Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1911-06-29
TO find IF LAND
IS WHEAT
PROF. BOLLEY SAYS THERE is
SUFFICIENT MOISTURE IN
GROUND FOR CROPS
But the Sun Scald on Plant is due
to Soil Sickness

I see a number of statements in
various papers regarding the preva
lence of tip-burn and sun scald,
blighting by hot weather, regarding
the wheat crop. l am writing ibis
note to call your readers attention to
an interesting fact that they can
corroborate for themselves if they
wish.
ing the past week and have no doubt
that such hot weather is actually
more or less injurious to the crop,
but I have examined various fields
and various plots of wheat for num-
ber of years past and have learned
that when tip-burn or blighted tops
of leaves as they are showing now
on various wheat fields, there is
present a root disease in the land on
which that wheat is growing, either
placed there in the seed which was
sowed in the spring, or remaining
there from the previous crops. So
far as the land in the Red River val
ley is concerned, there is yet sutt1-
cient moisture in the ground to main
tain the crop without blighting in
spite of any temperature which we
have had up to date. When such
blighting has occurred it can be TAX
en- for granted that the land on which
the blighted wheat is growing is
wheat sick.
Any person who wishes to contro-
vert or confirm this statement can do
80 for himself by going out to his
fields and digging up wheat plants.
Let him take chisel or strong
butcher knife and inspect the roots
of the wheat plants which are tip
burned, or show the sO-called sun
scald. At the same time let him
20 on to some land where there is
less liability of disease; that is, either
~ on new land or on well-worked corn
land, and dig up some wheat plants
which do not show the tip burn or
sun scald. Then compare the under
ground portions of the two kinds of
plants and 1 think that the person
who does the digging carefully will
learn a lesson with regard to crop
rotation, seed selection and seed
treatment, which no other line OF OBJ
servation will give.
If you go out into one of your old
wheat fields, even though the soil Is
rich and moist, you will find plants
which are not properly stooling, that
have tip burn and already have yei-
low or dead leaves at the base. You
will find on digging them up that the
underground portions are creosote
co1ored or have creosote spots on the
stems underground. You Will nha
also that many of the roots are rotted
off and perhaps some new roots are
starting at points higher up. you
will find that many stools nave
started and died even though tneS
are shaded from the heat OF the suh'
Young wheat plants should never
no brown or dark colored below
ground. The natural color Is "nl'e
or greenish white.
Plants of wheat which show the
nortions underground creosote Drown
~ black colored will never properly
stool, regardless of the weather con
,.... Thev will remain either
few stooled or a single stem senoins -
I'm one central or single stoch' -
tho land is found to have large spots
or areas in which most of the plants
oro TINS single stooled, those spots
7. he looked upon as wheat SICK IN 'ne
,ame sense as certain areas OF land
.re now known to be- ilax SICK II
Won have a nice piece Of land whlcn
was properly worked under corn cui-
+ivation last year in which only scat
tering plants show to burn OF creo-
sooted roots and single utool rlants.
YOU may rest assured that that lanu
was not particularly whest sick "nen
Won sowed the wheat but that you
sowed wheat whlcn hal consioefa'
n,e percentage o. internally or eA'
ternally infected seeds-seeds Wnich
contained or bore the spores OF the
wheat root rot.
we blame the weather for entirely
too many things. am writing TINS
statement not to prove that tne
weather is Just right for wheat, but
70 interest number OF farmers IN
Going out into the fields and studying
their crops SO that they may under