Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-06-28
INTENSIVE" PROFIT.
How to Derive the Greatest Return in
Cultivation of Land and Farm In
terests.

Food supply in this country will
become before long a much more seri-
Gus problem than it is today When,
sixty years from now, there are two
hundred million people in the United
States. the fight for sustenance win
become much more fierce; and, in or
der to meet the emergency. We shall
be obliged to make the most of vari-
Gus ingenious expedients the foremost
of which is the breeding of better
animals and better plants.
ALREADY we have taken this matter
up very seriously. and some remark
able results have been achieved. In
deed, the wealth of the world and the
pleasure of living have been greatly
augmented by the scientific improves
ment of plants and animals. though as
yet only a start has been made toward
accomplishing all that is possible in
this direction
1t is question, primarily. of max
ing an acre OF land produce a maxi
mum of output Such output may
take the form of grain or vegetables.
or the acre may support a cow that
yields a certain quantity of butter.
What we are trying to get. among 9TH
er things, is a COW that will WELD
twice as much butter as the ordinary
COW of today. From such an average
COW the farmer obtains hardly more
than 125 pounds of batter in twelve
month, but before long We shall breed
cows which. from the same area of
land, will deliver $50 pounds, and some
that will give 300 pounds
THE Federal and State governments.
at the present time. are coopera ting
with groups of farmers to produce
families of high yield cows, which will
turn out a much greater quantity of
milk from an acre of grass and ton
OF meal In addition. the best milk
ing strains of cattle are being crossed
with the best beef producing strains,
in order that the farmers COW in
days to come may be not only first
rate mixer, but highly desirable also
from the viewpoint of the butcher.
The average hen lays rs eggs in a
twelvemonth. 1t is too few. We
want hen that can be counted on to
lay 200 eggs per annum. and we shall
get her before very long. The De-
partment of Agriculture is pursuing
experiments which have tor their OBJ
Ject the production not only of a
greater number of eggs per hen, but
of larger and heavier eggs. of uniform
color-this last being an important
matter from a market point of view.
Already there appears an occa-
sional pullet which lays 240, or even
254, eggs a year. illustrating possibili-
ties in this line. We want breeds of
Chickens tt-hiph Will IL,
quite. as well. In 1000 years. during
which the fowl has been domesticated.
the size of its eggs has been multi
Piled by four, through the simple
process of picking out the biggest ones
for Matching. We are going ahead
with the same idea, systematically ap-
piled. But, not content with this, we
are trying to improve the chicken il
self as market bird by increasing
| the weight of the flesh on its breast
and thighs. The chickens of the flu
ture will have bigger drumsticks and
more white meat than those of today.
There is not the slightest doubt
that halt a century from now the peo-
pie of this country will eat much less
| meat than they do at the present time
and will depend for food to far
greater extent upon vegetables and
cereals. 1t is always more expensive
to raise plants to feed animals and to
consume the output in the shape OF
meat than it is to grow grain or gar
den truck. which is exactly the reason
| why meat today costs more than corn
or potatoes. Thus it inevitably
comes about. as region becomes
densely populated, that comparative
| ly little flesh is eaten.
Hence the enormous importance OF
| the efforts which science is making te
augment the crop power OF land-or
| IN other words. to make given area
yield larger output, whether OF
wheat or corn or other plant food
stuff. Corn, of course, is already out
great crop. but means are being taker
to augment it through scientific breed
ing. With this end in view, co-opera-
tive associations of farmers in vari.
Gus states-Illinois being leader-are
doing systematic work of the kind I'M
der direction of the agricultural ex-
pertinent stations. Ears of highest
yield are carefully selected for seed
and even the kernels are subjected to
analysis, in order to ascertain the per-
centages of nitrogen. oil, etc, they
contain
Our corn Yields. on the average
about twenty-five bushels to the acre.
We shall get fifty bushels In the flu
,ture by planting improved varieties.
The farmers themselves do not real
ize the fact that for centuries they
have been conducting with maize the
most extensive breeding experiment
ever carried on. and by selection have