The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-10-18

out an entire new set OF blossoms and
bolls. thus making II difficult to har-
vest the crop at any time so as to
procure an even quality OF properly
ripened seed. II the land is irrigated,
this feature must be kept well in mind
4. In restoring the seed in bulk. or
in stacking the seed before harvest,
a small amount OF moisture is suffici-
ent TO cause a bad case OF molding,
bin burning. or heating.
1t will be readily seen, however. that
there is no one Of those requirements
but can DO rather easily met and es-
pecially so in region where the rain
fall is not apt TO occur Immediately
preceding the time of maturity, or i'm
mediately following the harvest period.
These conditions i believe ought to
make it rather easy for farmers In the
dry land belt to handle that crop. for
these farmers aim to store sufficient
moisture in the fall and spring, Just
preceding seeding time. to spaintain
the crop until it Is matured. even
though no more water falls. If I un-
derstand the matter correctly, they
must do that or fall; therefore, / be-
lieve that under any conditions OF soil
in which the farmer can store suffi-
cient moisture to mature an average
wheat crop. he will be able to mature
fax crop OF fullest proportions, for,
regardless Of what has been written
along that line, the fax crop does not
produce a great demand upon land for
moisture. 1t Ia deep rooted, possesses
small leaf surface in comparison with
any Of the cereals and actually evap
crates in given length Of time less
water in proportion to the weight of
the crop produced. There is good ex-
perimental data to show that the
heaviest fax crop does not make as
heavy a draft upon the moisture of
the soil as either wheat, oats or bar
ley, and further, that it does not make
as heavy a draft upon the ordinary
constituents of the soil which are used
by the cereal crops as Is made by
either wheat, oats, barley or corn. It's
products which are Yaluable-Yiz.. the
seed and the fiber, are much more
condensed in proportion to the total
of the crop than is the case with any
of the other crops. The strange con-
tention that the fax crop is destruc-
tive to soil fertility, that It is hard on
land because of the draft that 1t makes
upon the soil, is based wholly upon
error. This idea is due entirely to the
fact that the fax crop is attacked by
certain root diseases transmitted by
the seed, which soon make ii impos-
sible to grow any flax upon piece of
land which Is once infected. Farmers
knowing that they have fertile soil,
have grown fax one, two, or three
years, then suddenly discover that they
can no longer grow 1t and have labored
under the impression that the land has
been injured by the flax crops. For
generations this line of thinking has
been handed down from father to son,
and II by any act Of careless agricul-
ture they chance to reap a poor crop
| of any kind on the land after flax has
been raised there, flax has been blam-
| ed. There Is also good data on file to
show that a better crop Of wheat can
be raised after flax than after any
other crop excepting only corn, and ]
have been able to develop many expert
mental demonstrations showing that
the land is in no particular manner
injured for the production Of any 9TH
er sort OF crop. Further, from breed
ing operations, have been able to
produce fax crops year after year on
the same land for a period of sixteen
Il years, and the last crops are fully as
good as any that was previously rails
ed, and this in face Of the fact that
ordinary fax will not grow there, The
resistant fax chemically contains all
the characters of the best types OF
seed fax. Therefore, feel sure that
/ can say to the people OF the Dry
!, Land congress here assembled, that
you can once for all withdraw the
stigma placed against the fax crop
with regard to it's destructive char
acter upon land, and lay the blame
not upon the crop but upon the meth
DDS under which the seed and the soil
have been handled. And with conf
dence, 1 say it is not necessary for the
crop to be any less permanent in a
given region than wheat, corn or other
crop on any of those soils upon which
one can produce successful crop of
fax the first year.
What Must BE Done.
If, under dry land agriculture, sue
cess with fax is desired, my advice
is:
/. To try small areas until those OF
you who are unfamiliar with the de-
mands Of the crop. and the methods
Of handling 1t are able to gain some
experience at first hand.
Il 2. Give the most scrupulous atten.
ton to the selection of seed OF brigh