Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-16
United States Has the Most
Complete System of Agri-
cultural Research
WIDE APPLICATION OF RESULTS
This is to Great Extent Due to the
Close Cooperation Between the Ma
tionaI Government and the States,
by Means of Experiment Stations
Some Interesting Facts.

the United States has, in that de-
experiment stations, the most complete
system of agricultural research in the
world and that the results obtained
thru these agencies have had wider
application and have influenced to a
greater extent the masses of the far
mers than in any other country. Ag-
ricultural experiment stations are now
in operation in every state and ter
ritory, including the Philippines. In
nearly 1000 trained scientific, prac-
teal men. In 1902 the income of these
stations was $1.32S,S47. of which $780,
600 came from the government and
$60S,S47 from the states and other
sources. During the fourteen years of
their existence there has been expended
in maintenance about S14,00o.o00, of
which s10,00o,o00 came from the ma
tional treasury and S4,000.000 from the
states. During the same period the
agricultural products of the country
S1v,VVu,uVppVVV.
other words, the outlay for agricultural
investigation has been at the rate Of
81 for nearly $4,000 worth of product.
Cooperation between the national
government and the state by means of
the experiment stations is very close.
w. H. Beal, chief of the editorial di-
vision Of the office OF experiment sta
tons, calls attention to a number of
highly practical results which have fol.
lowed this cooperation, and shows
how the farmer and the country get
much more than value received" for
every dollar expended in scientific ag
ricultural investigation. One of the
most striking of these results. and 1t
is only one Of many, has to do with the
inspection and study of fertilizers, and
because this work has been done an in
dustry whose annual sales are $50,O00,-
GOO, directly affecting over thirty states,
is conducted on high Plane of hon
esty and efficiency. The farmers un-
derstand fertilizing. know how to apply
its principles economically, and are
In position to escape fraud. The in
vestigationS made by the New Jersey
experiment station are saving the far
mers of that state more than a mil
lion dollars per year, and in a single
year pay the total expenses of the eX-
pertinent station from the time of its
foundation, in 1880, down to the present
time. A single good wheat crop in
Minnesota will pay for all that the st.
Anthony Park station has cost the
state, a hundred times over.
Mr.. Beal says:
In no respect has the benefit from
station work in connection with the
Introduction of new varieties been
greater than in the case of cereals.
Notable instances of the successful in
PRODUCTION OF new cereal crops are
Mansbury barley, for which the Wis
consin station is mainly responsible
and which has materially increased
the yield OF barley over a wide region,
with results worth millions of dollars
and kafir corn. first distributed by
this department in 1886, and introduced
to practical use on a large scale by
the stations In California, Kansas AM
Oklahoma. kaflr corn has been found
specially suited to conditions in which
the rainfall is too scanty for the most
successful culture OF corn. The crop
in Kansas alone in 1899 was valued at
over $6,0000o0.
A variety of oats introduced by the
department and tested and improved
by the Wisconsin station among other
ers has been widely distributed and
grown with results which indicate that
its general Introduction viii be followed
by an average increase of yield of from
three to five bushels per acre. AS the
area devoted to oats in Wisconsin alone
lie 1901 was 2.290,2SS acres, producing
66,64I,381 bushels, estimated to be
worth $25,992,3S1. this would mean II
maintained turnout the state, gain
to the farmers of Wisconsin annually Of
from $2,40O.00O to s4,4O0,000 on the oats
crop alone.
After quoting a paragraph from w.
is. Harwood's notable article in Serb
ner's regarding experiment station
work and plant breeding, Mr.. Beal says
that ut is very evident that the yield
and quality of wheat in Minnesota are
undergoing a marked Improvement as
"a result especially of the distribution
OF seed of two improved varieties origi-
mated by the experiment station Of
that state, and that similar improve
ment. tho probably less marked, is un-
ooubtedly arising from similar work by
ton And he then says:
Some very useful results have been
secured in similar work on forage
plants, fruits, etc. Thus Hansen, at the
South Dakota station. is making con-
siderable progress in developing varie-
ties of fruits suited to a region which
presents almost insurmountable obsta-
cies TO the culture of ordinary varieties,
and the value of the Ignotum tomato
and the Hum strawberry, both origi-
mated by station men, is generally rec
ognized.
The stations have been Very active
in Investigations which have led to the
adoption of better methods of culture.
A notable example is found in the SUD
stitution in the gEain growing region
of rotations to conserve soil fertility for
the exhaustive system of continuous
grain cropping and bare fallow, pracs,
tees heretofore generally followed ana
which have caused soma of the best
wheat lands. such as those of the IA
nous Red river valley, to begin TO show
a marked decline In productveness. In
parts of the same region, subject 10 So
we're summer drousnts, the stations
have demonstrated the advantages and
urged with considerable effect on prac-
tice the cultivation of winter wheat,
which natures earlier than the COM
monly grown spring wheat, and so IN
a large measure escapes injury from
drought. The. more extended cultiva-
'tion of winter wheat VIII largely In