The Red Cloud chief., 1903-11-13
LARGEST IN WORLD
An Experiment Station Of 1000
Acres
KANSAS PROUD PossEssoR
The old Fort Hays Military Reservation
Bsing Transformed Into h hest
Property In the state.


government has eve done for the west
was the transferring Of the old Fort
Hays military reservation to the state
of Kansas, and the establishment OF
the experiment station on the eastern
half Of the reservation by the state.
The Hays experiment farm Is by far
the largest In the world. II comprises
four thousand acres of the best land in
western Kansas. and 1t permits expert
ments to be conducted on a scale COM
mensurate with the way farming is
carried on in the west.
When the IA department picked out
the site for Fort Hays and It's reserva-
ton away back In the Indian days, it
selected Just about as good farming
land as there Is in that part of the
state. In that respect II differs greatly
from the Fort Riley reservation. The
reservation contained about 1900 acres.
1t lies on the south side of Big creek, a
well timbered stream in which there Is
An abundance OF water, and the north
east boundary Of the reservation just
included the creek within its lines, so
that the land IN the experiment farm
Is largely bottom land and the rich
prairie which rises just enough to give
u U BOOu uTulnaBe.
After the government abandoned the
reservation in 1889 1t vas supposed that
It would some time be opened to set
Element and 1t was covered by settlers.
Some OF these secured a homestead in
terest in the land so that when the gov
eminent came to turn 1t ove to the
state 1t vas found difficult to d~islodge
them. To save trouble, on the advice
OF Attorney General GODDARD leases were
given to those settlers who had legal
claims on their homesteads. Some Of
the leases run until 1906, but all expire
by that time. At present about 200
acres OF the experiment farm are
leased. But while the state will not
get the use Of the land during that time
IL will be broken out and well cult
waited, SO that the state will be saved
that expense.
While the work on the experiment
station has only started comparatively.
several very valuable experiments are
well under way. Tests are made with
one hundred and sixty-five different va
rieties Of wheat last year to ascertain
their productiveness and this test will
be continued. An experiment is in
progress this fall to ascertain whether
the time Of blowing for wheat makes
any difference with the crop. Super
intendent Haney began blowing soon
after harvest last summer, n 4 tract
was plower every two months until
few weeks ago. Then 1t was all seeded
at once. Care will be taken to ascer.
tain IL the ground which was plowet
early produces better than that which
was plowed late, as some allege.
Another experiment Of value to the
western farmer Is designed to ascer'
tain the effect of Kaffir corn upon the
ground. Some farmers allege that {
heavy crop Of Kaffir corr so deplete:
the soil of moisture that it will no
produce other crops well for a year o.
two afterwards. This will be tested.
superintendent Haney is also breed
ing new varieties and crosses OF wheat
This work has been carried on extern
sively in Minnesota for a number o
years, and extremely valuable results
have been secured for the Minnesot;
wheat growers. Superintendent Hane.
desires to ascertain what varietie
Weld the heaviest and what varietie
are the hardest, and then cross tn
two and afterwards, by selection o
the best seed, to breed up the desirable
qualities. He began this work las
year, but II will necessarily require
series of years to get the best results
The interests Of the stockmen OF tn
west are to be looked after in the ex
periments as well as those OF corn an
wheat growers. In the experiments thi
summer the farm has produced q
abundance of rough feed Of all kind:
from alfalfa. sorghum, Kaffir corn an
bromus inermis, to all kinds CT straw
Superintendent Haney has just cor
structed q series of small feeding pen
In each of which he will place eight @
ten calves and they will be fed a def
mite period under the same condition.
but each pen will be given a differer
feed. This experiment will probably /
invaluable In ~ascertaining the best an
cheapest method of producing bah
bee" a subject In which many wester
farmers are interested.
All of these experiments can be col
Quoted on the same sort of a scale tn;
they would be conducted on the ave
age farm, SO that the experiments wi
be of more value than II conducted @
q small scale.
There will also be extensive exper
ments in irrigation the coming year..
? well with an i~nexhaustible supply
water and a pump with a capacity
5000 gallons an hour, TO be operate
by a common traction engine, has bee
sunk In q convenient place, and warrior
experiments to show the cost and II
creased productiveness of irrigation
applied to various crops will be co
. Quoted,