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

will have a new meaning for all which
has not been previously grosped.
Many people have asked me to out
line the kind of rotations that should
be followed. At present the diseases
Pre- so general throughout the older
wheat regions that I am not recon-
lnehding any definite rotation. Every
knows that certain types OF rota-
ton do often give good results with
wheat; such, for example, as pasture,
corn, flax. wheat. oats, clover and tim
othy, pasture. There are many differ
ent combinations Of rotations which
will be satisfactory-some of them
better for some regions than Others.
The essential feature is that in any Of
these rotations there should be a long
enough period between wheat crops TO
allow the specific diseases of the crop
to largely die out of the land before
the crop is again placed there. 1t is
not probable that any method Of seed
Selection ard seed treatment will be
sufficiently effective to allow any man
to continue a persistent single crop
system or a rotation consisting of only
n or two crops. The reason that
the farmers have failed to get success
with the rotations which have proved
| / JIG SNCSS5S4ul Win the GXDeTl-
ment stations and with the owe in
foreign lands, where wheat is a less
common crop, rests in the fact that
these rotations have never been car
ried out with us in a persistent man
ner and with a general unanimity
among the farmers. Furthermore. that
see6 selection and seed disinfection
&C rstitute an essential part In the CROP
rotation scheme when It comes to eli
minating the action of diseases. One
cannot expect to reap the full benefits
of intensive crop rotation and soil Gull
t~ivation If no care is taken i select
ing and preparing the seed.
Relation of Manurea,
These facts regarding wheat diseases
make plain a number of matters which
heretofore have NOT been well under
stood.
They very largely explain the sup
posed injurious effects Of the applica-
ton Of ~barnyard manures and the sup
posed injurious effects of too much |
working of the land; as for example, |
overworked summer fallow. They also
explain why some farmers have failed |
to get good results with wheat after |
corn. What is the use Of carrying out
a carefully conducted rotation and
corn cultivation If the land is to be
again filled full of diseases by apply
ing fresh or uncomposted 'barnyard
manures made from old wheat straw
from diseased fields. Or again, it may
be said, what can be expected from
carefully c~ultivating the ground and
keeping it clean from weeds il fresh
full of weed seeds and such
diseases are applied, or if the farmer
carelessly uses any old %shrivelled
wheat that he car get for seed, every
seed Of which contains one or more OF
the diseases towhich wheat is heir.
Use Of Barnyard Manurss.
AS indicated, there is little sense in
carrying out carefully planned systems |
of seed selection, seed treatment and
rotation and seed bed preparation If
the present method of using barnyard
is persisted in. Such manures !
should be thoroughly composted and
ell portions not composted set aside
and thrown back into the compost |
heap for further decay before thew are
placed upon the land. For example,
fresh barnyard manures, uncomposted,
made from fax straw, wheat straw or
/ DdA ICY oIA""s SAIOuAG hCNGI DC uEGQ
upon lands upon which one OF
these crops is going to follow within
the next two years. That is flax
straw should not Immediately precede
! flax; wheat straw should not immedi-
ately precede wheat, etc. You will I'M
derstand why, when I say that by
means of the old wheat straw which
contains the wheat diseases the new
lands of the prairie may be so in
fected with wheat diseases that it is
impossible to raise any more than an
ordinary crop even under the best
weather conditions; or that q small
amount Of old fax straw used as bed
ding and mixed in the barnyard ma
nures when distributed over the best
Of new lands will fix those lands SO
that ordinary fax cannot grow there.
Before crop rotation, seed selection
and seed treatment a give the most
beneficial results our farmers gener-
ally will need to understand more
about the use Of barnyard manures, for
there are certain conditions under
which they should not be applied. A
good way to use such manure if it is
to be used in the fresh form, is 20
spread it upon the pasture and hay
lands or over the lands to be cropped
afterwards to cultivated crops, and
! next. to plant such lands to the cereal
crop which is different from the kind
of straw which was used in making
the manure For example if manur
made from fax straw is used on the
! sod lands, then wheat, oats, barley,
| ETC., should follow the corn. The idea
is to allow the old straw to be decom-
posed and the kinds of diseases which
it bears to be destroyed before another
crop which may be infected by these
diseases is placed upon the land.
Again, / affirm that the value of crop
rotation as such will never be fully OBJ
tanned until most of the farmers in this
great wheat growing region have
broken their farms up into five or six
year crop rotation areas. This will
tend to separate the wheat fields by
larger intervening spaces, leaving
them less liable to infection, just as
a few rows of sunf1owers planted be-
tween o fields act quite effectively
in preventing the interpollination of
the varieties of corn, SO intervening
fields of different kinds Of crops in
troduce quite effective barriers againsS
the spread OF such diseases as rust,
though, Of course, scattering spores
of such diseases may be blown for
long distances.
In conclusion let me admonish you
to select a standard variety of what
ever crop you wish to grow. Select
the best homegrown seed available.
Select a pure variety and grade it to
the plumpest, heaviest weight stuff.