The Dickinson press., 1908-03-07
DICKINSON
SUB-STATI0N
Expert AsrlculturalW Writer
Secs Gaeat Future; Ap'-
~precIates. Supt.
Waldron's Work

Waldron's Work
by LII. Storgaardl
IN DAKOTA FARMER.
1t was our privilege-and genuine
privilege-to spend a day early in last
October at the sub-experiment station at
Dickinson, N. D. The institution there
had an existence extending over but 2H
years, and what was evident was more
inSthe nature of promise than fulfllment.
The reader is not to conclude that moth
ing has been accomplished in these 90
months, for that would be serious error,
but that length of time does not suffice
for agricultural experiments to work out,
and those in charge understand fully
that little but making a start has been
done, and that it will take years before
the station will command its full measure
of attention from the public.
But If the work which has been started
is prosecuted by the same amount of
earnestness-we a almost say, devo-
tion-that has characterized it in the past,
it will not be. many years till we will all
be bending our ems of hearing toward
the northwestward.
The station has the primary requisite
for greatness in that it has plenty of
scope-scope to spare. There will never
come a time, likely, when there will not
be problems pressing for solution. Work
need not be prolonged for fear it will
run out. The ."west river" country is an
empire, a vast domain yet to be con-
quered by the husbandman, and it will
prove to be no Sabbath days stint to do
it, and do it right. Nobody understands
this any better than does Supt. Waldron,
and it can be said to his credit that, he
fully comprehends the responsibility he
has undertaken, and is graphing with it
with a determination and a seriousness
that will bring results either negative or
positive, but results that will be conclu-
sive. A day and evening spent with him
in going over his plans and purposes,
and digging into what is going on on the
farm, clinches the conclusion that he has
his weather eye we'll to windward, and
that he has not been fooled into security
by the results of the little time he has
been at work. Considerable effort has
been made to ascertain what problems
are the most serious, what the farmer is
liable to have to face in the future as
we'll as now while the land is new, what
can safely be counted on and what, needs
watching; in short, he has laid the foun-
dation for a great experiment station
not a demonstration farm. His work is
laid out with a view to, permariency and
bears the marks of careful planning and
conscientious effort. He does not expect
to have exceptional and surprising re-
suits dumped into his lap, but expects to
wrest them from what he. has been fur
nished to work with. We cannot hon
estly say that his task is a cheerful one,
and yet it may be of a character to
appeal to the earnest experimenter. He
is exceedingly fortunate in that Mrs.
Waldron is as much interested in the
work as is her husband, and enthusiast
cally lends her aid in making the plans
and in working out the Conclusions at
the close Of the growing season.
With a lively appreciation Of the i'm.
portance of all experiment stations, and
with a fair working knowledge Of the re.
quirements of the localities in which they
are located, we are almost constrained
to give it as our opinion that more PEG.
pie will be vitality interested in the work
of such stations as the one at Dickinson
than in any other, for it. represents a
large portion of the state, far more Sc
than if it was located on the extreme
eastern edge of the state, where, agri.
cultural conditions are unique inthatthey
more nearly represent the. western por-
ton of Minnesota than North Dakota as
a whole. The people on he-slope have
those located in the Red River valley
for instance, and in the future, thousands
will look to Dickinson and to Edgeley
FIR ha1r t1oot thox, copnpfs ra% oleoN,hoo =
Sometimes it seems as if the importance
of these sub-stations are minimized, and
that they could be appreciated some
what more, and vet the appreciation
would be well bestowed. We mention
located at Dickinson there were muir
murings against it as being an unwar.
ranted expenditure of public funds, and
the station was placed there to help sell
we know, that may have been. the main
the station, but if it was, somebody
"builded better than they knew" if Supt.
Waldron is left in charge. 1t may help
to sell land, but that will only be an Incl
dent, totally removed from those in
SAoISS. NoiIAuSlOO do IL AlOW 49, IL Will
be more influential i'll keeping people on
the land after they are planted there
than in putting them there in the first
place, though any one at all observing
will likely have to revamp some precon.
ceived notions about the country, after
spending a day in investigating the work
at the station.
1t seems to us too that if we had been
delegated to pick out a spot upon which
to locate a "boom" station for the Dick.
inson country, we should hardly have
selected the present site, for it is no a
likely one. 1t lies more than averagely
high, as some of the views on the front
page will attest. A "hogback"s runs
through the diagonal center Of the. quar-
ter from the southeast corner to where
it terminates in a butte at the northwest
corner. Much of it is waste and always
will be unless it is possible to forest it.