The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-09-16
GE0CRAPHERS
FROM ABROAD
IN NORTHWEST
European Savants and Arneri-
can Scientists Visit North
Dakota and Montana; IN
quire Into Dry Farming.
VIEW WONDERS OF
YELLOWSTONE PARK
Advance Theories as to Origin
of Geysers, but All Agree as
to There Being Moth
ing Like Them.
Especial to The New York Times and
Salt Lake Tribune).


~ OULEE. Wash, Sept 15.-When
the transcontiuentaI excursion
" of the American Geographical
society reached North Dakota
on its way to the Pacific coast, the
harvest season was we'll under way,
one Of the best all"around crops in
it's history. Some OF the local authori
ties placed It's value as high as $780,
100000, which, If divided among the
Inhabitants, would allow $500 to every
man, woman and child in the state.
In order to give the European mem
bers Of the party good idea Of what
North Dakota was doing 20 improve
upon even this enormous yield and to
develop its agricultural resources most
effectually, Prof. A. L. Bolley, profes
sor Of botany at the North Dakota Ag
7icultural college; Thomas Cooper,
director of the Better Farming asso-
citation Of North Dakota; Daniel
E. Willard, development agent Of the
Northern Pacific railway, and other
experts travelled with the party while
in the state, and gave informal lee
tl1res and answered many questions,
Prof. Bolley, who has 1abored long and
fruitfully to improve the agricultural
methods Of his state, and who is en-
thusiastic about any botanical prob
lem. took the greatest delight in dis
cussing his favorite topics with the
foreigners.
Advances New Idea.
One evening he gave talk, In which
he maintained that the decrease In the
yield per acre after the same kind of
crop had been raised for a number OF
years was not due to tho so-called ex-
haustion of the soil, that is to say,
to the using up OF the materials which
build up plant structure, but to dis
ease OF the plant caused by bacteria
which gradually accumulate in the soil.
He had tried experiments in sterillz-
ing the soil by putting down steam
pipes aud raising the temperature high
enough to destroy the bacteria. He
found that after doing this he could
get a. remarkably large yield from the
sterilized soil This aroused great
deal OF interest among the Europeans
Prof. r. +. Niermeyer, who occupies
the chair Of economic geography at the
University OF Utrecht, said that these
experiments were of special Importance
to the Dutch East Indies and to other
places where plants are grown from
cuttings and not from seed, as they
tended to prove that plant diseases
are propagated through the soil. Prof.
Guunar Anderson, hend Of the depart
mont of economic geography at the
University OF Stockholm, thought that
Prof. Bolley was on the right track,
but he wanted to have more expert
ments made along these lines before
he could regard the novel "fatigue
GERM theories as proven,
Montana Visited.
In Montana, the party had the bene-
fit OF visit from Prof. Frederick b.
Tinheld, director of tho Montana Az
ricultural experiment station, and pro-
fessor Of agriculture at the Montans
Agricultural college. He travelled on
the A. G. S. special train for day,
delivered an informal lecture on "dry
farming" one evening and answered
uumberless questions which were fred
at him by interested members Of the
party.
In his lecture Professor Linfield drew
attention to the three general kinds OF
farming, humid farming, the one praa'
ticed whore the rainfall is abundauts
farming with irrigation, and dry farm
ing. the last being only q comparative
term used in our western states in con-
TO the irrigation method
for even with "dry" farming certain
amount of rainfall is required. A large
mart Of the state of Montana is well
adapted to dry farming, especially
holt Of land running north and south
through the state and extending from
The Rocky mountains about 300 snilsd
eastward
The main requirements for dry farm
ing are, first, the use of all tho rain.
fOontiuued ON Page Three.A