1094 



NORTH CAROLINA 



of New York and other northern cities will come here 

 to make their contracts instead of going to France, 

 Italy and Holland. Already some Holland growers are 

 talking of coming to spy out the land, and the great 

 development of the future in North Carolina will evi- 

 dently be, so far as horticulture is concerned, in bulb 



ulture. 



W. F. Massey. 



NORTH DAKOTA (Fig. 1494) lies between lat. i6° 

 and 49° N. and long. 96° 25' and 104° W. The special ad- 

 vantages of soil and climate for the production of grass 

 and the small grains have given the state great agricul- 

 tural prominence, but little has been done along horti- 

 cultural lines. While it possesses undoubted possi- 

 bilities along certain linos of fruit production, and in 

 the grow in -'of -M-rtriin '■i-^n'tniti,-' ,-;iti Itjrr'lly be excelled, 



yet til.'-.' ii.M... I ,1 . 1,. ..,, ,.,.,,.,, I, .rVd incidental 



and lint I i ; I ;. I : , -nil industries. 



Nortli 1 1 ,. . ,M i. ii : ! ,11 . did not come 



from I'l-iMi r.;; -, Ml,! it ,, r ),, ,, tlii'V occupled 



the land willi .iilni- iiii.ni im] tli:in i" r:ii^.' stocli and 

 grain. At the r:uiii- lim.-.us |)o|iiilji i.m inrr.-.i^.'.s and 

 homes become i-^tal.lisli,.,|, tli.ii- i, tli,, ii:iiui;il ten- 

 dency to protect thrsi' Ih.iims with tr<-< s. oi-iliiih iit them 

 with shrubs and Howers, and furnish the tal.li/s witli 

 vegetables and fruit. Such is the present iiici-ritivi- to 

 activity in horticulture, and its future status will be 

 controlled by the following natural conditions: 



Physical and Geologic Features. -Ita distiinliv rr 

 gions are referred to as the Red river valliy, iln- Tin- 

 tie mountain country, the Devil's Lake nirion, tlio 

 Mouse river country, the James river vall<-y. tin- .Mis 

 souri slope and the western range country, iiHlniliTii; tlo- 

 Bad Lands. The Red river valley is a level plain fr.iiri 

 20 to 30 miles wide on the North Dakota si.lr and .x 

 tending across the state north and south, thns milirar 

 ing an uninterrupted area of some 6,000 sq. niilos, .ill 

 level and of great fertility. This is preeminently the 

 wheat belt of the state, and the character of the soil is 

 such in both physical and chemical properties as to in- 

 sure an excellent growth of such plants as are hardy 

 and will mature within the season. The soil is a lacus- 

 trine deposit containing about 3,S per cent of very fine 

 sand, 55 per cent clay and silt, and 12 per cent organic 

 matter and soluble salts. It is so rich in nitrogen and 

 phosphoric acid as to be quite indifferent to fertilizers, 

 even when applied to such garden vegetables as iloni.-ind 

 the most fertile soils. It rarely bakes under reasonable 

 cultivation, is never lumpy and is very reteiitix e .,( mois- 

 ture. It is unusually well adapted to the cultivation of 

 practically all vegetables, particularly celery and other 

 plants requiring a deep, fine, easily worked soil. 



This general type of soil is not confined to the Red 

 river valley, but is the predominating surface soil for 

 most of the state lying east of meridian 101 and of 

 considerable tracts still further west. The subsoil in the 

 Red river valley lying under three or four feet of very 

 dark loam is uniformly a soft yellowish clay extending 

 to a great depth. Much of tlie subsoil ontsi.le of the 

 valley is largely made uj' of lirnily roniii.Hted sand, 

 with a small percentage ol riav. Sueh Ian. Is aii- not so 

 good as those having the el,,y subsoil, but with the good 

 surface soil which they suiiport tliey are capable of pro- 

 ducing large yields in seasons not too dry. They are 

 naturally not so well adapted to horticultural operations 

 as are the lands having the clay subsoil. 



