The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-11-15
IS FERTILITY NECESSARY

At the present time when there is SO
much discussion as to whether fertil-
ity is needed to grow crops or not, the
following extract from an address by
Prof. J. Fl. Shepherd before the North
Dakota Academy of Science is inter-
| esting:
England Is credited with producing
5o,000000 bushels of wheat per year
She imports 200, 100000 bushels OF
wheat and takes pains to import that
as wheat instead Of -four for the sake
| OF getting the fertility which Is con-
tanned in the bran and short portions
OF the kernel almost exclusively. She
| imports 100000. 900 bushels of corn and
nearly 1000, 100000 pounds of OIL cake
psF year. In addition to this mammoth
annual source of fertility she imports
large quantities OF phosphorus. These
importations Of grain result In the pro-
| duotion Of q vast quantity OF stable
manure in Great Britain which is Law
ishly applied to the fields which are
| planted to grain.
DIR. Bernard Dyer. in his American
| lectures on the results OF Investigation
! the Boradbalk wheat plat that has
| produced a crop of wheat each year
since 1914. after stating that IL had
been given an annual application OF
1871 tons OF farm manure each year
| during that time, uses the following
sentence: TT is to be borne in mind,
however. that the quantity OF manure
used in these continuous wheat grow
Ing experiments is on the yearly aver
age far less than would be used in
practical agriculture on any of the
rotation systems"
| This recalls to my mind the state
ment Of our Scottish herdsmen at the
agricultural college, who In CONVERSE
ton with me about the method Of top
dressing meadows and pastures lands
in Scotland remarked that the Scot
fish farmer did not put on his stable
manure with a pepper box and seemed
to have an idea that the quantity ap-
piled here Is very light when we do
make application OF that product to
our lands In addition to this, Eng
land began importing guano as early
as 1855 at the rate OF 100000 tons an
nually from South America and the
sea islands. The guanos contain from
| ID per cent OK nitrogen and 5 per cent
phosphorus to about per cent nitro
gen and Is per cent phosphorus.
Altman in discussing manures
| wrote In 1894 OF the use OF bones for
fertilizers in England. He states that
| they first employed bones for fertil-
izers in 1774 and that their use has
| steadily increased ever since. He also
| states that their popularity among
farmers In unrivaIled.
Baron Liebig raised warning pro
test against their using bones In such
large quantities, saving, that England
was robbing all other countries Of
their fertility. England 10 said to
have turned up the battIefields OF
Leipzig, Waterloo and Of the Crimea
and to have carried away from the
catacombs Of Sicily the skeletons oil
many generations Altman sums M
this uncanny statement ia these
words: Annually she RECEIVERS from
the shores OF other countries to her
own the manural equivalent OF $500
600 men," ENGLAND also supplied her
i soil with 100000 tons OF Stag pIlos-
| phorus per year before the close Of the
last century and at the present time
is credited with using 100000 tons per