The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-01-17

Il
best suited to his conditions and are
! return at the end Of any given period.
This practice is not only advisable
| It is in the larger sense necessary
and has long been practiced by people
like the Germans who are endowed
with the virtues of thrift and fore.
| sight.
| Just what part we, as a state will
be called upon to perform in the con-
servation of our coal supply will doubt
| less be determined in the years to
come, The coal mining industry, ls
| for the present SO little developed that
there are no live questions relating
to 1t.
The government has already with
drawn from entry all coal lands upon
which patents had not been granted
and these will doubtless be leased with
proper restrictions regarding the meth
cd of mining so as to avoid unneces-
sary waste.
The development of the western half
Of our state along manufacturing lines
is looked upon by conservative and
competent judges, as more than prob
dbIC anu III LtdA udy a. just anu 6gulL-
able disposition of this vast natural
resource will be one of our vital prob
lens.
As to Our Soil.
Our one other great natural resource
and the one that affects us more vi
tally and directly than all the others
is our soil. In fact this is the one
important factor in the development
and welfare of any people or nation
and only within the last generation
have we acquired any great amount Of
knowledge concerning it. Even so
fundamental and important a matter
as the source Of nitrogen, an element
upon which all plant life depends, was
not known till North Dakota had be-
come state and many other prob
lens Of almost equal Importance have
barely found their solution in the sci
entists field and laboratory.
In the past certain agricultural prac-
tees had been found profitable and
others the reverse yet the principles
upon which any successful practice
depended were but vaguely guessed at
or wholly unknown.
AAAN NlLEIL VI tiAb lSuOEdIL anu WaELeS
full handling of the soil in earlier times
and other lands should learn us of the
danger, not to say destruction and des-
olation, that follow such a course.
The causes Of the death and decay
Of ancient nations and the decline of
modern ones has been due more d.
rectly and specifically to the destruo-
ton Of their natural resources. par
ticularly their soils than to any and
all other causes. Even at this late day
the science and practice of soil con-
seryation is not sufficiently advanced
so that there exists upon the earth
today an independent agriculture of
long standing. That is to say. that
of all the lands today that have been
long cultivated, the soil is either ex-
hausted beyond the point of a finan-
cially independent agriculture or the
fertility is kept UP by shipping in fer
tilizers from outside sources Even
parts Of the United States have
reached that stage and New England
agriculture is dependent upon outside
fertilizers and upon some of the pro-
fits of other industries being put back
into the farms. But for wages earned
outside Of the farm there would be
more abandoned New England farms
there there are at present.
Secret Of Agriculture.
In some few lands like Belgium and
England the fertility of the soil is
constantly increasing but this is due in
greater part to the application Of fer
tilizers brought to the lands from out
side sources. SO then the world has
not yet learned the secret Of main
tanning an Independent, permanent ag-
riculture.
Except for the fact that up to the
present time there have been abund-
ant new lands and fertile lands to ex-
plot, the race must long since have
persisted from famine or been reduced
to such numbers and such a state of
civilization as would enable it to ex-
list upon the wild products of nature.
For be 1T known that one-half of the
food Of civilized man is produced up
on lands that have been cultivated for
less than 100 years.
This is indeed a startling considera-
ton and leads us to wonder where the
food of the future is to come from.
Broadly speaking the entire grain crop
of North and South America and of
the Russian empire is grown upon
lands that have but lately known the
plow. Their virgin fertility has thus
far been reasonably sufficient for the
demands made upon them but with
the destructive methods now in vogue
that condition cannot last much
longer. Already states that have been
titled as long as Ohio and Indiana
are beginning to draw upon outside
sources for their necessary plant food
This is derived from two general
sources, first from the mineral sup
plies of potash, nitrogen and phosphor-
us and secondly from the bran, hay.
oats and other animal food products
produced upon the newer and more
fertile lands like those of North Da-
kota and fed out upon the older farms.
Thus the robbng of Peter to nay
Paul has been the seeming necessary
condition in agricultural practice down
to the present time.
Scientific Agriculture.
That different condition in the fu-
ture Is inevitable goes without saving
and the methods to be employed in
bringing 1t about are those now being
developed in the general field of scisn.
tific agriculture.
Our attitude toward conservation Gee
be summed up in these two proposi~
tions:
First-To employ every means at
our command to solve the principles
involved in the maintenance of soil
fertility while procuring the largest
possible returns and second to extend