Speaking in general, the soil lying west of the 100th 

 parallel, also that of the Missouri sb>pe. Turtle moun- 

 tain and Mouse river countries is all w. II siiiie.l lo vege- 

 table and fruit culture, though parinl failui.- may re- 

 sult from short seasons. This is esp. riallv true iipnn 

 the level, rich soil of the Red river vallev, wlii.li t.-nds 

 to prolong the growth of sm-li plants as the -r.ipe ,-iml 

 apple beyond the season in wlii.li tlie\ slionl.l matun . 

 the more rolling surfaia- ol' llie land aien}; tlie .'Missouri 

 river affords opportunitv to select favorable silcs for 

 fruit plantations, and iliere is ,|,,ulitless some advantage 

 in the soil itself. Tliis i- apparent in the cultivation of 

 the grape, or sueh ve-, table, as the tomato, squash and 

 melon. So far atteni|.ts lo -row fruit on the lighter and 

 more rolling soils, avoidintr the extremes, has met with 

 reasonable success. On the heavier soils and level 

 lands success has been confined to the cultivation of 



NORTH DAKOTA 



such small fruits as the currant, gooseberry, raspberry 

 and American plum and vegetables maturing not later 

 than the earliest sorts of tomato or second early sweet 

 com. In connection with the fact that attempts at 

 apple culture have generally been unsuccessful, it 

 should be remembered that plants, as a rule, cannot 

 make long jumps. The line of apple culture is grailu- 



those, like tlie WeailliN- and I 'eerle-s, that leiM' m-igi- 

 nated in the ii,,\M,r phie,... a re-iMn s,, I'ar removed 

 from the apple disiriets as .Xorlli iiakota is must liiivti 

 1 opportunity required to develoj) varieties 



of 



June is 4.17 in. The fact that the great majority of agri- 

 cultural lands in the state are absolutely flat, as near as 

 land may be, and composed of a soil very retentive of 

 moisture, makes what would otherwise be a light rainfall 

 generally sufficient for ordinary needs. Further west 

 than Fargo the rainfall gradually becomes less. For the 

 twenty years between 1870 and 1890 the annual rainfall 

 of the places named below was as follows: Bismarck, 

 IK.lHIin.: F..rt Buford, 13.29 in.; Fort Totten, 17.78 in.; 



i very uniform throughn 

 ereuce that the ransre <■< 



■ state 



higher altitude, as well as ho meie. m|' ihe mo-iloiii tii-r 



of counties gives them a shnrrrr .inii ler slimmer. 



more inclined to frosts. It is only in that seetion that 

 corn has not been considered, so far, as a possible crop. 

 At Fargo the mean temperature for the different 

 mouths since 1892 is as follows: 



•Tan 1.6 M,ly 54,8 Sept 59.1 



05.9 





Oct.. 

 Nov. 



42.3 



Marcli. . . 

 April.... 



The following table of soil temperatures, comparing 



Fargo with Geneva, N. Y., is instructive and shows why, 



with the longer hours of daylight, vegetation develops 



rather more rapidly in North Dakota than in New York : 



1S96 lin. Sin. 6 in. 9 i/i. 



.Tune - Farjjn 0.-..1 62,2 59.6 58,6 



lenev:i 157 :t 66.5 65.5 65 



.Iul.v - Fart;.. Vk'.i 68.8 64.8 64 



,--•'./ i'w ',/:/;.. >.ij,.p!,.. el .-I,;! i:U.e]i 1 roiu different 

 parts of the state from time to time and analyzed by 

 Prof. E. F. Ladd, of the experiment station at Fargo, 

 show that the nitrogen rarely falls below .2 per cent and 

 in most instances reaches from .3 to .5 per cent, with 

 an occasional sample yielding .7 per cent. The potash 

 ranges from .2^ to 1 per cent, the average sample giving 

 about .3 per cent. The phosphates range from .15 to .25 



