping are removing the
nitrogen, humus and other essential
features Of the soil, apparently forget
ting, although we all know, that a ro-
tation is only another way of getting
more of these elements out of. the
ground. We all agree in recommend
ing stock as essential, apparently for
getting, although we all know, that
that, too, is a condensed manner of
getting rid of the so-called fertility of
the soil.
So, il it had not been for the biolo-
gist demonstrating that the experience
of many farmers in replenishing soil
nitrogen through the use of legumes
is fact of plant life possible Of intelli
gent control, our theories of crop rota-
tion would at this time be in sorry
plight indeed, so far as proving the
worth of them from a chemical stand
point alone. However, this problem of
the conservation of the nitrogen is now
settled one so far as common knowl-
edge Is concerned, and even the ques-
ton of the conservation of the phos-
pilates may rest in nothing more than
the problem of equitable distribution
OF the worlds supply. These fertiliz-
ers are based on substances that cam
not well get away Though fertilizer
experiments are as old as agriculture
and have been for the last century
most carefully and deliberately planned
the best that we can say for the use
of artificial fertilizers is that, if we
know the chemical make up Of a par
ticular soil it is possible to consider
ably enhance the cereal crop How
ever, regardless Of all the extensive
experiments, / think you will agree
with me that it is not possible to state
a fplan purely of the nature of Soil fer-1
tilization that win hold with any reg
ularity as to the results on the crop
for any extended area of soil for any
long period of years. This is saying
that the fertilizer question itself large
ly remains an experiment in spite of
our best effort and that each farmer
must largely learn what to do for him
self, which is expecting much.
If you declare for careful seed Sc
lection in all cases, careful seed dis |
Infection at all times, the formation of |
4 well aerated but compacted seed bed |
and for as extensive rotation of crops |
IF as widespread characte as possible |
you of the new dry land regions of the !
vest have the greatest possible oppor- |
unity to prove to the world that IT is |
not necessary to lose crop of such |
r,Av, 90 -
FOUR rotations, nor is it necessary that
'our wheat yields should fall from the
low promising ones of 80 to so bushels
Der acre to the general average of IL
o 15.
Porter's Address.
w. r. Porter spoke as follows:
In the state OF North Dakota the /
Sreat Northern railroad established
hree demonstration farms in the
pring Of 1906 located at Lakota,
Granville and Ross and the Northern
Pacific railroad established three on
heir main line at Bismarck, New Sa-
EN- and Beach respectively. These
arms were all under the supervision
# the experiment station at Fargo.
The legislature of 1907 passed a bill
AONlQllS lOI LAICC AdIAnS anu also
roviding for the establishment of six
1ore farms which were located inI
he spring Of 1907. The state legis-
ature of 1909 was so we'll satisfied
nth the work of these twelve DEM
during the seasons of 1906,
BOT and 1908 that they provided funds
Dr. the establishment of twelve more
these farms, nine of which were
established in the spring of 1909 and
lree of which were established last s
bring, making twenty -four demon
ration farms in ALL located in twen- ]
flour counties of the state of North ]
akota. q
These farms are leased from andi
anaged by farmers of good standing q
their respective neighborhoods., The | e
rms consist OF twenty or twenty Z
ur acres each except the farm at
cLeod which contains ninety acres e
here considerable experiment work
done. The farmer is given the crop c
Id $500 each season provided he car
IS out the instructions Of the ex- 7
rin1ent station which are generally c
ven by the superintendent. The e
anagers of these farms seem to take n
eat pleasure in carrying out all in G
ructions faithfully and though they ls
We sometime made intakes, not one Il
them has ever deliberately shirked II
) duty el
You probably wish to know how n
csc farms are worked. I will take a
'ach as an example. because 1t is q
uated on the western edge of North Il
lkota, the nearest point to this plat d
I'm. OF
This is one Of the first farms es- q