The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1911-06-14
FOR BETTER FARMING.

It is is the opinion of Willet M.
Hays, assistant secretary of agricul.
ture, that the problem of producing
food supplies for the rapidly increas.
ing population Of the United States
calls for earnest efforts toward tie
solution. In q recent newspaper arti.
Gle Mr. Hays discusses the subject in
part ss follows:
When, sixty yesrs from now, there
are two hundred million people In the
United States, the fight for susten snce
will become much more fierce; and, in
order to meet the emergency, we shall
be obliged to make the most of vari.
Gus Ingenious e~xpedients, the foremost
Of which is the breeding of better ami.
mails and better plants.
Already We have taken this matter
up very seriously, and some remsrks.
BILE results have been achieved. In.
deed, the wealth of the world and the
pleasure of living have been greatly
augmented by the scientific improve
ment Of plants and animals, though
q yet only . start has been made
toward accomplishing oil that is pos.
ssible In this direction.
1t is q question, primarily, of maxi
ing IN acre of land produce . maxi
mum of output. Such output may take
the form Of grain or vegetables, or
the acre may support . COW that
yields Q certain quantity of butter.
What we are trying to get among
other things, is q COW that will yield
twice as much butter a. the ordinary
COW of today. From such an average
COW the farmer obtains hardly more
than 125 pounds Of butter in a twelve.
month, but before long We shall breed
cows which, from the same area Of
land, will deliver $50 pounds, aud
some that will give 300 pounds.
The average hen lays 125 eggs in q
twelvemonth. 1t is too few. We want
q hen that can be counted on to lay
200 eggs per annum, and We shall get
her before very long. The department
Of agriculture is pursuing experiments
which have for their object the pro.
duction not only of q greater number
OF eggs per hen, but of larger and
heavier eggs, OF uniform color-this
last being an important matter from
Q market point OF view.
1t inevitably comes about, as q re.
gion becomes densely populated, that
compara tively little meat Is eaten.
Hence the enormous Importance of the
efforts which science is making to
augment the crop power of land-or,
in other words, to make q given ares
yield q larger output, whether of wheat
or corn or other plant foodstuff.
Corn, Of course, is already our great
crop, but means are being taken to
augment it through scientific breed.
ing. With this end in view co.opera.
tive associations Of farmers In various
states-Illinois being q lesder--are
doing systematic work OF the kind un-
der direction Of the agricultural ex-
pertinent stations. Ears of the high.
est yield are carefully selected for
seed, and even the kernels are sub.
jected to analysis, in order to ascer.
tain the percentage of nitrogen, oil,
etc., they contain.
Our wheat crop is already gigantic,
but is much less than it ought to be.
How far this is true may be Judged
from the fact that the output of this
cereal in the United States averages
only about fifteen bushels to the acre,
whereas In Europe in is thirty bush.
els. This seems surprising, but 1t is
estim ated chiefly by the fact that we
are planting. in Q dry and warm eli.
mate, varieties which we're originally
bred for the moist and cool clima tes
OF the Old World. What We need IL
an entirely new set of varieties Of
wheat.
Emmer Is New Cereal.