The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-11-16
GRAIN GROWING CONTEST.

- al 4 gt.H 8
Rural school Students Will Have Oppor-
tunity to Compete for $500 in Prizes.
A good-seed contest that is designed
to produce the manifold result of in
creasing the yield of grain in Mime
sofa and educating the youth of the
state in practical and successful farm
ing has been announced by the Min
nesota school of agriculture.
Students in rural schools are eligi-
BILE TO participate in the contest for
the So, 500 that will be awarded to win
ners and will be duly entered upon
filling out blanks that may be OBJ
tanned without expense from the
county superintendent Of each district.
The contest is in accord with the
good-seed campaign now being car
ried on through the country, and al
ready sufficient encouragement has
been received by the school of agri-
culture to insure the success ard great
benefit of the venture. r..
Wheat, oats and corn will figure in
the contest. Contestants may choose
either or all of the three grains.
They are expected to obtain their own
seed, but will be urged to search care
fully for the best. The seed should
then be planted in plots of one fourth
or half acre each. A bulletin that
will give definite rules for the contest
is being prepared by Professor G. P.
Bull of the agricultural division of
the experimental station. This bulle-
tin will also give simple test rules for
the three grains, and is designed for
class use, with the hope that it will
be the means of introducing the study
OF the elements of agriculture as a
regular subject in the country schools.
With the movement we'll under wav
next summer and hundreds of little
plats of grain being nursed by ambi-
tious contestants, plans will be made
for county meetings at which results
OF the preliminary contests will be
judged. A program of general inter-
est to farmers, old and young, will be
provided at each county seat on judg-
ing day, and hundreds of older farm
ers who will be drawn to the exhibi-
tlons are expected to derive excellent
seed education from the fine results
that are expected to follow the plant
ing of tested seed. Judges who prob
ably will be appointed by the school
of agriculture will pass upon the ex-
hibits in each county.
10 add interest and value to the
contests the winners of the county con-
tests will participate in a state con-
test. Their samples will be sent to
Minneapolis, where they will pass un-
der the judgment of the State Field
and Crop Breeders association at
the annual meetings of the State Agri-
cultural society each January
The contest just begun will proba-
oily be continued for three years at
least and may be prolonged after
that period if the results are up to
expectations, a fact that is not
doubted now.
Professor D. D. Mayne, principal
OF the Minnesota School of Agricul-
ture, is enthusiastic over the pros
poets of the contest. Discussing it he
said:
sit is believed that to the farmers
of the state such a contest will prove
If IL
Of good seed as we'll as in the intro
duction Of practical study of the
three grains and the best methods of
growing them. Either of the results
is worthy of all the effort that need
be put forth to secure it, but it is con-
fident]y expected that both results will
be obtained more quickly by this con-
test than in any other way
1.-The average yield per acre of
wheat in Minnesota is less than four
teen bushels. This is less than the
average for the United States and
less than that of any of our neighbor
states. With good seed and proper
methods of cultivation, the yield per
acre could easily be doubled in Min
nesota. The production of oats and
corn shows the same need of better
seed.
''You remember a year ago, when,
ON account Of the rust, there was
such a scarcity of good wheat? The
trade was menaced by the lack of No.
l northern. Had the farmers that
year been educated along the line of
better wheat production what a revo-
luton would have been accomplished
for Minnesota.
"This contest means the breeding
OF variety of seeds that will beat
anything ever produced"
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