The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-01

at the present time making strenuous
efforts to get our people to adopt con-
sistent systems of crop rotation. croI
rotation is not a new idea. Crop 70.
fation has been a matter Of recor5
as far back as we have authentic his
tory Of agriculture, and has been per-
~sistentIy spoken Of as though under
stood and believed to be an essential
of proper agriculture. There can be
no question that it has played an i'm
portant role in cropping. Neither can
one doubt that in the last century it
has many times been proven to be a
paying proposition. 1t Is thus perhaps
not dificuIt to come to the conclusion
that agriculturists generally have be-
lieved that some sort of crop rotation
is essential. 1t is a more difficult task
10 ascertain what system OF rotation
is the best. Usually a writer upon
crop rotation has had in mind not the
establishment Of the idea that crop
rotation as a factor in agriculture is
Important, but has taken it for grant
ed. and, in his writings has dealt with
the sort of rotation which he thinks
most successful in growing a particu-
lar kind Of crop. Such a rotation in a
partiular region might very readily be
a very successful one for a particular
crop and not be a good rotation for all
of the crops in the series. For this
reason, no doubt, a great deal Of con-
dusion has arisen. Farmers become
dissatisfied with it because it does not
fit the crop which they have in mind;
and this perhips, in part, accounts for
the fact that many growers do not
practice any definite system, at least
do not continue a system long enough
to be entitled to draw definite conclu-
sions, switching from one system to
another according to the kind of crop
which they most strongly desire TO
grow.
Every farmer, whether he practices
crop rotation or not, knows that a
single crop seldom gives as large a
yield of a particular kind Of crops as a
system which introduces other crops;
yet the natural tendency to grow q
single crop year after year IN the same
farm is great. The business mar tends
to stick to the proposition which has
resulted in profitable returns. In the
manufacturing business he soon accu-
mulates a large amount Of machinery
suitable for doing that particular
type of work, therefore he desires 10
turn out from year to year the same
kind Of goods on the same kind of
machines. There is a strong ten
dency on the part of the farmer to
want to do the same thing: namely,
to turn off from the same farm a pay
crop of the same kind Of grain each
year. Theoretically, from a business
standpoint, this would be a very de-
sirable proposition.
It is certain that as the farming
population becomes denser and the
land more closely occupied no farmer
rcaS~depend upon a single crop sys-
tenn and expect to succeed for any eX-
tensive period of time. The farmer
will have to have more kinds of ma
chinery of smaller and more simple
constructions; ones which can be run
with less labor per machine but ones
which are equally as effective as when
the work is done upon the extensive
n crop plan.
What Happens in Nature.
In speaking of crop rotation, it is
always interesting to look about us in
nature and see what ecu there. If
We look to the woodland areas or 20
the prairie areas or any undisturbed
area of native lands, what do we find?
We find there only those plants which
are able to live under the conditions.
There are usually quite a number of
different kinds, but comparatively few
Kinds hold the chief control of the
ground against all of the others. These
plants represent typically what may be
spoken of as the survival of the fttest
- 49, ,,oAy,~a1 conditions fhaf hatyo
arisen there uninluenced by man.
Losses Under ons-Crop System.
Aside from the wood question it has
always been evident to all close OBJ
servers that the one-crop system in
variably results in a lessened ability
of the land to bring forth a normal
crop even though sufficient care is
taken to keep down the competing
plants in the form of weeds. The land
gradually, from year to year, loses the
capacity to produce. In the case Of
cereals the grains become deficient in
size, color characteristics, weight
characteristics, and show every indica-
ton that the land is no longer able to
produce either the quality or quaint
ty that it originally did when first
cropped. Yet, after a greater or less
period of rest, either through lying idle
or through growth of other crops, it is
the common observation that the land
again apparently assume it's original
ability. Such observations have led
cur chief agriculturists to assume that
the one-crop system, no matter what
the crop. tends to impoverish or use
UP the fertility Of the soil. Chemists
have in many cases analysed the soils
under consideration Inc such analyses,
taken before and after, do indicate that
there has been in uch cases material
changes in the chemical content. Usu-
ally these changes are such as would
naturally lead n to suppose that the
crop had removed certain elements of
fertility and since these are Of the ma
ture known to be removed by the crops
under consideration it has usually beer
assumed that the crops really do i'm
poverish the land with regard to such
elements. For a time 1t was sup
posed that there is a great variation
in the amount of plant foods taken out
OF the ground by different crops. How
ever, it is usually granted that the diff
ference in crops with regard to this
feature is hardly sufficient to account
for the marked gain which comes from
the persistent practice Of a proper
crop rotation. This line of argument
for a time led agriculturists in certain
European countries especially to de-
velop the rest system and certain lands
were allowed to lie idle or fallow for
a period of time when it was found
that they again essentially ~regained
their ability to produce the particular
crop. In Russia at the present time
the chief growers of fibre fax in the
northern provinces still resort to this