The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 15, 1919, Page 4

{ SN Bettermg North Dakota Seed and Crops How Annual Contest Makes for Improved Grain Products—What thefState . Has Done to Ellmmate Some of the Gambles of Farmlng : : BY H. L. BOLLEY (Botamst and State Seed Commissioner of North Dakota) EED prodaction ' and intensive farming, rather than extensive farming, is rapidly following America. stock raising, when there were large ‘areas of waste lands P available to the ranchman and = lots of coarse feed, money was made rather rapidly . from extensive handling. of cattle of all grades, kinds and types. Those days of the cattle business are rapidly passing. Few now think of trying to . make money by raising low-grade stock of any kind. Some of us who have worked longest in the cause of seed improvement and in advocating inten- - sive: methods rather than extensive methods have at times been more or léss discouraged. Those of us who have been closest to the farmer " have not, however, been inclined to ‘scold over, the - methods used. North Dakota, Minnesota, 'South Dakota and Montana are not small words or names. Some of the most noted agricultural states east of the Mississippi are but as a.few counties in com- parison with the areas of these great states. So’ . that: when the pioneer agncultunst had moved onto these extensive areas of v1rgm land, free from -all infectious diseases and noXious weeds, who is there to blame him 'if he plowed. as many acres as he. could 3 gowed as many bushels as he could in the < spring season. doors than that on which he ‘worked. Almost any seed which: was stropng- enough to :sprout; even though badly infected with digease ‘and infested with ‘noxious weed seeds, would, on this" strong, pure, clean land, grow and do well with only or- , dinary tillage. ' Even now farming conditions are such on these extensive areas -that methods of culture in wheat and cereals, which may seem wasteful, are not mat- ters that can be at once wholly gOVemed or changed. - Before these’can be largely replaced, there must © come in a large number of people with competent” means or- the pxoneers “must earn. the toney to drain, till, fence, raise forage, feed stock and'im-. prove thexr types of -seed stocks and farm crops. ‘Even in the stock business there'is & limit to human . . ‘endurance.. : The individual : farmer ‘and: }ns ‘wife can not’ continue: the process: of waiting’ ondarge - ‘herds of stock every day without competent help. - Neither can they put-into operation- at once all &he S ; 'the reputahon- o best steps in crop unprovement AID MANY GROWERS Xty SRR IN BETTER FARMING e gt “So:much in apology for the extensxve agnculture that has taken<place in North Dakota 'in cereals, : . flax and other small grains, In the meantime, the foundation has been laid for intensive work even > with extensive agnculture. The ‘means’ haye come “to aid many growers to work: in the: better: way ' Perhaps some:do- not now realize'that the time is " here when the methods must be matenally changed, and that the seeds 'which they sow must be of the -~ best, rather than of diseased, deteriorated, shrivel~ -ed quality—hardly fit for the commercial market. * Yet most of them now practice intensive tillage to lines of improvement analogous . to that of the stock industry in - In the early days of . No more fertile land- lay -out of ' ~ment new:to: . never out of sight! = ‘¢ ‘One of the reasons why North Dakota is in the lead as a wheat and flax state is” its- agricultural college, which has' worked incessantly for better”seed for its farmers as well as for better prlces for the products of the farm. The im- proved seed growers’ contest is another big factor in giving the state a lead on its sister states in crop production. - The story on this page by Professor H. L. Bolley, botanist of the North Da- kota Agricultural college and state seed commissioner, tells what is being accomplished through these seed contests. diseases, < . - Perhaps mo state in the Union, consldenng area .and population, has done so competent agricultural work as have the farmers of North Dakota. In no state.in the Union has there been an agricultural ¢ollege in which the men have worked with greater energy and purpose for the improvement of agri- ment. " With alt’ the extenswe :Earmmg, North Dakota' - has wonderful stock. farms. With all the extensive . grain' ralsmg it can show some of ‘the’ finest ‘seed - products in the world,>and has one of,the most pro- - ~\gressive as,soelatxons of breeders -and” growers of unproved seeds among the states. ‘We haye always - had men ‘in North Dakota and Minnesota who have made a, reputatxon for growing high class wheat and seeds for sowing purposes. Who has made'a “ better name: for himself: than - Wellman - with his_ fife, or Haynes-with his blue stem? Tt was not.- their fault rior their work that caused these wheats to finally detenorate to such’ extent that it will take - some years'to: put them ‘back ¢ on which'these men placed them. ™ ” state that can show ‘the quality>that North Dakota . has been. producmg for years, and at the: " changink:a ‘nativ ‘prame od under an envn-on- _equal- to the be: of the Northwest: ' The products of these lands have made’ the _great- mlllmg industry of aneapohs.~ From-North Dakota has come much- of the beef that “has made, and is still making, the reputatlon of the ‘great packing firms 'of this: country:” While this : hag been done, the ability to continue ‘the same is . not being' lost. From: a state that was supposed not to be able to produce any: corn, potatoes; alfalfa or clover, there has sprung wi lyn a:few years one “in'which, ‘even with the great dxgta.nces, the sflo is This means that in the seed productmn work the ‘state “and -its farmers and ag'ncultural workers: _have not been negligent. True, the large kinds of * corn that were ralsed m the sonthern states:did' not | SEED DISINFECTION PROCESS = = - “for the control of seed and soil-infecting diseases free the soils of weed seeds :and mfectxous CNP :r_,, the present steps looking toward controlling that B heavxly infected by. the wflt dasease culture. - I am: pleased to say that I doubt if any. state in’the Union® furnishes so mtelhgent a con- - A stlt)lency lookmg- towb.rd agricultural 1mprove-* “through severe rust epidemics - Tust epidemic’ year it has . “D-5,” the red durumy of comme . detractors and Mlnnesota, chnefly, l;ave made " ‘the great ‘grain production areas * prosper here at first, but a.ny one who V.lSltS any corn show, county or state; this year will be con- vinced that the day is past when there neéd be any doubt as to whether North Dakota can’ grow corn. As the corns of our entire country probably came from the Mandan Indians and others along the Mis- souri river, now they are commg back to theu' nat- ural home. °As Minnesota is making a great repu- tation with her potato and: dairy’ work, so North Dakota is.rapidly reaching a status where she can ‘compete with Minnesota or any. other state in ‘any line, whether in stock raising, dairying or seed pro- ductlon for plantmg purposes.” . STATE GIVES NATION Along the line of seed 1mprovement ‘the state has : not been backward. From North Dakota has come .the whole process of.seed disinfectfon, as:now used # of cereals and potatoes, ' From it-has largely come wind-blown disease known as’ rust; w] 50 destructive to cereals the ~world eradlcatmp of the barberry. bush, state to have in existence, carefull ‘bred of flax, capable of remunerative p new rust-resistant vanetles of ‘Wwhe: North Dakota, it is the first stat have one or more vanet: struction.’ One of these varieties “has placed im a class by itself. Du: .feeding the nations regardless of rust tional grades, regardless of whef 3 real rust resister rather than .an evader. of rust. The fact that it-has been sold ‘to the mills in “sands of bushels for a number of years Del y 5 The results of these tests, with the ‘scores of the comme possible to place each’ §ample comparatlve worth for”use as “ 0n, Ty _see in the Fargo Audxtormm class ‘samples of seed ralsed throughout all p h Sls aré of ‘the’ state and\f-v-.f'