Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-07-11
THE TRIP 70 THE COLLEGE.
Burleigh County Farmers Report an
Enjoyable Trip to the State
Agricultural College.
See the Results of Scientific Farming
and Learn Much That is of
Benefit.

That the delegation of Burleigh
county farmers, who visited the Agri-
cultural college and experiment sta
ton at Fargo on Tuesday have re-
ceived an. object lesson in scientific
farming and stock breeding that will
be of lasting benefit to them is the
admission of all who attended.
j. There they saw a section of land
that fourteen years ago was a wilder
ness Of weeds as the result of the pro-
miscuous farming that is usually done
by the thoughtless and uninformed,
transformed into a veritable Eden of
farm perfection, dotted here and there
with small plats and surrounded by
rows of shade and ornamental trees
and shrubs, with tasteful lawns about
the various buildings showing the dif-
ferent varieties of lawn grasses.
Here, as we'll as in the fields were
shown the advantages of the advanced
and thorough methods of agriculture
that are employed in all that is lone
on the college farm.
The buildings on the farm are the
perfection of convenience and
thorough adaptability to the uses for
which they We're designed.
The grounds are well laid out and
conveniently arranged for the pur-
poses of experimenting in the cultiva-
ton, seeding and growth OF the differ
emit farm crops, and for the proper
rotation of crops SO as to secure the
best results. ...
The visiting farmers We're shown
about the farm, inspecting the various
plats, while the different methods
adopted in each case were being ex-
,plained. All kinds of farm crops are
grown on these plats and all kinds OF
methods are pursued in order to de-
termine for the benefit, not only OF the
students in attendance, but OF the
general farming public who are reach
ed through the college bulletins that
are issued for gratitous distribution
from time to time the best methods to
pursue.
Not only are the various methods
of soil and crop culture here taught,
but instruction is also given in lily
stock breeding and Judging, dairying
and kindred sciences.
Along the lines of crop culture a
great deal of attention is paid to the
matter of "seed breeding" until it has
been determined that the same results
can be attained in perfecting seed to a
given purpose the same as in case OF
the different kinds of live stock. This
was shown in the lecture room where
Prof. Ladd had gone into a fax field
and selected seed from two stalks of
fax-one for the production of fiber
by reason of it's being straight and de-
void of limbs or branches-and the
ether for it's adaptation Tor the pro-
duction of seed by reason of its wide
branching habits, and from the seed
of these two stalks he has succeeded
in developing to distinct varieties of
fax. Similar results were obtained in
the selection of wheat seed. The start
was made a few years ago with n
kernel from a given field, and careful
selections have been made each year
until an increase in yield of some three
bushels per acre has been secured over
the same variety of wheat selected at
random. And in the course of the dis
cussion it was shown that had every
farmer in the state used the same ARE
in the selection of seed the wheat pro-.
duct Of North Dakota last year would
have been worth some 50, 100000 more
than with the methods of selection that
have been pursued by the farmers of
the state.
Not only is the institution OF value
as an educational factor, but the
courses of study pursued there
to give the students a higher idea Of
farm life, thus wedding them to it,
80 that they come back to the farms
with an awakened interest in the work
that is before them.