The state herald., 1907-07-05
THE Great WEST
HOW IT is BEING BROUGHT TO
BETTER UsEFuLNESS.
ADVANCE OF KNOWLEDGE
Colorado Agricultural College Is Solv.
Ing Problems Of Plant Life
L., This Nov Land.

In This Nov Land.
DR.. George l.. Knapp. n correspond
ent Tor 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 werk and the other Is the
spreading of this knowledge where 1t
will do the most good. Speaking
broadly. the schools of America have
been successful beyond compare =
the spreading of existing knowledge.
and have been beneath contempt In
the advancement of knowledge of or
iginal research Let MS see what the
Fort Collins school is doing on each
of these lines.
First. let us take ike question of
the advancement of kiiiwledge-and
remember that in agriculture. as in
medicine or engineering, the only
knowledge that counts is that embod.
proved variety of wheat. for instance,
or an improved breed of poultry repre-
sents more stored.up information than
a 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 1t, using vegetable in the
true rather than the restaurant sense
OF the term. This is where Olln has
charge. w. II. Olin, short. stout,
sunburned little man. who can work
like steam engine and talk nineteen
TO the dozen TO anyone who will lis.
ten TO his favorite subject, for Olin
talks ship. There arc 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. II state school
7. to Justify its existence il msst do
something for each OF these regions
TO experiment on. How ON earth does
he make II 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 II seems worth while to
experiment with. II they prove disap-
pointing from the start there is an
end Of the matter II they seem TO
warrant further work the next step Is
| thS field nursery. Here hundred ker.
nels are planted eight inches apar,
| each way. so that each individual
| plant. can be started. Out of 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 mex.
year on still larger plot, care being
taken TO provide against any deEener'
aey; and so on. TIL In 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 signifed their will,
| ingness and shown their ability to
help the school In It's work Of lmprov-
| ing and trying out the field plants Of
the state.
This distribution. OF course. IL con
fined to the region 10 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 IL doing and who
are keen enough and careful enough to
be Of use as assistants. When you re-
member that the college ls expert.
mcnting with wheat, oats. barley. rye.
field peas. alfalfa. yotehos. clover. su.
gar bcotA. ana goodness knows how
many other things. you viii see that
the nnding Of thos. assistants " n
pretty big job In itself II Is only
made possible by the awakening inter
cst In farming through the state. an
awakening for which this very school
is IN large part responsible.
Winter Wheat Problem.
Professor olln thinks that the
problem OF Clnto- wheat for Colorado
IL about solved. lie In Ktlll experiment
Ing. for there is no knowing where n
good thing may come from. but the
turkey red wSSat IL Eo far decidedly
ahead. either for irrigated land or for
dry farming The spring wheat quos
tion IL no, In so satisfactory condition.
Under the ditch, the Defiance wheat
has the call. and experiments are Ice.
Ing conducted to get variety of the
Dcfinnc. that will stand drought. and
Va b. useful on the dry plains This
work has arrived NJ the Increased
block" stage: and IN progressing pretty
well. Hut the Dnrum wheat. especially
the knbnna Durum. IN m yet the most
dependable for NJ. dry regions.
n, ~ often called 'macfoni wheat
and 'barleywheRi' from ita use for max.
Ing macnroni aud It's heavy boardn.
These boards and ltn -stfcm. hard.
ness make II anything rather than n
favorite with the mlllcrH, though n