324 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



The organic matter of sands makes them more stable and resisting, and 

 prevents the transporting action of the winds. Sands destitute of a matting 

 of vegetable matter are at the mercy of the winds, as is seen along our lake 

 borders. 



The richest soils in our State contain from five to twelve per cent o 

 organic matter. Porous soils would be better if they contained at least five 

 per cent. Turning to the table you see that the soil of the plains is deficient 

 in organic matter, only one comes up to 2.9 per cent, while three fall below 

 two per cent. Keasons for this are not hard to find. The yearly fires which 

 sweep over these plains burn up organic matter on the surface, and thus 

 inflict incalculable injury, and the open and porous nature of the soil retards 

 the accumulation of organic matter within the soil. 



The remedies are obvious: Stop the fires; adopt such a system of cropping 

 as will accumulate vegetable matter within the soil, and then compact your 

 surface soil by the roller. 



Nitrogen. — The amount of combined nitrogen in these soils is very small, 

 ranging from .05 to .08 per cent, and the most of this is in the inert form, 

 only an exceedingly small amount being in the active form of nitrates and 

 ammonia. 



From a chemical standpoint this is the weakest feature of these soils. The 

 application of nitrogenous manures will develop striking results. Rotation 

 of crops and a system of farm economy designed to accumulate combined 

 nitrogen in the soil are matters of vital importance in farming on the plains. 

 Green manuring, clover, turnips, stock feeding, etc., will occupy important 

 positions in the agriculture of these lands. 



The inquiry is often addressed to the College: " What shall we apply to 

 these lands that will enable them to produce the same crops, and be farmed 

 in the same way, as in the southern counties of this State?" When we 

 attempt to import manures for a single farm we find quite a task. To 

 manure a township is a heavy burden, but what will be the cost and 

 labor of manuring many counties? We must attempt the solution of this 

 problem of the plains, not by importing the materials to make these soils 

 productive, but by developing their dormant resources. The line of inquiry 

 should be: " What do they now contain? What can they produce in their 

 present condition? How can we bring these soils by using their own 

 resources to a higher state of productiveness? What system of cropping is 

 best suited to these soils in this climate?" To make the soil feed itself is a 

 central fact in farming. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



I am satisfied that these plains when properly subdued and skillfully man- 

 aged will make good farms. They contain all the elements of fertility, and 

 any deficiency can be supplied at small expense and by skillful rotation. 

 With the same chemical composition in a slow and compact soil I should be 

 less hopeful. But the quick and porous nature of this soil makes up for a 

 smaller percentage of chemicals of growth by permitting a wider range of 

 root distribution for gathering the ash elements for plant life. 



The fact that red clover makes a good growth on tliese soils is full of sig- 

 nificance. In all the range of plant life I know nothing that equals red 

 clover as an accumulator of plant food. Its deep and wide reaching taproot 

 explores the soil for plant food as with a search warrant; it is nature's man- 



