The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 23, 1917, Page 17

Would Solve Seed Problem North Dakota Agricultural College Through Bolley Proposes Plan to Farmers F THE United States expects North Dakota and other spring wheat states to pro- duce bumper crops during the the war it will have to do more than merely preach the planting of more acreage, according to Profes- gor H. L, Bolley of North Dakota Agri- cultural college. In a paper prepared by invitation for the third Interstate Cereal conference, held recently, and printed in full as a leading article in the current edition of *Science,” Professor Bolley explains what Uncle Sam should do. Because congress has been spending so much time in talking Uncle Sam won't be able to do it this yéar. So Bolley is going ahead to work with North Da- kota farmers on the plan by himself to as great an extent as financial re- sources will permit. As every farmer knows wheat or flax or any other cereal crop, if planted year after year in the same field will gradually fade away, giving a poorer and poorer production each year, It used to be thought that this was be- cause the crops had robbed the soil or fertility, but it was found that the same fields would often yield good crops of another cereal. The principal reason for decreased yields Professor Bolley says, is that each plant is attacked by a number of parasitic fungi. They attack in such manner as to invade all parts of the plant body, breaking down the -tissues, clogging up the ducts and rotting off the roots. They are particularly de- structive in.the seedlihg and stooling stages, and finally cause blighting and shriveling of seed. If wheat is planted year after year the parasites which feed on the wheat plants keep on in- creasing so that finally it is impossible to get any crop at all. But most of the wheat parasites will not attack another crop, like rye or flax, and similarly most of the parasites that will attack rye or flax will not attack wheat. PROPOSES SURVEYS AS BASIS OF ACTION Professor Bolley’s recommendation to the Interstate Cereal conference ' was this: That the United States department of agriculture put.on an extended wheat crop survey, first, to insure proper harvesting and selecting of fields from which seed is to be saved for the crop of 1918, so that selection can be made on the basis of purity and freedom from disease; second, to keep the selected seed free frem moisture invasion. That the crop survey be accompanied by a soil survey, which should locate virgin lands of the wheat states, and lands which have crops that do not bear the chief diseases of wheat, and set aside these virgin and clean lands and prepare them for the wheat crops of 1918 and 1919. To have been effective for the crop of 1918, this work should have started before the 1917 harvest, Professor Bol- ley says. More than half of the land of North Dakota is still virgin, insofar as wheat culture is concerned. This virgin land should be broken this year and worked into a seed bed for some crop suitable to precede wheat so as to be ready for a wheat crop in 1919, WANTS SAMPLES FROM THE FARMERS However, congress has found it ne- cessary to unload considerable oratory during the past few weeks, the food bill has been held up and the depart- ment of agriculture has been unable to proceed with any plans for soil or crop surveys. However, Professor Bol- ley stands ready to do what he can in North Dakota, and this is what he proposes: If North Dakota wheat growers will send samples of their 1917 wheat to Professor Bolley, plant pathologist at the North Dakota Agricultural college, with a statement of how much wheat they have, it will be tested and the owners will be advised whether it is suitable for seed and other farmers in the vicinity, who may need seed, will be advised where they can get it. Farmers should make arrangements for their 1918 seed before the 1917 crop is shipped out of the state. If the North Dakota wheat growers will send to Professor Bolley, either with their wheat samples or separately, rough maps of their farms, showing what crops have been planted on each field in each of the last five years, Professor Bolley will also advise what crop it would be best to plant for next season. In any event, however, the services of the seed testing laboratory at the Agricultural college will be at the call of the farmer as in past years. Farmers Save Waste : ART of the waste of the meat trust way of doing business has been saved to Northwest- ern farmers who have bought and sold cattle and sheep through the Equity Livestock exchange at South St. Paul. . In a statement given out last week, F. B. Wood, man- ager of the exchange, says that in less than a year since the exchange started business it has handled over $1,500,000 of livestock, paying the producer a lit- tle more, and charging the feeder buy- ers a little less than the old line