Arizona republican., 1900-10-20
AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION
First Days Session of the Annual
 Meeting.

The Sixth annual meeting of the Art- zona Agricultural association convened yesterday morning at Oo.cIoek in For jster's hall.
 The president. R. II. Forbes of Tucson. delivered his annual address. the subject being '"The Open Range and the Farmer The address illustrated how the overstocking of the range country leads to floods in the rainy seasons. followed by seasons of scarcity Of water. Also that scant turf leaves greater opportunity for gullying during heavy rains, this in turn causing silt, which makes more difficult the work of irrigationists and threatens the life of reservoirs. Pro lessor Newell has stated that the pros pective life of reservoirs is from etSth- teen to siXty-seVen years. With proper protection against silt the life of the reservoir is heightened. Profess IF Forbes maintains that the proper ad- ministration of the range lands is as necessary as that of forest lands. and believes that opportunity exists for a great work to be done in aid of irriga- tion in Arizona by a proper administra- ton of the range lands.
 Professor \. J. McClatchie followed with an interesting paper on the Pres ent Commercial Aspect of the Date in- dustry." He called attention to the possibilities of date culture in this ter ritory and particularly in this valley. The first dates ever produced in the United States for market were raised by Mrs. $. n. LOunt of Phoenix and were sold to Phoenix customer for SS. This year the date crop of the eN- pertinent station northwest of Phoenix was put up in neat packages and sold readily at 25 cents a pound. Mrs. LOunt's tree this year produced 200 pounds of dates and from the two trees at the experiment station there was gathered 25O and 300 pounds. respect lively. The figures suggest the profit there will be in the industry in the near future and this is emphasized by the fact that dates grow on an alkaline soil. lands on which ac the present time no other crop can be profigably raised. Experiments on larger scale are now in progress near Tempe. and their success will mean a great deal to this region.
 r.. A Spaulding of Phoenix read paper on Orange Growing" giving tho result of his own experience. He gave especial emphasis to the necessity of attention to details of planting and close irrigation in order to get the best results in growth. He favored the con struction of cement reservoirs near the orchards so that in seasons of a short age of water the irrgating could be done at night by way of economy and the preventing of evaporation.
 The afternoon session was opened with a piano duet by Mrs. A. E. Elm bree and Mr. John Messinger.
 Professor G. II. True followed with an instructive talk on "The Value of a Dairy Herd Record" or a daily record of the different cows in the dairy herd He presented figures collected last year on a herd of thirty cows and after de- ducting the expense of keeping them he found the profit ranged from S9 to $63 each. The most valuable COW was not the one giving the richest milk. OF the one giving the greatest quantity of milk. There was. a medium of virtue in all qualities. In order to know which cows were the' 'protitable ones in the dairy it is necessary to keep an indi- vidual record for d considerable length of time. Any farmer can afford the aX- pense of d small tester and the extra trouble to gain this Knowledge.
 At the evening session the chief fea- ture of the programme was an address by Mr. M. M. Parker. president of the University of Arizona at Tucson. His topic was "The Relation of the uuiver- sity to the Farmer" and he discourscd very entertainingiy upon the benefits tO be derived from the agricultural. min ing or various other courses at the ter ritorial school According to MT Park TT the university is in excellent condf- tiOn. but in need of more room and considerable paraphernalia. for which the next legislature will be asked to make an appropriation.
 A paper upon "'Milk as d Food by Mrs. A. J. McClatchie of Phoenix. proved a trained treatise upon the valued treatise upon the value of the lacteal fluid as an article of daily diet. as compared with other food products
 Home Literature" was the subject of a paper by Mrs. F. A. Fowler. of Glendale, ana she indicated of what importance was d careful discrimina- tion in the selection of reading matter. that it might serve to interest and in struct the members of the home circle
 The loss of Miss Palmer's solo. through the absence of her accompan- ist was a disappointment to the audi ence, but several coruet and piano duets. by the Rev. Martin Bird and Miss Bessie Hough of Tempe. were much appreciated. Miss Palmer may sing at this mornings session.
 The programme for today is as fol- lows:
 Morning session. 9:3O o'clock-"Pro- ducts of the Upper Gila Valley" Pro-