The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-01-09
MORE THOROUGH
THAN HILLS MAN
Prof. ]. H. Sheppard Tells Of
Exhaustive Study Made
in This State.

The following communication has
been received from Prof. J. ii. Sheps
pard of the North Dakota agricultural
college:
Under the heading. Will Revolution
ize Northwest Agriculture in the state
press. l note a report from Mime
apolis telling OF a greenhouse expert
ment on James j. Hills premises in
St. Paul.
a reporter on a daily newspaper
cannot be expected to be an expert on
agricultural subjects nor to throw out
all OF the cautions hat an obscrva-
ton Of the facts require to make them
entirely safe for the public.
The North Dakota experiment sta
ton has made trials covering a period
of five years in the use Of acid phos-
These trials have been made with
wheat. In bulletin Is. pages 302-3O6
will be found the detailed results for
the years 1903, 1904. 1905 and 1906.
The experiment extended beyond that
of the trial of acid phosphate by in
Guiding experiments with potash fer
tiilizers. complete fertilizers. check
plats with n fertilizers and with rot
ted stable manure. all on ground Of
known cropping history.
Stable we'll rottcd and APP
piled at the rate OF ten wagon loads
per acre gave heavier yields Of wheat
than any OF the commercial fertilizers,
including the phosphates.
For the four years the table shows
there was a total gain OF two bushels
Of wheat per acre or an increase of
a half bushcl per year per acre from
the use Of these commercial fertilizers
over the plats receiving no fertilizer
whatever and his IN land which had
been cropped to grain for twenty years
without the application Of stable man.
ure or other fertilizer.
During ono OF these years the chem
ical department OF the experiment t
ton was at work on fertilizers and as
a part of the trial sent out a num-
Der OF different sorts. including a
phosphoric acid fertilizer. to s%ubstanti-
al farmers in Richland county. Ran
som county and to Emmons county.
In It's report which appears OF pages
20 and II Of the fourteenth annual
report of this station for the year 1904
l find the following summarizing
statement:
when the crop was harvested and
threshed In the fall the farmers re-
ported that they we're unable to see
that there was any advantage in IA
vor OF the use Of the fertilizers: that
possibly the wheat where the nitrate
Of soda vas used was more stocky
and continued its growth somewhat
later than was the case with the 9TH
CIR grains"
In 1911 seven separate plats We're
treated with commercial fertilizer
with three check plats interspersed.
Among this list of fertilizers three of
them were what are called phosphate
have not been published although they
have been given out to the firm that
supplied the different sorts Of fertil-
izers that were used. In this list OF
plats one of the checks. that Is an IN
treated plat. made the highest yield
OF any in the list.
DIR. Cyril G. Hopkins of the Illinois
experiment station. one OF the leading
scientists and cxperimenters Of Amer
meeting at Lethbridgc. Canada. last
fall: If an cxpcrimenter shows you
figures for one year give attention
courteously: II for " years. listen To
him. but IL for six. seven or eight years
and his results are consistent. study
his work carefully. ask him questions
get Mt his conclusions and see IL you
respond with what he has found. He
has enough data to be worth your con-
sheraton.
The people framed a proverb a
great many years ago which says. zone
swallow docs not q r summer"
and 1t seems to me that the reporter
who wrote the article from Mime
apolis would do well to conjurc this
old adagc.
AS long as u people are allowing
stable to leach and the
strength Of it drain ava into the
streams and find in many cases the
shortage OF help Won't permit then
40 haul IT to their fields II Is scarcely
time to 'revolutionizc" the northwest
with any purchased commercial fcrti.
lizcr.
In bulletin II OF the North Dakota
experiment station, pages Al to 45 will
be found the result Of sixteen years
experiment wor with farm manure
in wheat production. In this trial the
effect Of h manure on the first croY
following the second crop following
and the third crop following the man.
uring is recorded. Stable manure was
applied once each four years. The