firms. Mr. Wood’s statement says: “Our main object in entering this market was to eliminate the specu- lator's profit between the farmers who ship feeder and stocker cattle, and feeding and breeding sheep to the South St. Paul market, and the farmer or feeder who comes to buy the same. As an illustration of what we have been able to do, Mr. Carl Hagen of Reeder, North Dakota, recently shipped three carloads of cattle to South St. Paul. The bulk of these cattle were sold to M. J. Fox of Simpson, Minne- sota, and after?the transaction was finished, Mr. Fox and Mr. Hagen traveled through the yards, finding out what other shippers were receiving for the stock they shipped in and what other farmers were paying for the stock which-they purchased. After the trip through the yards they decided that what ordinarily would have been the speculator’s profit, had been about equally divided between them, Mr. Hagen receiving more than other ship- pers had received for the same class of cattle and Mr. Fox being able to pur- chase for a little less than other farm- ers. Incidents like this one are be- coming common at South St. Paul. “Less than one year ago we opened our live stock selling agency that is owned and controlled by farmers and in no way connected with the South St. Paul Livestock exchange. In spite of the fact that we were repeately ad- vised that we could not operate inde- pendently at South St. Paul, we have grown steadily until last month, July, . we handled more stock than 17 other firms on this market and in volume of business we have passed some of the old established firms, op=rating here. The rapid growth of our business should be proof enough to any live- stock grower that we are giving as good or better service than any other firm on this market and getting prices that are just as satisfactory.” THEY LIKED FRAZIER Last Saturday a large number of farmers and business men as well as women and children enjoyed the big farmers’' picnic at Idlewild park. It was an occasion that had long been looked forward to as all were anxious to hear Hon. J. G. Crites, Governor Lynn Frazier and Attorney General Wm, Langer. Governor Lynn Frazier was of course, the central figure of the entire pro- gram. He at once impressed his audi- ence as being a common every day man free from the pomp and graft of office and in a full easy manner, set forth facts concerning the problems con- fronting the farmer and from the first gained the confidence of his auditors and made them feel that in choosing him as their chief executive they had not erred one whit. Space will not permit us to go into detail concerning his speech but he delivered his message straight from the shoulder and showed himself to be the true friend of the farmer.—RANSOM CO. (N. D.) GAZETTE. WHO PAYS? It’s almost amusing to see the war profiters trying to enthuse the people and continue to pull it over them un- der the mname of patriotism. The people are not in a frame of mind to swallow much more of this kind of dope. While the common people are just as patriotic as any other class, what they, want now is the truth. They want to know why they are being pauperized by high food prices while the miilionaire food gamblers are making more millions out of the war—MONTEVIDEQO (Minn.) DAILY AMERICAN. ADVERTISEMENTS T Answering the Nation’s Call N this “supreme test” of the nation, private interests must be subordinated to the Government's need. This is as true of the tele- phone as of all other instrumentali- ties of service. The draft for war service which has been made upon the Bell System is summarized in a recent Government report. ‘ Government messages are given precedence over commercial mes- sages by means of 12,000 specially drilled long distance operators all over the country. The long distance telephone fa- cilities out of Washington have been more than doubled. Special connections have been established between all military headquarters, army posts, naval stations and mobilization camps throughout the United States. More than 10,000 miles of special systems of communication have been installed for the exclusive use of Government departments. Active assistance has been given the Government by the Bell System in. providing telephone communi- cations at approximately one hun- dred lighthouses and two hundred coast guard stations. Communication has been pro- vided for the National Guard at railroad points, bridges and water supply systems. A comprehensive system of war communication will be ready at the call of the Chief Signal Officer, and extensive plans for co-operation with the Navy have been put into effect with brilliant success. As the war continues, the demands of the Government will increase. And the public can help us to meet the extraordinary conditions by putting restraint on all unnecessary and extravagant use of the telephone. 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