The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-07-26
LARGER !. FARMS
J Recommended / ! / { [
COMMITTEE VISITS STATE INsTl.
T5if'loNs AND REPORTS ITS
OBSERVATIONS.
4! 20! ~ n; !

j. CHARl.ESION,- July 2b-ln the
summer of 1909 Governor William E.
Glasscock asked the board Of agricul-
ture to appoint committee of three
OF It's members to visit the various
farms owned by.t the state and report
on their condition and to make such
recommendation in the report as
would. to the committee seem to be
needed to get the best results from
these various. FARMS.
The committee was composed OF
DR.. Archibald Moore. OF Warrington
Abram McCollodhy of Wheeling AMI
Joseph s. Roger Of Buckhannon. Their
first visits wefe'Sto the Institutions
at Spencer, Salem and Weston, in An
gust, 1909. Romney ~was visited In
November and Pruntytown and
Moundsville in June and July this
year. II E.5s
The committee does not approve
the location of some of the institI-
tions, nor. does ID believe that the state
is getting the best results from the
majority of.themnand urges that prac:.
tical farmers be placed in charge of
the farms.
With the "back to the farm" move.
ment prominently before the public, 1t
is Of interest to mote that; the stae is
considering thefapplicntion Of practi.
cal methods in farming. OF course
just what will be done cannot at this
time be said, as the report OF the com.
mittee has just been placed in the
hands OF the governor. The board Of
control will likely take cognizance of
the report when referred to it and 1t
is believed that board has the author.
ty to put Into effect many Of the sug-
gestions made by the committee Of
agriculturists.
The report OIL the: Moundsyille penl.
tertiary farm as filed with! the gov
arnor. is as follows: sfj y FIJI
The farm owned by the state. at
Moundsville consists ofI1G0 acres. and
Is by far the most valuable farm be-
longing TO the state. 1t, can nearly. all
be farmed. and 1t need not be difficult
to maintain q high state OF fertility
1t can be. made to produce, more TO the
acre than 1t is now doing. OneSof1the
| greatest difficulties here Is that the
farm is not large enough. Twice the
! amount of land now. owned by the
4 state could be farmed, and our first
! impression was that, II possible, some
| additional lands should be secured
Corn, potatoes, tomatoes. beans and
cabbage are grown in good quanti-
ties, but to meet everything like the
demand Of the institution, 1t has be.
| come necessary to rent adjoining
! lands. Enough farm labor is avail
able, of 1t could be utilized, to pro-
vide sucient products such as men,
toned above, to be used, stored and
caned, to supply. the institution al
most If not all the year around. Some
| of the land is wet and needs to be
tile drained. AdditionalFbuildings are
needed manure shed should be con.
structed and a new. equipment of farm
Implements should be provided. No
farm in the state requires. more ex..
pert management than this.
We recommend thatias competent
man be employed TO direct the farm.
We were assured that an average Of
1850 men could be emplbydd on the
farm. We advise that a milk strain
Of cows iisplace those that dre being
used for that purpose. Those on the
farm are mos1y of the beef type and
cannot be maze to pay MS milk pro-
ducers.; Hogs can be handled here on
n large scale. and the expense Of keep:
Ing SO small that we believe 1t would
pay to have them kept as extensively
as possible. The demands for beef at
the prison can ne pretty well met by.
keeping a supply of young beef cattle
on the pasture lands, especially
through the summer season. These
can be Sought at reasonable prices in
the local markets. Warden Mathews
is anxious to have the farm as produe-
tive as possible, and will cooperate in
Il. 81