Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-10-14

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OF farming in new states like wyoming
The richness OF the soil, the contrast OF
the fertility with the barrenness OF the
desert, the exhilaration OF the climate
the up-and-coming air Of the country, all
these contribute TO the feeling that alfalfa
is only another name for vegetable gold
and that farming in the west is a para
phrase for striking II fat and rich. Very
often, indeed, melted by the glitter Of
railroad prospectus settlers move-as
/ some have moved into Wyoming and
| Idaho-only to find irrigation projects
half completed and irrigation farming an
art which II takes at least a year TO
learn. Then there is the chance OF your
land bleaching out temporarily into
alkan, or the possibility of seepage
swapping your fields. There are the
isolation and the enormous distances
ever with you. These are some of the
difficulties which the eager immigrant
either overlooks or else minimizes. These,
coupled with inexperience and little or
no money, turn back the incoming tide
now and again.
But for the man who knows the differ
ence between a silo and a sickle and who
has, plus talents, 1880 or 5000 and a
years worth OF patience, an irrigated
farm in Wyoming, as elsewhere, spells
Independence and a comfortable liveli-
hood. To the government project at
Powell. for example, settlers are coming
in slow, steady numbers. When the
Shoshone tunnels are driven the rush
will begin in that region in earnest.
THE first year" said one of these
locators to the writer, lis hard plugging.
You have to clear your ground, build
your house, barn and fences, buy your
livestock and machinery, and watch the
sun shine. But nobody ever goes back
east after he has stayed out his year"
Retreat of the wOOIies.
As the farmers come in, Wyoming the
wild and woody, retreats to the noun
tains. This is literally true, particularly
with respect to the woolies, for they,
together with the cattle, are driven in
summer up among the foothills to find
their range. In the mountains, too, the
pale antelope of Wister's Virginian
Turk in vanishing numbers; there and in
Yellowstone park, which is a game pre-
serve feeder of wild game to the sur
rounding country, live the elk, bear, deer,
occasional wolves, mountain sheep and
lion, and the smaller fry. Recently
Connecticut Yankee wrote to the immi-
grafton commission of Wyoming to find
out about the trapping industry, as he
called II. He wanted to buy land where
the coyotes we're plenty--wid or unim-
proved tracts preferred. Incidentally,
he would like to shoot bear, cougar, wild
cats. lynx, moose and other animals
when they attacked his farm house. This
mans mental picture of Wyoming was
that OF 7-year-old boy with an air
gun and refreshed Imagination. There
Is stin much game in Wyoming. but the
game is like all real game-afraid and
timorous of men. This writer has OBJ
served the coyote and the terrible prairie
dog turn and ran to their respective COM
Portable covers when confronted with
gentlemen OF the press travelling through
the sage brush, and he has whispered
boo to a black bear who came to watch
the operation of a dressing. The bear
did not even last his tail. About the
farms the only nuisance is the prairie
dogs, who undermine rabbit-like in in
solent fashion. But a certain brand of
poisoned stuff settles their hash quite
abruptly, and their dust fertilizes the
dust of the greening desert.
Amid these dangers the Wyoming
farmer struggles along. He raises three
or four crops Of alfalfa a year. some
oats, wheat, apples. pears. berries, mel
ons, more alfalfa, and stock OF various
kinds. Sheep and Schedule X are at his
back door. perpetually bleating. How
long its distress will last he is not sure. !
AS things are now the farmer raises
the alfalfa to feed the stock with, and
when the stock are grown he ships them
10 the killing market via Iowa and
Illinois to be corn fattened. But just
as the ranges have given away to the
smaller farms and ranches so is this de-
tail about to be changed. The mutation
was wrought by one man In a laboratory
with n greenhouse attachment. That man
Is Professor II. c. Buffman. the Luther
Burbank of Wyoming. The story that
Is told to the agricultural tenderfoot is
that he has cross-bred the prairie dog
with alfalfa and got an edible muskrat
That might be 30, but 1t isn't. Here
are the facts:
Buffum is not in Who's Who. He is a
plant breeder OF considerable distinction,
formerly a state official. but now engaged
in plant and seed breeding. In the course
Of his experiments Buffum got hold OF
winter emmer a grain often wrongly
called spelt. which had recently been
introduced into the United States by the
United States Agricultural department.
II seemed a good grain TO try out in
Wyoming, since as rule winter grains
give larger yields than those planted in
the spring and they can be more cheaply
produced and succeed better with less
moisture. By throwing the winter emmer
under unusual conditions OF soil and
treatment, its appearance, habit and con-
stitution were so disturbed that several
mutations or sports" were secured, and
these are so far beyond the original that
one would hardly recognize the new
product The new grain partakes OF the
nature OF alfalfa and emmer. Some
single heads have been grown which
weigh half an ounce. SO prolific Is the
grain that in three seasons Buffum sue
eeeded in increasing 1t from the first
sporting plants to more than 40 bushels,
threshing machine measure. 1t appears
to thrive on cold and dryness. Its food
value-and here Is the revolutionary
aspect OF the case-is that OF corn. OF It
Buffum himself said: 1T promises to
be the most valuable feed grain the
farmar or stockman can raise.