Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-07-05
THE GREAT WEST
HOW IT rs BEING eRouoHy TO
Better cssFulkess.
ADVANCE OF KNOWLEDGE
Colorado Agricultural College Is soiv
ing Problems cf Plant Life
IL This NsS Land.


ent Tor the Rocky Mountain Meas. re-
esn,iy visited the a,s,s Agricultural
College at Fort Collins. and made the
following interesting report;
There are two tasks ahead Sf any
school which d.yo,ss itself Ia IN. ad-
sahe-meht Of any trade oF work or
profession. One is the Increase of
the sum total of the knowledge Teiat-
ins Ia that work and the other is the
spreading at this kHo~iedse where IL
will do the most good. Speaking
broadly. the schools Of America have
bcen successful beyond eompar. .
the spreading OF existing hnos l-if.-.
and have b-en beneath contempt in
the advancement of kno~ieis. of or
isinai research. Let IN So. what the
Fort Collins school Is doing ON each
OF these lines
First. let us take III, question of
the advancement Of ktfs~iedsc-and
remember tha, In agriculture. a. In
medicine or engineering, III. oniy
kno~isds~ that counts IL that -mi-od'
led In concrete. usabie form. An an
proved variety of wheat. for instance.
or an Improved breed of poultry repre-
ser,s more s,or-d.up information than
| = hundred ordinary books. Asricui.
tnrc Ia the science AMI art Of dealing
with 1iNins matter. Of mastering the
reproductive forces Of nature. 81
moidins animal and vegetable forms
Of III. to human support and human
profit. What IL the Fort Collins school
doing In this line:
Work In Vegetable Department.
Suppose ~o begin on fh. vc.c.
table end OF II. using vegetable In tho
true rather than the restaurant sense
of the term. This Ii where Oiin has
charge. ". II. OiIn. u short. stout.
sunburned little man. who Chr work
like u steam engine and talk nineteen
To the dozen to anyone who will lis.
ten To his favori'c subject. for oiin
talks ship. There arc three great r--
sions of cultivated plant life In Colo
rado-thc dry plains In III" eastern
end NJ the state. the irrigated lands.
and the hish attitudes. ~ n state school
Is To Justify Its existence II mSst do
nomcthin. for each of these regions
and olin even now has only is0 acres
tn experiment on. How on earth does
hc make II .o round?
This way: The initial work In nj.
Ways done on blocks Of onc.tcn'h II nm
acre. Here are started the different
plants which u seems worth while To
experiment with. II they prove disap.
pointing from the start there " nm
cnd OF the matter. II they sccm tn
warrant further work the next step IN
the field nursery. Here n hundred kcr.
ncis are planted. eight inches apar,
each way. no that each Individual
plant can be started. Out of the hun.
drcd plants the hest one is chosen nnd
Its seeds sown on nm Increased
block" whose size depends entirely
on the yield Of the favored plant. Then
the seed from this block IL sown ncn.
year on u still larger plot. care being
taken to provide against any dcgcner.
aey: and 40 on. Till In few years the
seed is ready for distribution. For In.
stance. there are ten acres Of i'm.
proved Defiance wheat now growing Mt
the college. the offspring of u single
seed planted In 1903. This fall the
yield off that ten acres will he dis.
trIbuted in twenty-five pound lots to-
farmers who have signifed their will.
ingness and shown their ability 10
help the school In Its work OF improv.
iRx 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 o! the state. all
the field trying out must be done by
unofficial helpers. farmers who have
become impressed with the value oi
the work the college is doing. and who
are keen enough and careful enough TO
be of ase as assistants. When you re.
member that the college is expert.
menting with wheat, oats, barley. rye.
field peas. alfalfa. vetches. clover. su.
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
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 Jinter wheat for Colorado
is about solved. He is still experiment
Ing. for there is no knowing where
good thing may come from; but the
turkey red wNSat is SO far decidedly
ahead. either for irrigated land or for
dry farming. The spring wheat qucs
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.
ut is often called 'macroni wheat
and 'barleywheat' from its use for max
ing macaroni and its heavy boards. !
These boards and its extreme hard
ness make 1t anything rather than a
favorite with the millers. though
Phillipsburg miller has learned how to
temper 1t SO as to grind 1t with little