The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-02-08

Growers convention in Fargo in an
excellent manner.
Mr. Martin said: Each nation and
each state has its particular indus
tries which it considers most adapted
to its particular conditions. So II be-
hooves us as agriculturists of this
great wheat producing state to find
and practice the method which insures
the best results under our existing
conditions.
Each of us have our way of doing
things. some for a reason real or
imagined, others because their fathers
did as they are doing. Others work
with seemingly no method Of reason
but to get the easiest or quickest way
possible
Some advocate getting over all the
ground possible and shoot in all the
crop possible in any old condition of
soil that happens to exist and take
whatever dame nature sees fit to give
in return This is in reality gambling
and results are varied, some years
the ledger will balance in favor Of the
farmer, but in many years as in the
| past 1t is the other way and we are
inclined to think that is the way it
generally is in the long run, especially
after the land has been farmed some
years by this method.
Then there is the careful farmer who
| does his farming in accordance with
what has proven successful in the
eastern states, doing everything as
carefully as possible. That is adding
manure to the land, by deep blowing,
by narrowing thoroughly and by every
practice considered beneficial in the
country farther east. But what is his
disappointment when the grain runs
| from the thresher to find his yield be-
| low his neighbors who only disked his
| crop in.
| This was exactly our experience. We
put in a small field of corn and Gull
! tivated it very thoroughly but it froze
every month SO in August we plowed |
1t under after keeping the ground |
| loose, clean and moist by cultivating |
! the corn,
| After blowing this piece was har-
rowed and as we had a dry fall the |
mulch did not become compact, there
| fore the moisture was held in nice |
shape. The next spring we seeded |
durum wheat on this piece and had the |
heaviest straw we ever saw but the |
yield was slightly more than TWEEN
|
crops in our locality were light aver
Rging about three or four bushels per
acre on old land. When we attempted |
to pillow the land we found it so wet |
1T would not scour off the plows This |
put us thinking, we had heard some |
thing OF dry land farming and began |
to investigate. The question arose, |
ais there no way of doing things a |
1 en- a G To |
sults?" as we realized the results OBJ |
tanned were far from what they should |
have been. Here was one problem |
solved as we had surplus moisture
while other fields were, perfectly dry,
4 and had been for some time. But why
/ the crop hadn't filled was a mystery,
| but we have since been convinced 1t
| was caused by thick seeding, as we
used a bushel and a. half of seed per
| acre. ~,
Early History.
We studied everything we could get
on the subject Of Dry Farming but |
at that time there was very limited |
supply of literature on the subject We |
wrote to Canada, to washington and |
at last to the Montana experiment |
station. We found an advertisement |
for CampbelPs literature in a fence
catalogue and Immediately wrote Mr..
Campbell and received a reply short |
time after the one from Montana. |
From the station in Montana we re-
ceived bulletin on Dry Land Farming |
which is the best thing we have ever |
seen on the subject excepting Camp |
bells literature. We studied this very
thoroughly but were still, in the dark |
in some things and when we received |
| the 1905 manual we. studied every word |
of it but still we wanted to learn !
more so we ordered the 1907 manual.
From this we got quite thorough |
understanding of the theory. and as
this was in winter we were anxious
| for spring to come so we could put |
| In to practice On the whole we tried |
the Campbell system but could not |
bring ourselves to seed but small
| area thinly.
But on this small plot of thin seed
| ing we got such gratifying results |
and on the rest in accordance to the
nearness we came to Mr.. CampbelPs
directions. And the difference was as
apparent in the next crop as in the
| first, that is, the succeeding crop was
damaged by the thick seeding as well |
as the first crop. We have never heard
this statement made before, but 1t
was even very apparent In our potato
crop as well as the oats and wheat.
Experiments That Failed.
| We were very much pleased with
the results OF our experiments, doubly |
So as ever since leaving the agri-
cultural college we had thought there
was better way just out of the beaten
path of other farmers Besides the
experiments heretofore mentioned we
had tried putting six horses on sui !
ky and nine on a gang and blowing |
ten or twelve inches deep, also manur
! ing and were very much disappointed
| when our yield was often below that OF
i those who did much less work on the
land. You can all realize how one
feels after doing things as advised by
soil experts, at a great expense, to fnd
the yield below others who did the
very least possible to the land. But
/ we became the more sure there was
a reason for all things in agriculture
as well as other things. So when the
Campbell literature came to US we
were very much pleased with 1t and
his explanations of things that before
] puzzled us and made us wonder that
we hadn't caught on before" We
Il had always been told that success lay
In application of mechanical work, now
we began to grasp the all important
point OF doing work when the land Is
I'm the right physical condition. From
49,, ,.,a y,aUan tn get astonishing re-