THE PHILOSOPHY OF FARM IMPROVEMENTS. 185 



The agriculture of a state or nation is but the sum of individual 

 practice in that department- 

 Success under existing circumstances can onlj' be attained by the 

 adoption of some intelligent system extending to all departments of 

 the work pursued. Intellect has come to be an important factor 

 iu our agricultural problem. When our soils were first cleared of 

 their original forests little thought was required of the hus^bandman. 

 He had but to plow, sow, and harvest his crops. The same is now 

 true of the virgin soils of Dakota. But in consequence of such 

 thoughtless, unsystematic management our soils have been depleted, 

 and their present condition demands an opposite course. 



The modern farmer must understand the essential conditions of 

 an intelligent system of farm practice, without which he can not 

 reasonably hope to succeed. Let us consider some of the most 

 important of these conditions. 



First — A favorable mechanical condition is indispensable to the 

 successful production of crops. If I change the mechanical con- 

 dition of a hard compact soil, and render it comparatively light and 

 friable, I shall by that means alone greatly increase its capacity for 

 crop production. I shall thus extend tiie feeding ground of the 

 crops grown upon it, make the plant food which it contains more 

 available, increase the capacity of the soil for the retention of 

 moisture and thus protect the crops from drougth, and to a certain 

 extent from that hard, bricklike state which results from extreme 

 saturation and the heat of the sun in summer. As the roots under 

 the changed conditions extend much deeper, we thus protect them 

 from upheaval and destruction by the frosts of winter. 



The extension of the feeding ground of plants is quite as import- 

 ant a consideration as that of extending our grazing fields. Heavy 

 clay soils may often thus be doubled in their productive capacity. 

 It is much more desirable every way to practically double our farm 

 downward than to buy out our neighbors. 



On light soils this extension of root growth may be affected by 

 increasing the amount of plant food, and the depth to which it 

 extends. If the food on which plants subsist is in a mellow soil 

 their roots will find it at any depth consistent with their character- 

 istic habit of growth. 



The plow must obviously be our first and chief reliance in the 

 prosecution of the work of farm renovation and crop production. 



