The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1914-11-18
HOMELY VISIONS BY A NOTED
AGRICULTURIST
CONTINUED from Page II

three miles from town, is to be bought
for a price ranging from $50 to 500
per acre, the average being $50 per
acre. Now | should like to ask why
land in the corn belt, which is not as
rich as this soil out here in the Pa
louise country is worth 500 to 5000 an
acre, fair average of the price in the
middle west being $3.50 per acre. The
answer to that question is that in the
corn belt live stock is kept on the
farms to the full capacity of the land
and in the Palouse country it is not"
Drew Some Comparisons
Mr.. Shaw then drew an effective
comparison between two parts of
Minnesota, one of which adhered ex
clusively to wheat growing and the
other of which went in for considerable
live stock industry. At first the two
sections brought an equal price (about
$35 an acre. in the market Today the
section without the livestock is still
bringing $35 and the one with live
stock development is bringing from
500 to $125 per acre.
Put Stock on the Farm
''The entire world over" stated Mr..
Shaw, ''the high-priced land is that
on which stock is being raised. You
will need no booster club for your land
such as was organized in North Da-
kota and called the 800 an acre club.
All you need is to put stock in your
farms and your boosting will be al
ready done.
81 should think this country should
always grow wheat. / think it should
grow much more wheat in the future
than it has ever grown in the past.
But | think it should grow the in
creased amount Of wheat on fewer
acres. If thoroughly and properly
stocked to its capacity, land will pro-
duce as it has never produced before. |
Something May go Wrong
Zone difficulty connected with ex-
elusive wheat growing is that some day
something is sure to go wrong. That
is to be observed by the continual |
shifting of wheat centers beginning !
from New York state and extending |
now up into Canada. Where wheat has
been the only crop there has always |
been something to decrease the yield |
or some other unfavorable condition |
to render change in location nee
essary. In North Dakota the yield of |
wheat is not fifty per cent of what it |
was twenty-five years ago.
No Reason for Smut
''The stories l have heard about |
smut explosions here make me think
that everything is not all right with
you wheat growers here even in this
favored country. 1t is not necessary
to have smut here if you will only
give your crops and your land fair
play If you do not raise too many
wheat crops in succession, if you try
. aifferent method with your soil, there
will be no smut explosions. The soil
was never made that is so abundantly
fertile that will not some day cease to
have such fertility if it is constantly
cultivated with wheat crops.
Troubles i'm Big Bend Section
Som ething has gone wrong in the
Big Bend country and its great in
dustry. The soil over there is blowing
away And the farmers are blowing ]
away with it. 1t is my difficult and ]
shouldered task to per- {
suade the farmers not to blow away
with their soil The land did not blow
away before wheat cultivation began {
here. There was at first enough veg
citation in the soil to keep it where it
The Big Bend farmers are
going to try to put back into the soil S
he vegetation that they have been tax $
ng out of it for so long, and when 1
hey do, they will succeed in tying
heir soil down to where it belongs l
light there at home. 1
Disaster Bound to Come L
persistent wheat growing will
cad to disaster even if land is in {
farmed for wheat crop.
There is some excuse in the Big Bend
for farmers wanting to stick
0 wheat and wheat alone, because f
hey can not raise there as you can v