The Bottineau courant., 1912-02-02
BETTER FARmIna PLAN ApopTEp
IContinued from page II

that this had tremendous
!, Significance in North Dakota"
but that in spite of our one
crop system the loss in fertility
Iof the soil had not yet been so
great as to create need for
commercial fertilizers. T h e
main thing was to get the
weeds out and put, the hu1nus
back in. s
Prof. Shaw gave considerable
attention to the principles OF
dry farming; stated that where
the rainfall was less than 20
inches annually it was irnpos-
sible to get good crops without
paving some attention to the
principles Of dry farming. He
said that rainfall while the
crops are growing is not of
great importance: subsoil mois-
ture is quite as important as sur
face moisture. Defining dry
farming he said, In a word it
is to take the moisture and
keep it in the soil. You can't
keep it all but you can keep
enough to eliminate the hazard
in growing crops. Some people
will not believe that d June
1911 rain can be bottled up to
grow a crop in 1912 but it can
be done and it is just what
must be done. To keep the
moisture in the soil you can't
grow crop of grain on it every
year. !"
Another question discussed
by Prof. Shaw was the amount
of seed to be sown to the acre.
He asked the farmers present
to give their opinion. Some
one replied, wheat, five pecks;
barley, seven or eight; oats
eight" Then Mr.. Shaw said,
Il want to say to YOU that in
my judgment, if the soil is
we'll prepared, you should not
SOW more than three pecks of
fife or blue stem wheat; four
pecks of durum; four to five
pecks of oats; five pecks of
barley and one and a half pecks
of flax. East of the Mississippi
they sow eight pecks of wheat.
Why less here? 1t is a ques-
tion of moisture. You should
get the number of plants to
correspond with the moisture
in the soil. Don't, misunder.
stand, me, l do not say that a
farmer should never SOW more
than these amounts but if the
land is properly prepared and
the seed is good you do not
need to SOW more
/ Discussing the question of
narrowing after the crop is up
he stated as general principle
that all crops profited by be.
ing narrowed once or twice. 1t
is impossible to tell you just
how for soil and climate must
be considered. But it is safe to
say that all grain, except flax,
should have one narrowing
just as it comes through the
soil. This will do it good and
kill millions of weeds. Don't
harrow when it is one or two
Inches high. This will bury
the plants. The second har.
rowing can better be made
when the plants are five or six
inches high. l have narrowed
fgrain as many as four times
and even when it was ten in.
!ches high"
Speaking again of fertility
loss,' said Prof. Shaw, IT am
not here to tell you that you
should quit shipping out fertil.
|ity; that you should quit grow,
ing and selling wheat. Most
emphatically. NO. But I dc
| tell you to grow more and as
lyou grow it put back as much
fertility as you take away. Il
can be done and it must be
i done or the soil will be depict
! ed" He then asked how many
grew clover and alfalfa. About
la dozen men held up their
hands, He said there ought tt
be more, Clover and alfalfa
draw nitrogen out of the ali
land will put more Of it back
into the soil than wheat takes
out. The day is coming wher
almost every farmer in NORTH
Dakota will grow clover ane
alfalfa. He said he believed
both could be grown success,
fully here. He. said, Ths
wonder Of wonders if that yot
men have farmed here for fif
teen or twenty years and have
not proved to yourselves tina
clover and alfalfa will succeed