The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-01-16
PACKED HOUSE
FOR THIRD DAl
contlnued from Page seyen.

it is the chief reason for the arrange
ment of a crop rotation. My obserya-
ton and my experiments teach that
proper arranged crop rotations tend
to purify the ground and place it as
neal rs possible In its original or
virgin state. This feature, I believe,
accounts for the seed improvements
which is associated with the arrange
ment of crops in a series. 1t is a real
reason which can be given to account
for why n crop should follow
another.
/ make these statements on observ-
ed facts and upon experiments which
we have conducted, which show, for
example, that potatoes do not do well
in the presence of the dead bodies of
potatoes ~decaying in the ground; that
fax crop does not do well in the
presence of the decaying or decom-
posing dead bodies of its w crop;
that corn does not do we'll in the same
ground in which 1t has been grown
for a number of years. the chief
among which observations is that the
termination of the seed is always poor
in such ground while it is always good
in new or virgin Land. Even rather
poor drainage and rather poor soil
will not prevent the termination OF
rather poor seed in new or virgin
soil, but it takes seed of a high quality
of termination to make a stand in
old crop sick lands. / have further
observed that wheat will not do well
in the presence of the dead bodies of
its own kind of plant. / find that
wheat lands may be said to be wheat
sick in exactly the same sense as
potato land may be said to be injected
with potato scab, rot or blight and
just as flax lands may be said to be
sick or tired Of flax. / find that / can
produce "deteriorated' wheat upon
the new virgin soils of the north
western prairie where the land is not
questioned as to its chemical fertility.
To do this, I have only to induce
certain root diseases of wheat, which
we have obtained by means of pure
cultures from grains of ordinary
wheat as grown here in the north
west, and as taken from the grains
obtained from wheat from all parts
of the world. ! a do this by the
introduction of ground up particles of
old wheat straw, or stubble and roots,
from diseased wheat, and by introduce
ing only asses of soil from old
wheat fields and scattering it upon the
virgin soil of the prairie. make
LLACSC aSoCt AO1AS bGC1uSG@ n AdNCA 0GCtI
able to take the soil of lands which
once were able to produce only scabby
potatoes and by proper treatment of
the potatoes and by proper rotation
of the soil. or by proper sterilization
of the soil, produce clean, healthy
potatoes of very much greater yield
ing proportions. n
We have found that certain systems
OF rotation tend to make even greater
i'm fRrnUamn N n t11 a N That oh nV6T1a I'm n ffta
crop by the addition of phosphates
even on these Oldest cropped wheat
lands.
we have found that certain other
rotations are detrimental. These state
ments are based on my observations
OF all the rotations I am able to ex-
anime, and upon experimental work,
carried out on my W planned plots.
To illustrate this point. as shown In
our previous citations from S~heppard's
rotation, wheat does better after mil
let than after almost any other type
Of grass, excepting only corn-it does
Of this feature is that in the heavy
lands of the Red river valley, and In
natural wheat soils Of similar natures,
there Is an excess of nitrogenous ma
ments and that those crops. which
prove highly beneficial, are compare
lively large users Of nitrogen. The
CHIEF reason, however, lis that each one
NJ tnSaS pcllEuC4d4 crops dFGgOASS WutGN
do not carry wheat diseases and the
latter have a chance To die out OF the
soil under such q series OF rotation and
cultivation. You will see that this Is q
different thought than the attempt to
prove that such apparently beneficial
crops add fertility or even conserve
moisture. This latter point has appar-
emily been prove for corn and Guilt
walton and bare faifow, but it could
hardly be said OF miIlet or FAX To
make that point clear let me cite 8
wheat doe not grow over old quack
grass ground, even though the quAck
grass IS killed and the grass allowed
quack grass carries ell OF these dis
eases which wheat III heir to, ais we
have proven by our incubation expert
sm6nta. II il the nearest relative
among our wild plants to wheat. Let
us cite yet a clearer case. You all
know potatoes become more and more
on the same ground. You are all
now familiar with the reason. NOW 1t
chances that beets take potato seab.
Beetss therefore, OF any variety con-
stitute no rotation for potatoes. SO
far as the potato scab lis concerned.
they are badiy affecEed and the refuse
from them serve aA d further media for
the d~eyelopment Of scsb in the land
This illustrates what naean when !
say tina eventually we shall be able To
shape natural series ok crop rotation
which will give consistent results
We have found also that big yieIds
may be introduced upon old fax. sick
or worn out lands by Simply ~Introduc-
ing yarletiee OF fax which are bred 10
resist the disease of flax Some hum
Gxeda az kavzuers In ttia wtAtA npws
I&A4 NiEE NHAIa NWE raH MtA