The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-16
The Farmers' Interest in the Eaperi-
 meat Station.

The real purpose of the experiment farm and it's relation to the farmers of the State do not seem to be clearly understood. There seems to be In the public mind a confusion. .of the exper- iment farm with a model farm. The two are by no means the same; but that no distinction is made Is evident from the expressions you hear in crowd going through an experiment farm: "The corn is not as good as mine," says one. or John, you can beat that cotton" Such comparisons show that the speakers think the crops grown at the experiment farm are in- tended as models for farmers of the State.
 This is a mistake. What then Is the purpose of the experiment farm? It Is to test the value and adaptabiiities of new crops or new varieties that have been originated in other sections or are recommended by individuals to develop useful crops from native weeds or grasses, to test methods of culture and fertilization and to submit the re-
 results to the formers of the State in form that win be practically usefuL It Is clear, then, since the greater part of its work is really experiment., that there must be many failures more failures than successes. The fact is that the advantage of the experi- ment station is just this: To save the 1 individual farmer the time and expense | of making these experiments and nee essary failures himself. It is cheaper | to appropriate money to the purpose | and let them be made once for all than | for each of us to do this work for | himself. It is unreasonable to expect | all the crops we find on the experl- | ment farm to be successful and useful ! as models for our farming. What we have a right to expect is a clear state | ment of the methods. etc., which have been tested and the results of the test so that we may avoid those that are not good and make use of those that are.
 To Illustrates: The maypop Is per fectly familiar to us all, as a weed and
 most of us have enjoyed sucking the seed while we were boys. It is quite possible that from this weed may be developed a fruit that would be a source of pleasure and profit. On the | other hand 1t Is possible that an at tempt to develop such a fruit would
 only end in failure. Certainly the av- craze farmer has no time or money to spend on its development. Right here comes In the experiment station. Through 1t we all combine to make the test. The cost to each of us is very small and if the attempt Is suc- cessful we shall all share the benefit. Or again. our woods are full of wild legumes. Some of these with proper handling may prove equal in feeding value to clover and alfalfa and being | native to our soil will be easier to | grow. But no individual has the time
 and money necessary to make the test, with the possibility of failure that has | always to be reckoned with. And so | We should look to our experiment sta | tions 10 do this. for us. Their service in regard to testing new varieties and l methods of cultivation and so forth is
 similar. And the experiment farms | have done much good work in these
 directions. Let us judge them by their
 real purpose and we shall not only be | more just to them, but We shall he in
 better position to get good from
 them.
 On the other hand the experiment
 stations are sometimes at fault in es-
 tinlatipg their obligations to the farm
 CTS. by whose will and for whose ad-
 vantage they have their existence. as
 secondary 10 their obligation to pure
 science and scientific men. That they can and ought to make contribution to
 science is not to be denied. But the