Show COMMENTS ON THE agriculture OF THE state note this article was written during the fall of 0 1896 as the result of a trip over the state in connection with the farmers institute work during the summer of 1896 it was reserved for the institute annual but other matter crowded it out it is believed however that it contains matter that would be of value to our agriculturists and is as applicable today as a year and a half ago when written F B LINFIELD agricultural college logan observations made in various parts of the state point to the methods pursued by some or our farmers my object in writing is to show a few dangers that threaten and how the same may be avoided after having visited the major portion of the best farming districts of the state and observed things from the standpoint of an agricultural ri it student I 1 wish to present a few thoughts along the line of those observations in presenting one phase of these thoughts it seems to be wise to go back somewhat to the origin of things and give a reason for the points that will be presented and to follow out the same in logical order no person who has traveled through and over the mountain ridges of the state but basor may have observed the gradual disintegration of the rocks which ultimately form the soil of the valleys the weathering effects of rain and heat and cold have been gradually and for ages been pulverizing the surface of the mountain sand the floods of spring and summer have carried down the decomposed rocks and spread them over the valley undoubtedly the major portion of this filling between the mountains has been sedimentary yet no one who witnessed the effects of the cloudbursts cloud bursts of recent years could fall fail to recognize them as important agencies in the work especially ally in forming the surface soil in many places for the most part the mountains of the state are devoid of timber and vegetable growth owing to the slight rain fall As a rule it is only in small and secluded gulches where the drifted snows of winter furnish a fountain of life for summer growth or beside the mountain fed streams which wind their way down the canyons do we find anything approaching the timbered areas of humid regions and then it to is naught but an approach it is thus evident that our soils contain a mixture of mineral with a minimum of vegetable matter how different this from the atlantic states where once stood the forest primeval with the ground covered with vegetable mould or again on the vast plains of the central west where the growing grass furnish tor for ages but the bison sustenance nence and gave a deep rich black soil full of organic matter the of the rocks do not cease when the crumbling part particles ioles are curried carried down into the valley the forces of nature are yet at work changing its physical and chemical properties the insolvable forms break up one upon another forming new compounds natures great laboratory is ever at work and change not rest reat is in the natural order of things yes and d what mighty forces she has at work man Is at best but a poor and weak imitator and follower in those regions which have an abundant rainfall the de solved soil ingredients are quickly carried om off percolating down through the soil and finally finding its way to the ocean in arid regions where the rain fall to is not sufficient to dissolve and carry off the salts formed they accumulate in the subsoil sub soil this accumulation of salt is in not uncommon throughout the tate state ta te but I 1 noticed it most markedly in the th southern counties with a light fari gation gallon which is not sufficient to wash washa the soil the rapid evaporation 0 of f w water ater 1 from the surface which the I 1 lare r g e amount of sunshine in our clima climate t P I 1 in 11 duces these salts tend to come to the tha surface accumulate there and kill feirt elation eta tion evidences of this trouble W aers ere apparent in some of the older settled settle cT districts in the southern part of state full details and explanation of this difficulty are given in the oal station report for 1894 5 and in ill the yeat year book of the department of afi agriculture washington D C for the th year 1895 the latter may be 0 obtained t ne by applying to either of the sena senators ra or to the representative from utah a at con n gress the various salt lakes ponds arid and marches in the valleys of the arid regio regi oft which for ages have flowed into these theae places carrying with them the dissolved dissolve salts of the rocks and soil the oa 01 outlet has been by vip oration whid has cabled oft off the water but left vask tal salts which have accumulated in th M remaining water in some places co con l cent ration of the salts have continued continue until part of them have been per elpi 1 bated this is seen every year in mar danl marshy places where the evaporation evaporate of water leaves a white coat of al alkali or salt on the surface y plants get their sustenance main from three sources their miner mineral ma ter from the soil the disint ad rock their nitrogenous matter hl in animal produces lean meat the CU curd of milk and the white of egg sorn some times popularly called flesh former forme from the soil mainly from dottl vegetation and the woody fl artimes starch sugar fat