The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-12-19

the statement that lntermountaln
land can often produce returns larger
than stock would bring, as is evidenc-
ed by the fact that Utah lands well
fitted for market gardening, bring an
annual cash rental that sometimes
goes as high as 500. But such in
stances are not the rule, and even
where they exist, such farming must
eventually deplete the soil. And that
brings us to the second point of the
argument.
When new soil is to be brought
under cultivation, when depleted land
is to be restored to it's original fer
tility, when clayey or other compact
ed soils are to be subdued, or when
some plant disease like the dry rot of
potatoes is to be eradicated from the
soil, nothing but grass will do the
work.
Here let us quote from Eugene y
Grub, the leading potato expert of
the United States, who. in converse
ton a few weeks ago, said to us,
Corn is not king, nor is cotton, nor
is wheat. Grass is king" There
are four reasons for this. First:
lands are usually far more profitable
when supporting live stock than
when cropped. Second: the most
necessary as well as the cheapest food
for stock Is grass. Third: the cheap
est fertilizer is a turf composed
largely of deeply roofing plants
Referring to the fourth, the advan-
tage to be obtained by filling the soil
with deeply rooted turf are chiefly
these: The crops mature earlier.
The soil is kept in better physical
condition. 1t does not become sog-
gy. Heavy rains do not wash the
soil, or leach away it's mineral con.
stituents. The land can be more cas-
lily and deeply plowed and worked.
Weeds are absolutely extinguished.
The deep rooters will penetrate and
break UP the hardest pans. The soil
is supplied with humus to a consid-
cradle depth. 1t is more deeply aer-
ated and moistened, and it retains
moisture longer. Tough and almost
unavoidable soils are completely al
tered in character. Besides all this,
some of the grasses keep the land
supplied with nitrogen, which, of all
the fertilizers, is the most import
ant and the hardest to secure in any
other way. 1t is the pivot round
which farming turns.
These are assuredly benefits worth
securing, That they can be secured
in the way we point out is not just
matter of theory. These facts
have been established beyond ques-
ton, and are especially true in this
country where most grasses root
deeply and grow we'll. The grasses,
when properly seeded and properly
cared for, are almost the only crops
that can pay rent on the land, pay a
sufficient interest on the capital in
vested, and on top of these, can add
constantly to the value of the land.
The failure of cereals, fruits and
most vegetables to accomplish this
last result Is the cause of most OF
the troubles of the farmer whether
he lives east or west. For If his
wheat or potatoes pay him fat pro-
fit on his investment, and if the
growth of population, and the better
ment in roads and railway service
cause his lands to advance in price,
he believes that he is getting richer,
very likely forgetting, or not know
ing that chemical analysis of the
soil would show a dangerous reduc-
ton in the quantities of phosphates,
nitrogen, ETC., necessary to continued
cropping, and that the digging of
test-pits on his land would show a
consolidation of the soil particles or
even the creation of real hardpan
just beneath the level of blowing,
which forces the thin layer of top
soil to support the crop, and by the
same token, to waste its riches more
quickly.
Either of these ills will cut down
the income-producing power Of the
land. Either could be prevented by
such rotation of crops as would put
the land in grass for at least as many
years in the series as are allotted for
all other crops combined, or else by
seeding down for permanent pas
ture. Intermountain lands are fer
tile. not only because they contain
large quantities of mineral fertilizers
but because of their excellent physi-
cal condition, i. e., their losseness
warmth and friability, which has ev-
erything to do with the growing of
good crops. That condition must be
maintained. Grasses can do it. 9th