The Globe-republican., 1906-10-18
VALUE or GOOD SEED WHEAT
KANSAS FARMERS PROFIT BY
SANTA FE's WHEAT TRAIN.
Excellent Results from State Aaricul.
tural College Lectures in South
west kansas--Great Demand
for Better Seed.

Manhattan, Kan, Oct. 16-The
state and federal experiment station
located on the farm of the Kansas
State Agricultural college, has sent a
great deal of seed wheat into the
Atchison, Topeka a. Santa Fe country
OF southwest Kansas this fall. This
distribution means better wheat in
quality and quantity in that section
next year, and Is the direct result of
the wheat train" which tire Santa
re sent over Its southwest lines In
August, carrying lecturers on wheat
culture from the state agricultural
college. 1t was an expedition that
cost the company sum of money
and was not in the immediate line of
railroad company's business, but II
1t adds to the crop production of the
territory covered, which undoubtedly
1t VIII, the reward Of the enterprise
VIII be increased freight receipts and
added population later on, which
mean improved traffic for the com.
pany, and traffic is what all well con.
Quoted railways seek.
we have sent from the expert
ment station here a great deal of seed
wheat into that country" said Prof
John H. Miller, superintendent Of
FARMERS institutes and extension
work OF the college, who had charge
| OF the train, to a reporter to-day.
requests for seed came so quickly.
Following the expedition, that we
| know our words fell upon thoughtful
minds, and naturally we are pleased
ADDED to this, these requests continue
10 come In, which also is gratifying.
although | am sorry to say our supply
Oh seed is limited. Next year we ex,
pect to be better provided.
Il use the pronoun we because
you know, there were four of us on
the train. The lecturers were Prof.
A. NJ. Ten Eyek, professor of agron.
omy and superintendent OF the farm.
and his assistant, Prof. V. NJ Shoe.
smith, and Prof. j. T. Williams, bro.
lessor OF agricultural chemistry. NV
duties chiefly were to start the meet.
ings and introduce the lecturers. We
mad Two cars, and in each a professor
spoke, while third addressed the
overflow outside. Alterward. we dis.
tributed our literature and the train
moved on. We went over the Engle.
wood branch and over all the other
Santa Fe lines south of the Arkansas
river We also went over the Scott
City branch and over other lines
farther east, concluding the weeks
work at Florence. Our meetings uni
formly were large. At Little River
we had 4S0 people and at Mcpherson
the crowd was so large that we ad.
1ourned to the city park. In all, we
had nearly 40 meetings.
We found great wheat country
that Is, a great country for wheat,
If the farmers will take advantage OF
1t. The country is better than the
wheat 1t produces. What all wheat
countries need is good seed. a good
seed bed and fertile soil. The farm. |
er cannot maintain soil fertility, no
matter how new his land may be.
What crop extracts from soil must |
be restored. This is no less impor.
tant than good seed and a good seed |
bed.
Good seed means more than seed
that will sprout and grow. 1t means
well.bred wheat adapted to the eli.
matte and soil conditions of tho 10.
cality. Crops must be grown and
bred in the regions where they are
intended to be grown. Drought.re-
sistant crops cannot be produced or
bred In humid regions. Very Httt.
has been done in the way of breeding
or adapting crops to western farming
1T is the business of the several
Kansas experiment stations to ad.
vance seed selection and propagation.
and distribute the production. In
1905 we sold to the farmers 600 bush.
Els of seed wheat, and this year wa
will do better
Perhaps breeding and improving
seed and establishing new varieties
nay better be left to the experiment
stations, but every farmer, by setting
lside a seed patch, may at least
leep his wheat from deteriorating and
wen improve it by little care The
irst step is to get seed adapted TO
lis soil and climate, and after that
o select for the seed patch only the
ongest, heaviest and plumpest grains.
How to prepare the seed match
We told the farmers when we were on
ur expedition and we also told them
t the value of conserving soil moist.
re, and of the great necessity OF
soil fertility. An object
esson OF the great value of these
1ings Is a measured acre of wheat
rown in 1906 by the agronomy de.
artment of the Kansas State Agricul-
iral college This one yielded 3,516 :
ounds of grain, or $3.50 bushels
welve acres of the same field Weld. !
more than so bushels per acre.
"A farmer, with his large acreage )
I'D multitude of duties, cannot do 7
well as this but he can do much
atter than an average of a fraction :