The Colorado statesman., 1907-07-06
The GREAT WEST
HOW 1T is BEING BROUGHT ro
BETTER USEFULNESS.
ADVANCE OF KNOWLEDGE
Colorado Agricultural College Is SoIv.
Ing Problems Of Plant Life
in This New Land.


ent for the Rocky Mountain News, re-
Gently visited the State Agricultural
College at Fort Collins, and made the
following interesting report:
There are two tasks ahead of any
school which devotes itself to the ad-
vancement of any trade or work or
profession. One is the increase of
the sum total of the knowledge relat-
ing to that work and the other Is the
spreading of this knowledge where it
viii do the most good. Speaking
broadly, the schools of America have
been successful beyond compare 10
the spreading of existing knowledge,
and have been beneath contempt in
the advancement of knowledge of or
iginal research. Let us see. what the
Fort Collins school is doing on each
of these lines.
First, let us take the question of
the advancement of k1iCwledge-an
remember that in agriculture, as in
medicine or engineering, the only
knowledge that counts is that embod-
led in concrete, usable form. An i'm
proved variety of wheat, for instance,
or an improved breed of poultry repre-
sents more stored-up information than
hundred ordinary books. Agricul-
ture is the science and art of dealing
with living matter, of mastering the
reproductive forces of nature, of
molding animal and vegetable forms
of life to human support and human
profit. What is the Fort Collins school
doing in this line?
Work in Vegetable Department.
Suppose we begin on the yege-
table end of it, using vegetable in the
true rather than the restaurant sense
of the term. This is where Olin has
charge. w. H. Olin, a short, stout,
sunburned little man, who can work
like a steam engine and talk nineteen
to the dozen to anyone who will lis
ten to his favorite subject, for Olin
talks ship. There are three great re-
gions of cultivated plant life in-Colo-
rado-the dry plains in the eastern
end of the state. the irrigated lands,
and the high attitudes. If state school
iS to justify its existence it myst do
something for each of these regions
and Olin even now has only $50 acres
to experiment on. How on earth does
he make it go round?
This way: The initial work is al
ways done on blocks of one-tenth of an
acre. Here are started the different
plants which it seems worth while to
experiment with If they prove disap-
pointing from the start there is an
end of the matter. If they seem to
warrant further work the next step is
thu field nursery. Here a hundred ker-
nels are planted, eight inches apart
each way, so that each individual
plant can be started. Gu, or the hun
dred plants the best one is chosen and
its seeds sown on an increased
block" whose size depends entirely
on the yield of the favored plant. Then
the seed from this block is sown next
year on a still larger plot, care being
taken to provide against any degener-
acy; and SO on till in a few years the
seed is ready for distribution. For in
stance, there are ten acres of i'm
proved Defiance wheat now growing at
the college, the offspring of single
seed planted in 1908. This fall the
yield off that ten acres will be dis
tributed in twenty-five pound lots to
farmers who have signified their will
ingness and shown their ability to
help the school in its work of improv-
ing and trying out the field plants of
the state.
This distribution, of course, is con-
fined to the region to which the plant
under trial is adapted Since the school
has no substations scattered through
the different sections of the state, all
the field trying out must be done by
unofficial helpers. farmers who have
become impressed with the value of
the work the college is doing, and who
are keen enough and careful enough to
be of use as assistants. When you re-
he, hot fh4 t.,
menting with wheat, oats, barley, rye
field peas, alfalfa, vetches, clover, SUI
gar beets, and goodness knows how
many other things. you will see that
the finding of these assistants is a
pretty big job in itself. 1t is only
made possible by the awakening inter
est in farming through the state, an
awakening for which this very school
is in large part responsible.
Winter Wheat Problem.
Professor Olin thinks that the
problem of yinter wheat for Colorado
is about solved He is still experiment
ing. for there is no knowing where a
good thing may come from; but the
turkey red wAeat is so far decidedly
ahead, either for irrigated land or for
dry farming. The spring wheat ques-
tion is not in so satisfactory condition
Under the ditch, the Defiance wheat
has the call; and experiments are be-
ing conducted to get variety of the
Defiance that will stand drought, and
so be useful on the dry plains. This
work has arrived at the Increased
block" stage; and is progressing pretty
well. But the Durum wheat, especially
the Kubana Durum, is as yet the most
dependable for the dry regions.
at is often called 'macroni wheat
and 'barleywheat' from its use for maxi
ing macaroni and it's heavy boards.
These boards and its extreme hard
ness make it anything rather than a
favorite with the millers, though a