The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-23

grain, etc, in his neighborhood. no
one seems to want to buy, or pay d
price worth the cost Of the crop.
This is only a rough statement OF
q few woes which come about be-
cause each farmer in most parts or
the United States is largely trying to
raise something different from that
raised by his neighbor. | receive many
letters which are worded essentially
as follows: Il am thinking of getting
a new kind of wheat called Marquis.
what do you think about it? I have
been raising the Scotch Fife, but it
don't seem to do WELL Another one
in the same neighborhood writes: L
am thinking OF getting some of this
dururn wheat known as Kubanka.
Wha do you think Of it? My bluestem
does not seem to do we'll Another
n writes from the same n%eiglnbor-
hood saying: I understand the ex-
pertinent station has a very fine
quality Of velvet chaff wheat No. 1888.
Now, my durum wheat ~shrivelled
pretty badly last year and was all
black-pointed and yellow-bellied. Will
it pay me to sow some velvet chaff?'
Now, to illustrate this point further,
it may be said that the reputation Of
the Red river valley and the north
west was made on bluestem and
Scotch Fife wheats, and it may be
said that at present there are so many
kinds Of wheat in this region that an
expert cannot name them or sort them
out from the mixture hat is common
~ going into the, general market.
Some farmers are raising a. better
Scotch Fife wheat than U, they have
raised before OF the same old land
While the majority of them are rails
ing a ora rio nf yyhoot yTbfoL nnrooroon1 S
a poor market.
ITO illustrate the point in another
way, within the past ten or fifteen
years h Red river valley counties Of
Minnesota and North Dakota have
made a good reputation for potatoes
of high quality. That reputation was
almost wholly made upon the first
potatoes which were grown in the
region, namely, Early Ohios. In the
last few years, the farmers of this
region and the seed houses all over the
United States have apparently seemed
to vie with each other to ascertain
how many different kinds of potatoes
might possibly grow in the Red river
valley. Until when someone from st.
Louis Or Ohio wants a carload Of
Early Ohio potatoes it is almost i'm
possible to get it from the general
market Of an ordinary shipping point.
There will be white potatoes, pink
potatoes, russell potatoes, long pota-
toes, short and round potatoes, of all
kinds, shapes and sizes offered in the
same market, when, in actual fact, the
consumer wants to buy some one kind
of potato that will be about OF uni
form size and bake nicely with the
same amount of fire in the same
length of time. The middle men, who
went Tn SJynnJv tho 1annnnl For
potatoes would like to know where to
go to get the particular kind he needs
in carload lots. There are certain few
shipping centers, such as Moorhead,
Mimi, and. the Greeley district Of
Colorado and certain shipping points
in Maine where the shipper can be
pretty certain he will find a reliable
uniform sort of potatoes, if he makes
an effort. - .
"'These illustrations, the writer
thinks, are sufficient to call attention
to a great evil in agriculture, namely.
the jurnbling and mixing Of all sorts
in. the naming of varieties with the
consequent inability of the handlers Of
market sorts to procure a particular
uniform product they want without
too expensive effort. The wholesale
seed merchants know of the innate de-
sire Of the farmers to change seed
d1O LAOOSu LlSS p1oDdulS h4lOW LlldG
1t is a false idea and destructive td
the hopes Of obtaining permanent ag-
ricultural improvement, yet they cater
to it. When they find a rather good
sample of potatoes, or a good sample
Of wheat, or other farm seeds, they
have beer in the habit of giving it an
other name, knowing that they are
more likely to be able to sell for seed
the supposed new variety. Many peo-
pie have spent much energy trying to
make or develop new varieties with
the vain hope that the new will be
more productive than the old under
agricultural methods which dc not rec
ognize purity as to sort or kind. The
farmers. on their part, spent a lot Of
time trying to get yields out Of new
or unknown varieties and COMPARE
lively little effort on improving stand
ard market varieties.
"Of course there are certain large
farming regions in which certain al
ieties are more beneficial than others.
My recommendation is that the farm
ers of a given community should unite
upon a standard variety of seed, no
matter what the crop, and each should
select that commercial variety which
is characteristic of the region in which
he is farming. They should cooper
ate to keep out, essentially, all other
varieties from that particular region.
and make every effort possible to i'm
prove the business IN which the repu-
tation Of their particular shipping sta
ton depends. In doing this. they will
do three things: First, there will at
once be a marked Improvement in the
quality Of the seed which is used for
planting purposes in each particular
crop. Next: the output from a particu-
lar station or shipping point will be
more nearly uniform. Shippers, in
whatever section. will know where to
order products Of the particular type
demanded by their market. The repu-
tation OF the local shipping center will
gradually become established for that
particular product. On these two es-
sential features a stable agriculture
can be constructed. Along the pres
emit basis, though a man may raise a
very fine crop of some new variety or
some unknown or improperly named
variety, he does not have a market Tor
it because he cannot afford to build a
market himself. He can not furnishi
sufficient supply and he cannot use the
reputation of his neighbors for a uni
form product because they don't have
any. There are neighborhoods in which
one can find thousands OF bushels OFT
good wheat, etc, il there were some
method Of sorting and shipping with
out too great cost. This is only say
ing that in a particular shipping point
the farmers should unite with each
other in growing the kind Of wheat or
other crop the market demands and
which that particular region has al
ways shown capability Of producing.
The market will then come to them
and thep rice can be better for all con-
cerned.
evils due to mixed varieties: Aside
from the evil marketing conditions to
which I call attention. mixed varieties
Of q particular kind Of crop scattered
throughout all the cropping regions OF