The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-05-06
Farming
in North Dakota

THE better farming movement in
North Dakota now fairly under way,
win, doubtless, continue and grow in
importance until every county will
have a resident director or agricul-
tural adviser said Pres. J.. Fl. Worst
of the A. G.. today. Moreover instead
of depending upon private donations,
this or a similar movement will event.
ually be supported by state and feder-
al appropriations.
Instead of being a temporary ex-
pedient to promote immediate prosper
ity, it will become as permanent as the
farming industry. Why not? The
better farming propaganda strikes at
the very root of one Of the country's
worst evils, that of soil exploitation
and substitutes for it the best in farm
management that has been discovered
by scientific investigators and expert
menters. And when the experience Of
practical farmers is Joined to what has
been demonstrated by soil experts and
plant pathologists-when all this has
been reduced to practice on North Da-
kota farms, then crop failures should
bSGOlItc 0ACOSNlAA6ly AoACs FAl6O PIdAAk
and soil diseases and soil exhaustion
will be as comfortable as any other
physical fact with which we have to
deal.
'If half the attention were given to
conservation of moisture that is given
to factional politics, the revenues of
the state would advance by leaps and
bounds. The conservation of mois-
ture alone is the biggest single propo-
sition that confronts the farmers of
North Dakota; the one, however, that
is most easily handled and yet fraught
with the gravest perils If neglected.
And strange to say, it is the one thing
that is almost universally both ignored
and neglected.
THE agricultural colleges and ex-
pertinent stations have been rendering
excellent service but no provisions
have been made by state or federal
authority for carrying practical in
formation by personal contact to the
farmers at their homes. Neither has
any systematic effort been made to fos-
ter cooperative organizations where
by farmers may be able to counsel
with one another. The good-farming
movement, in a large measure, cures
this defect and supplies the proper
agencies at least for meeting the farm
er upon terms of equality and advising
with him in matters that will tend to
improve his system of farm MANAGE
ment.
4'This work, however, is in its iffan-
cy. What private donations have thus
organized must be continued and made
permanent by the state and federal
government. In this. as in most other
great improvements, private Initiative
has usually preceded public aid.
Agriculture, especially in this state,
Is too important a factor in promoting
our common prosperity to be neglected
or permitted to occupy tentative
Foundations. Agricultural education,
therefore, whether at the college. in
the comnlon or secondary schools, or
on the farms, must be emphasized by
every legitimate { and backed up
by liberal state support This for the
reason that more depends upon the
farms and the farmer than upon All
other activities Or enterprises within
the state.
Farming is conceded TO be the fun
damental industry on which the ma
teriai prosperity Of all people de-
pend, hence the state should enlist hsr
energies actively to promote the high-