The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-05
FARMERS AIDED by SCIENCE.
Practical Results Of Last Years work Mt
the Experiment stations.


No book ID more certain Of a large cir
culation than the year Book" OF the De.
partment of Agriculture. The volume
for 1909 has just appeared. A half.millioH
copies have been printed and OF these 1000
are for distribution among the farmers oi
the country.
One Of the most interesting articles IN
the new volume relates to the results OF
experiment station work. Our agricultural
experiment stations now form the most
complete system Of agricultural research
in the world and the results they attain are
influencing our farmers to large extent
There are sixty Of these stations. employ
ing nearly 1000 trained scientific and prac-
teal men; and they are in operation in every
State and Territory, including Alaska,
Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines.
Their annual income last year was 81 1928, 847
Of which sum S720, 600 came from the Federal
Government, and s8Os, SAT from State APP
preparations and other sources. The
stations have existed as national enter
prise for fourteen years and the outlay
for agricultural investigation in that time
has been at the rate of 81 for nearly 5000
worth of farm products, which cannot be
considered an extravagant outlay.
Here are some results of the work of the
stations:
Our farmers spend over s50,OOO,O00
year for fertilizers and the stations there
for have given particular attention to this
subject Fraud and extravagant asser-
tons about fertilizers have been largely
ali mi mt n md mr. Ia
of farmers are buying fertilizers more i'm
diligently and economically. They also
know just what they are using in terms Of
nitrogen, phosphoric acid. and potash
with the reasons for using them.
The annual loss TO our farmers from
waste Of barnyard manure is estimated
at s7,OOO,OOO Many of the stations have
given special attention to the economic
use Of manure on the farm, with the result
that better methods for it's care and use
are being employed.
The successful introduction of Mansury
barley, for which the Wisconsin station is
mainly responsible has increased the yield
of barley over a wide region. with results
worth millions OF dollars.
Kaffir corn was introduced about fifteen
years ago by the stations in California,
Kansas and Oklahoma. II has been found
specially suited to regions OF scanty rainfall.
The crop in Kansas alone in 1900 was valued
at over s8,OOO,OO0.
A variety Of oats introduced by the
Department Of Agriculture and tested
and improved bv the Wisconsin and other
stations has been widely distributed and
is grown with an average increased yield
wherever it is sown OF from three to five
bushels an acre.
The various macaroni wheats which have
been tested under varying conditions by
a number Of the stations have proved so
successful that the United States will
probably produce all the macaroni il con-
sumes in the course of a few years
The Investigations of the experiment
stations in the Southern States have con-
vinced farmers that many varieties OF
forage plants may be more successfully
grown in the South than was supposed
and have laid the foundation for a wide
development of the live stock and dairy
indust ries Of that region.
The Department Of Agriculture and the
Connecticut State station, cooperating with
local tobacco growers, have within the
last three years demonstrated that a fine
grade of Sumatra wrapper tobacco may
be grown under shade in the Connecticut
Valley Prof. Whitney says that this dis
covery will increase the value of the light
per cent.
Speaking Of the work OF the Minnesota
station in breeding wheat, W. =. HARDWOOD
has recently written that IL ia not only quite
possible, but is indeed an established fact,
that wheats superior to the best the world
has possessed may now be produced. BY
the use Of the new wheats the crop of the
hard wheat region of the Northwest may
be increased from thsee to five bushels to
the acre.
The stations of the Northwestern States
have extended the limits of corn culture
by proving. by careful selections OF varie-
ties and modified Methods Of culture, that
this crop may be grown in regions hereto
fore believed to be unsujted to corn culture.
The stations have been prominent in the
Investigations which have led TO the new
system of forcing vegetables in the field
and under glass for supplying the markets
with fresh vegetables at all seasons of the
year. For example, the winter culture Of
lettuce in eastern North Carolina is now
yielding over 100000 year. The Ohio
station discovered that onions started
in the greenhouse or under frames from
seed and then transplanted to the open field
produce larger onions and earlier and
heavier crops than by the usual methods
of tillage and seeding This discovery is
changing the methods OF onion culture.
These are only few of the many ways
in which the experiment stations are help
lating TO protective measures against
plant diseases and injurious insects, the
storage and utilization of fodder crops
breeding and dairying, the protection OF
farmers against fraud and many other
topics have beep IF tho Ttpnpat valua