Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-01-09

sources OF supply or SOOu water. ant
| of the draining of our marsh lands
would all fall within the sphere of al
efficient geological survey.
There is a growing demand for sucf
| information. and its dissemination
would tend to stimulate the develop
ment of our mineral resources 1 be
lieve that a reasonable appropriation
for the beginning Of such q worf
should be made.
Agricultural Colleges.
I recommend to your careful consid
Grafton an investigation of the agri
cultural college of the University OF
Illinois and of the valuable services
rendered by that institution. to the end
that the sphere Of its usefulness may
be enlarged. In this connection, 1 be
lieve that the attention of our citizens
should be called to a few Of the dis.
coveries made by the experiment sta.
ton at the agricultural college. Fol
example, il has increased the oil con
tent Of corn by one-thfrd, raising its
market value ) cents per bushel. The
general application of the discovery to
the corn crop of the state would in
crease by $2,5O0.OOO the value of the
corn used by the factories in this state
alone. 1t has increased the protein
contents OF corn two per cent. an in
crease equal to S6.OCO.0OO annually in
the value of that part OF the corn crop
Of the state which is used for feeding
purposes.
For the purpose Of utilizing and Civ
ing wide distribution to the results of
these experiments, twenty farms In
our state are engaged in raising such
varieties for seed. to be generally dis
tributed throughout this and other
states. and / am informed that the adj.
vancement made in the actual COM
mercial use OF such corn has been
greater than has heretofore been &C.
complished in the United States.
Alfalfa in Illinois
The station has shown that alfalfa
failed for thirty years to grow in Hi
nois. because of the lack of the proper
bacteria to gather nitrogen. Il has
brought I'm the proper incubation and
distributed 1t freely over the state. and
now that crop is successfully grown
here. 1t has shown that certain lands
in southern Illinois are acid to an ex-
tent which prevents growth of bacteria
and the gathering of nitrogen by this
natural and expensive means. and has
determined the proper amounts of lime
to supply in order TO correct this acidi-
ty. 1t has shown that as a whole the
state is well supplied with potassium.
but that only the very best lands have
enough PHOSPHORUS for maximum
crops. and that our soils will fail first
at this point. 1t has shown that the
soils OF southern Illinois contain but
one-half enough PHOSPHORUS for the
best Yields: hence their crops are
limited by PHOSPHORUS. not by seasons
as they should be.
The station has discovered some
thousands of acres of swampy land
which are abnormaIy rich in nitrogen
and PHOSPHORUS, but so deficient in
potassium as to yield but one or two
crops of corn With an expenditure of
$3.50 to 81 for potassium salts the
yield of corn has been raised from six
or seven bushels to forty bushels and
even seventy bushels per acre, accord
ing to the season. The station is con
Quoting n soil survey of the state, cOun-
ty by county. and tests of these diff
ferent soils are made in the station
laboratory.
Ravages of Bitter Rot.
The disease of bitter rot destroyed
over one million bushels of apples in
four counties of the state in the yeaI
1900, and while the station has not
vet succeeded i'm DISCRIMINATING the dis
eas Sc. it has found ways of largely pre-
venting its ravages and saving most of
the crop. The work will continue until
this dangerous disease is entirely
eradicated. The station has also dem
onstrated the value of cultivation and
spraying for orchard fruits.
The station has shown that some |
cows can make milk and butter on
the food required by others. |
1t has been shown also that some
steers gain four times as much as
others in a given time. and ii keeps |
men constantly i'm the field among the
dairy farmers trying to improve the
quality of milk and butter and testing
for better methods of feeding. Its eX-
hibitions in Chicago and st. Louis this
year attracted marked attention.
Six years ago the college of agri-
culture had fewer than twenty stu
dents, with only five instructors. Now
Il has 1855 students (of whom seventy
one are women and twenty-five
teachers.
The development Of the producing
power OF the state beyond what is
likely to be affected by private enter
prfses. is matter of public policy.
The agricultural college OF Illinois
should be TO our state what the de-
,artment of agriculture is to the United
States. II should be continually max
ng experiments. 1t should keep in
'ouch with discoveries made through
but the world and apply them to con-
litions here Such information should
De disseminated by bulletins and tracts
ssued to the people. The dissemina-
ion OF such information would not
only tend TO prevent great losses but
would improve the quality of fooo