The Colorado statesman., 1907-07-06


resisting properties, so Professor Olin
is confining his efforts with this grain
to increasing the yield and improving
the milling qualities.
Breeding of Animals.
"And Professor Carlyle, dean of the
school and head of the animal hus-
bandry department, is doing work
quite as fine as anything Professor
Olin has attempted and work far more
difficult.
"And here let me say that the sys-
tematic and patient breeding of ami
mails is the most bitterly needed thing
in American agriculture. The curse OF
American breeding has been the rest
| less, changeable nature of our people,
who seem to think it sin for two gen
erations to follow the same business.
Take the work of William Warfield, for
instance, the breeder of Shorthorns
at Lexington. Kentucky. Warfield was
one of the born breeders, one of the
kind who, in the words of Lord Elgin
could chalk up an ideal on a black
board and then go to work and pro-
duce it in flesh He had the best
herd of Shorthorn cattle in North
fAmerica. He bred the only stock that
was equal to the imported cattle for
|
lieve it to be well within the mark to
say that Warfield was worth many mil
lions of dollars to the United States.
Well, he had to die at last. being hu-'
man. He left three sons. One of them
is lawyer; two are preachers. The
Warfield herd, the finest in America,
is already scattered to the four winds,
and all that splendid work is to do
over again. The old man could breed
cattle and preachers and lawyers, but
to breed breeder seemed beyond
him. And so once more, we are run
lining to England for bulls to improve
our herds.
What the School Is Doing.
Now, what is the school doing to
spread information among the farmers
of the state?
Everything humanity possible with
the force and equipment it has at the
present time.
There were sixty-one pupils regis
tered last year for the regular or long
course. There were eighty-seven who
were taking the short course-two
years of three months each. This
course, by the way. has been length
ened to five months. There were III
attendants on the Farmers courses,
two weeks spent on the points which
practical farmers are most anxious to
learn quickly. In addition to this a
large number of farmers institutes
have been held in every part of the
state. Bulletins are sent out whenever
the college or experiment station has
anything to report, and the agricul-
tural part of the school gets out
about 900 letters per month For the
| nrACanf in
planned for, 100 in all, taking in every
agricultural county in the state. Sew
eral short courses will be given in DIFF
ferent parts of the state Or local SUBJ
Jects-on fruit farming at Grand juno
ton, for instance, and other subjects
at other places. And finally the annual
visit of the farmers to the school is
now settled fact.
what does the state stand to win
from all this work?
More than I know how to put he
fore you. More. in my judgment than
from all the other state institutions
put together. / have given YOU the
figures on the alfalfa proposition. Let
us look at the others
You know already, of course, thar
Colorado mutton is the best and
highest priced in the market. Bnt
Colorado pork might easily gain the
same profitable eminence, and would
be even more valuable.
"Last winter a carload of San Luis
hogs was shipped to Los Angeles as an
1experiInent. Within a week from the
time that pork was on the market the
order was sent to the valley for eigrt
carloads more. The eight followed the
one and lot more followed the eigh.
Los Angeles called SO persistently for
San Luis hogs and paid so fancy a
price for them that Colorado Springs
could get scarcely any of the valley ba.
can. In all 140 carloads of .ogs have
Sonc from the San Luis valley to Los
Angeles this year They have BROUGHT
4 price considerably above the average
market price. Swift & Co. and Ar
mour have offered a regular premium
of 81 per hundred over the usual mar
ket price for these Colorado hogs, pro-
vided they can get enough to keen
plant running. Portland, Oregon has
taken several carloads this year and
paid for them handsomely, though The
distance is so great and the shipping
facilities so poor that the hogs had to
be unloaded four times en- route.
why this demand? Because of the
quality alone. San Luis hogs command
a premium wherever people know the
difference between sow belly and ba
con, and are able to pay for the better
article. Corn makes greasy, lardy
pork, that burns when you try to fry it
crisp. Peas makes pork with rich,
nutty flavor that can be Drowned to
nicely and that tastes as much like the
common salt side as it does like pre-
served strawberries. There is a de-
.nand i'll this country for the best,
rather than the cheapest, and that de-
mand 1t is Colorado's business to sup
ply. The San Louis valley alone, if
rightly cultivated can furnish a million