etc from the ai oil the latter is everywhere abunda abundant A our soils contain an abundance an and d fi some places a superabundance of rata in oral eral matter and the only likely aas fici ency is in the vegetable or trog ous matter y the method of cropping followed ajl most of the farmers of the state is i elusive grain growing mainly of cereal kinds and frequently the a aa kind of grain crop has been grown years on the same land when 1 has been se seeded eded to lucern it has hae b allowed to stand as long as a fair 0 ting could be obtained the efte effect this has been to materially impair impei t fertility of the soil many old se settle tt 1 with whom I 1 conversed bora bop to the fact that as large crops con not be grown now aseere ae were grown t fifteen or twenty years ago sa ingredient which the plant require fr the soil to attain a maximum of apon has been toa largely drawn upon repeated cropping and with dafft in getting the proper food au comes a decreased growth of the a another result that has haa foll fohl from this thia system or rather lack system itt in fax fanning ming has been an j crease in the weed crop wee weeds them H the etain crop raised upon the fat have particular habits of gro growth ath a with certain crops certain weeds tain a maximum of develop rhe again a of cultivate an aai opening pening oi for other weeds to deve dev and take possession of the soil the native weeds of utah that chatal d troublesome are few in num imber heard of but five or six and these them a feared to be but locally droubi the imported weeds however make very long list and many of them found quite abundant from is kanab I 1 made imade a note olf of tine the which I 1 observed in the var harlaug vari laug p but having no key with nie ae 1 taur four to six kinds which I 1 reab as lit imported ported weeds I 1 c could a not 14 lather elther could I 1 find the technical name bt bf the various local weeds which had different common names in different places the list of weeds which I 1 append pend were not all found in any one place twenty one being the largest found in any one lo locality caNty aelier do I 1 pretend to say they were so that might have been found I 1 noticed too that some weeds owing to ht variety of soil and climate in the various valleys were much worse in ao me places than in others in fact a very ery bad weed in some places was not at all troublesome in others some however as noted above seemed quite at home everywhere anever I 1 never saw healthier whistles thistles es and I 1 have seem acres of them three feet high and preparing to give forth a mass of bloom another bad weed which is just getting a hold yet thrives well is false flax A third is the dodder called by some love tangle which I 1 found scattered here and there in every part of the state in some places it was so bad as to destroy large patches of lucern another very bad weed which is gaining a foot hold in many parts of the state is the bind weeder wild morning glory it is a weed eed very difficult to kill and seeds profusely some of the plants here given as troublesome weeds might not be so classed LIST OP OF WEEDS WEE DS OV OF COMMON NAME TECHNICAL NAVEL NAME DURATION destroying 1 pos fox tall or squirrel j prevent seeding tall annual cultivation B i clean seed burning wil audo d oats ats avena A vena fadua annual pasturing s J 3 2 dandelion biennial cultivation 4 sunflower helianthus Hei Hel ianthus lanthus annaus annual prevent seeding jar lambs quarters lum album annual prevent seeding j prevent seeding 16 wild bettuo e sc arlola ariola annual cultivation A rag weed ambrosia annual prevent seeding j prevent seeding mustard annual hood hoed crops fei bindweed or morn I 1 prevent tsee seeding ling gl ang glory convolvulus arvenus alvenis perennial late cultivation fw 1 prevent seeding cocklebur strum arlum annual 1 cultivation Por a oler ole acea races annual close cultivation j prevent seeding bed root or pig weed Amarant amaranthus bus retroflex us annual thorough cultivation cockle gith gl thao ago annual clean seed barnyard grass crus g alli annual prevent seeding purse bursa bursa burga annual cultivation tune june grass or j thorough cultivation P pigeon geon grass glanca annual I 1 hoed crops cultivation et clover alba perennial prevent seeding lane olata perennial cultivation j alternate cultivation wild onion vinealen vine alea perennial and heavy cropping j alternate cultivation doak bumen crispus perennial and heavy cropping A j prevent seeding wild parsnip Pas saliva biennial cultivation or of love tangle cuscutis bymum annual clean seed RioU thistle lanceola biennial cultivation poor weed perennial cultivation j clean seed wild buckwheat convolvulus ann annual URI cultivation vulgar perennial cultivation cabaris perennial cultivation N i thorough cultivation thistle annual 1 smothering crops J prevent seeding ock lappa biennial cutting below crown j prevent seeding weed Asole pias syrians perennial cultivation weed poleg anum pennsyl j prevent eilt seeding annual cultivation i cultivation an thistle cardias arven sis perennial heavy cropping achilles Ao hillea mille follum perennial cultivation J thorough cultivation lon perennial heavy crop cropping 7 1 hoed crop Phy lanoe elatus perennial heavy cropping 1 1 j cultivation i bur or bur