The Washington herald., 1920-03-12
FARMS MAY DO
WITHOUT STOCK
Experts Shocked But Ad-
NIT Ford's Suggestion
Is Feasible.
SOILAGE CROP NEEDED
Barnyard Manure Not In
dispensable if Clover Is
Planted.
SOILAGE CROP NEEDED
tBy q star Correspondeat.)

st. Paul. March s.-Are we COM
ing to the age Of horseless farms
farms without livestock of any
kind. as is declared by Henry Ford?
Is is possible to keep up the soil
fertility without livestock?
Henry Ford says yes; some Of
the agricultural experts are aghast
at such heterodoxy.
Recently Prof. Ladd, OF the North
Dakota Experiment Station, issued
a bulletin pointing out that the ma
nurial value Of the by-product feed
stuffs shipped out Of the State with
wheat, oats and other grains pro-
duced on North Dakota farms
amounted to over $15,o0o,0 900 a year,
and he argued that the grain. there
fore. ought to be ground in North
Dakota and the by-products fed to
stock.
Livestock q Liability.
That is the orthodox reasoning
Of the farm experts. but now comes
a maker of farm tractors with his
theory that all livestock on a mod
ern farm Is a liability. instead OF
an asset.
The article in the March . issue
of The Washington Herald report
ing the theories of Mr.. Ford upon
scientific agriculture was shown to
the agricultural professors of the
Minnesota Experiment Station and
College of Agriculture. and the very
professor most directly interested
in soil fertility. DR.. Away, de-
clared that Mr.. Ford is not adyo-
eating the impossible.
All that the stockless farmer
needs to do to maintain the fertility
Of the soil, is to handle soilage
crops as science directs. For nitro
gen. he should grow clover, which
gathers nitrogen from the air and
puts il into the soil; it works while
the farmer sleeps. Then to get
potassium. he plows under the
clover, and as ii decays 1t releases
carbonic acid, which frees potas-
SUM. He may have to add COM
mercial phosphate. And il the soil
is deficient in lime. so that it will
not grow clover freely. add lime
or powdered limestone~>
Manure Found supernuous.
It all depends on what kind OF
soil the farmer is working, as to
the use OF barnyard manure. Many
farmers in the Red River Valley,
both in Minnesota and North Da-
kota, fight so shy of manure that
they will move their barns, when
the manure piles too high above
the stable doors. rather than haul IT
out upon the over-rich land.
Even at the Crookston Experiment
Farm. in the Red River Valley,
Minnesota. said DR.. Away. the
manure has no value and is not
spread upon the soil. while further
east. at the Grand Rapids (Minne-
sota) Experiment Station, the
manure is worth 81 a ton on the
land. For some of the peat land.
which abounds in Minnesota. certain
fertilizers are essential.
Dean Thatcher, of the Minnesota
Agricultural College. says that COM
mercial fertilizers rarely produce
profits when used on common field
crops, though they are recommended
for truck or for any crop requiring
intensive cultivation. 1t has never
been the practice of Western grain
raisers to put any kind of fertilizers
on their fields, though rotation of
crops is recognized as a means of
maintaining fertility. Half of the
place of horses for getting to town,
and the use of small tractors is
still further driving Old Dobbin
away from his oats.
PAUL V. COLLINS.