The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-12-22

These plants seem to have the Pc
culiar property of utilizing the free
nitrogen of the air and thus store
nitrates in the soil, and accumulate
humus, the one thing our soils seem
most to need. How is this done?
Through most peculiar little
family of lower organisms known as
bacteria, which grow on the root hair
/ of these legume plants. This Gre
ates, as it were, fever in that par
ticular part of the plant, calling for
more air and more water. In chem
ical process not easily understood,
the free nitrogen obtained from the
surrounding air is worked into nj
trates available to succeeding plant
life.
Perennial legumes are always deep
feeders, bringing part of their min
eral food from soil depths below the
feeding ground of ordinary crops.
This value to succeeding crops is
shown in the opening paragraph to
Coburns Alfalfa: There are some
silent subscribers that do their work
with ease and in their way, more eff
fectually than any team or plow ever
hitched The clover plant is right
eously famed as one of these, but al
falfa is it's superior. Its roots work
Sunday as we'll as Saturday, night
and day; they strike 5, 10, Is or 20
feet deep, making innumerable per-
forations, while storing up nitrogen,
and when these roots decay they leave
not only generous supply of fertil-
ity for amy desired crop, their mill
lions of openings into which the airs
and rains of heaven find their way,
and help to constitute an unfailing
reservoir of wealth, upon which the
huSbandman can draw with little fear
of protest or overdrafts."
Professor Buffum, some years ago
at the Wyoming experiment station,
made test showing the gain on al
falfa ground for small grain and po-
tatoes over the same type of soil
where alfalfa was not grown. His
results obtained are here given:
Gain in acre value
of harvested
Gain in bushel crop
Crop per acre (local price,
Wheat ~ $1,000
Oats Al 1900
Potatoes 20 1900
Therefore, get the land into a le-
gume of some kind, alfalfa, vetch or
field pea, as soon as you can that
it may be better prepared for sue
cessful and profitable after crops.
In case the farmer Is in doubt Just
what crop to put in, he will make no
mistake to seed down to alfalfa
while he is planning out the crop ro-
tation that his environment would
seem to indicate best for him to
adopt.
Rotation Destroys Weeds-The ell
limitation of weeds is effectually ac-
complished by the introduction of
cultivated crops like potatoes, stock
roots, sugar beets, field beans and
truck gardening crops. The irriga-
ton ditch is even greater carrier of
weeds than the winds. Where an en-
tire irrigation district adopts the
practice of crop rotation and cutting
ditch and canal bank weeds, they can
be, and are, exterminated. Most of
our worst weed pests are annual and
w
tice good crop rotation the weed
question is solved.
Get Station Bulletins Because
weed and insect pests as well as fun
gus diseases are fully discussed in
station bulletins which can be had
by addressing the director of your
state experiment station, shall pass
up any discussion of them.
Rotation Fundamentals-Let us
now consider the fundamentals which
we should concern ourselves with,
in adopting rotation for our irrigat-
ed lands, where we cannot afford to
grow many cheap forage or grass
crops, unless upon said farm we can
these cheaper crops into more
remunerative meat, dairy or poultry
products.
/. All plants tend to exhaust the
soil. They abstract some one or more
food elements to the full amount of
availability.
2. All plants do not exhaust the
soil in the same way and manner
equally.
3. Plants grown constantly or con-
tinuously on the same field favor the
spread of insect pests and certain
plant diseases.
A. Some plants, by methods of til
lage, are favorable to weed growth,
while others are not.
5. Plants differ in habits of root
growth.
6. All legumes are soil builders
and soil renovators.
7. Some form of stock raising,
combined with crop growing, will fur
nish manure for making humus and
building up the SOIL The old English
adage mo grass no cattle; no cattle
no manure; no manure, no grass" Is
true everywhere.
Rotation on Irrigated Lands-Ev-
cry rotation ON the irrigated lands in
this region should contain:
1. Atleast one money or cash crop.
2. At least one cultivated crop.
3. At least one legume crop.
4. At least one live stock feeding
crop.
8. These should be so grouped as
to most economically distribute farm
Ia hOr thr0u mont thn wear