Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1916-12-14

With the severe weather jinks fol
lowing it for the fourth year the Will
liams County Agricultural conven-
ton began it's work Tuesday with a
fine spirit of interest manifest at
every session.
The program prepared by the man.
ayers is the strongest ever attempt
ed and the farmers are joining free
ly with the able crop of speakers in
the valuable discussions.
The Armory proved too cold and
the meetings were adjourned to Odd
Fellows hall after the first day. The
extensive nature of the program and
discussions makes it possible to re-
view only part of the work of the
first two days and half of the con-
vention in this issue.
Anyone at all interested in agricul-
ture will find the sessions intensely
interesting. The program for Fri
day is:
1000 A. M.-The Pit Silo-M. B.
johnson.
1890 A. M.-Weeds and Live Stock
J. E. Eastgate.
! 80 P. M.-The Federal Farm
Loan Act-James E. Boyle.
2:30 P. M.-The Pure Bred Sire and
the Beef Steer-J. E. Eastgate.
$3.50 P. M.-Beef Cattle Judging
J. E. Eastgate.
Eastgatc on Soil
''In order to know agriculture as
we should know it, we must 90 out
and study Nature" said J. E. East
gate of Larimore speaking upon "The
Care Of our Soils" Tuesday afternoon.
"God Almighty was the first farmer
and his methods have never been i'm
proved on. If you go out and study
a bit of virgin sod you will find that
He subsoils, rotates crops and fer
tilizes His fields. These are the three
essential things necessary to preserve
the productiveness Of the soil"
Mr.. Eastgate said in part: We
have been for four hundred years a
nation of land skimmers. AS soon as
we have exhausted the fertility of one
section of the country, we have moved
westward until now we are on the
last lap, and in fact are beginning to
beat backwards over the territory
already worked. Soils that used to
produce bountiful crops, today will
not give us decent crop of wheat.
An analysis of the soil of field that
had been titled for thirty years was
recently taken and this showed $50
pounds of nitrogen per acre in a
depth of 6 1-2 inches from the sur
face. Near this field a field of vir-
gin prairie was found to contain
$4,000 pounds of nitrogen to the acre.
The cultivated field does not produce
a paying crop any more, and if man
was smart enough in thirty more
years he could have that field bar
rem waste. Nature believes in sub
soiling, in crop rotation-only the ro-
tation is simultaneously any va
riety Of soil you can find from one to
fifteen varieties of plants-and in
fertilization. Now we come along
and 90 against every law of nature
and then complain because the coun-
try is changing, the climate is chang
ing and things are not what they used
to be. We grow one crop year after
year and then wonder that the soil
doesn't produce the crops it used to.
The straw which nature would use
as a fertilizer we thresh in one pile
an dthen burn. Whenever you see a
man touch match to a straWpile you
can just put this down in your hat
band, that that man has more acres
to farm than he has brains to farm
with.
$1,000 in an Acre
A model crop rotation-and l use
his simply as an illustration--would |
oe something like this: wheat, corn,
grass, pasture, etc. If you are 60
ng to hog off your corn field plant
that will get ripe; if you
want it for winter feed plant corn
hat will grow high. Next seed the
ield to grass-either sweet Glove! or
some of the native grass ses-with a
lurse crop of wheat. The second
year cut for hay, and the third year
lse for pasture. This will help fer
i!ize the land. You can also fer
ilize part Of the field while the rest
S being used as pasture. One load
# manure per acre for every inch Of
ainfall is the general rule. This
would mean around Williston 7 or s
Dads per acre. 1t is necessary that
We follow some such rotation as I
ave outlined if we would maintain
he fertility of our soil. One crop
arming tends TO pulverize and dry
ut the ton so that it will blow easily
;hcmists have found that in the top
inches of soil. there is about $1,000
yorth Of fertility an acre. Half an
lch cut off the surface of a mans
eld would mean loss of $10O an {
cre-not to the owner perhaps, but
, posterity. Let us give the land a {
luare deal, give our people square I
cal and the people that are to come
fter us. We cannot expect to be a /
reat people or a great state when !
II land gets impoverished, and it /
oesn't make any difference what kind v