grass tribu loles annual 1 hoeing abromas annual olean clean seed seea prevent seeding IN rex Camel camelina his sativa dativa annual hoe crops I 1 thorough cultivation leaf mallow malva perennial hood hoed crops were added the five ave or at six and the few imported fiat I 1 could not n name ame we have a of af nearly fifty weeds that require ten or fifteen weeds in the X noticed as being most i though there sure sav a kew few have been apparently just Lw fllch may yet be some of the canadian thistle in only two places in the gan aard nd in ili coyote ker er place alae in a farm farist garden carden A by some such as sweet clover ho horehound re catnip plan yarrow etc as aa they are found in n neglected eg fields and along tine the fences yet in some places I 1 believe the people will wilk b bear ea r me out in putting them in this list As with all plants we may divide weeds into three general classes according to their period of growth first an are those which grow from seeds to maturity and produce seed and then die dl in one season seconds second bien nials or those which take two years to complete their growth and produce seed third perennials or thine which live for many years and propagate themselves both by seed and roots fihe two former may be killed by preventing prevent lne the plant from going to seed for a few bev r years while to kill the perennials requires thorough cultivation and ini in some cases smothering crops to live a plant must breathe so that if i the vegetative portion is prevented from coming above the surface of the ground the root must die again many weeds such as mustard wild oats etc have oily seeds while others have a thick hard cokeing cov eing these may retain their vitality when buried deeply in the soil for a seed to germinate a proper degree of heat and moisture in the presence of o f air is necessary if either one is absent the seed will not germinate and if it is oily or has a flinty covering it may lie dormant for many years which explains the difficulty of ridd ridding ing a neglected farm of weeds the questions then for or us to solve lit ift this connection are how to maintain and improve the fertility of at our ur soil and how to control and to rid the farm fanny of the weeds to answer those questions intelligently requires a little study of the nature of the grain and fodder crops which we grow upon the form the most of these crops may be divided into two to classes according to the manner in which tho fhe seed is prodoc produced ed on oft the plant or oray 49 cording to the substances which they require from th the e soil cerela cereal crops of dit which wheat oats barley corn tite ti othy are examples generally have their seeds in a head and with t ly chaff and they gather their ou custea ance as regards mineral and d ni nitrogen tr ft ous matters from the soil I 1 thus tend to impoverish I 1 it the wier other class of crops of which peas pea beans lucern and clover are examples wry called legumes this class of plants may be distinguished by the fact bet that hat the seeds grow in a pod thill may be divided into two parts and a tm ha seed grows on one edge of the pod only in addition to the sustenance which these plants get from the 60 fidfl they have the power through ate a agency of micros parasites at gathering the nitrogenous or flern forming material from the ar air star storing ring it up in their roots root s thus at plants tend to enrich the soll soil to J bitof im i that constituent which the soil of tw state to Is in ila many places deAd deficient lent a jugum leguminous inaus crop while hile storing a inu ir 0 amount of nitrogenous material in ate leaves and stocks yet accumulate such a large 16 d V olt the surface outface soil is acted actuary r nitrogenous material after the AM was grown than before to iichi idi 2 11 1 1 the nitrogen contents of the there leguminous fore crops should ie 00 at frequent intervals opine have long roots and feed artro lal layers of soil while bulit ta ft the surface soil thew thesa ataw nate again same crops S reach Y ity early in the i year while ae with others the period of gy growth howth et extends tends V well tit 1 wd the fall some crops CPS are u during their growing perlo fi ftp the hoed crops will keep the weeds 3 subjection many thoughts in this direction katr for more extended notice but VW of s e 4 gives opportunity for the destruction of weeds while for other crops am all the fhil vv cultivation Is done before tw they itte are sown i if all the above cha br S crops were made use of la in A arranged rotation neither thi the detta 1 ing fertility of the soil nor indr crease in the number and pro ness of the weeds need ever N botham M to any extent the antell of leguminous crops and tbt rou cultivation of the soil wo VV I 1 bellel eva indefinitely maintain the fertility of ap a p i i ta jl fal our soil while a good rotation properly I 1 handled with thorough cultivation of eject is to give principles and not the how of their application which win will vary with different conditions and in different places one thought however calls for further notice with an increase in the num number r an and var variety y 0 of crops 8 s some might question where could they be marketed the quest question lon should be easily answered with the market we |