The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1911-01-05

Our sister states make reasonable
appropriations for the purpose Of con
serving the lives and health o. their
people and why should not South Da-
kotaf At the present time our state
is in disgrace before the civilized
world because Of her refusal to make
proper provision for this great hum.
unitarian purpose, and the wrong
should be righted.
Our Board of Health is in need of
funds for the following purposes:
l. The employment of experts in
public health administration for the
purpose of investigating the sources
of disease and for controlling it when
nresant =
2. The education of the public as
to the most approved methods of pre-
venting disease, by means of bulletins,
lectures, etc.
5. The generous maintenance of the
laboratory which has been started and
is now operating at the State Univer-
sity.
In this same connection, it is my
pleasure to commend the action of the
Legislature of 1909 for its provision
making possible a Sanitarium for the
treatment of consumptives. This in
%stitution has been located at Custer
and is in a spot most favorable for the
successful treatment of this terrible
malady. Too strenuous a warfare
cannot be waged against the white
plague and | trust your honorable body
will give careful consideration to the
recommendations of the Board in re-
gard to the same.
Agricultural
Within the past two years the state
has taken active steps in the direction
of the encouragement of its agricul-
tural interests and inasmuch as South
Dakota is primarily an agricultural
state, | feel that too much energy
and effort cannot be expended in this
direction. | strongly feel that the
legislature should give the most care
full attention to the recommendations
of the State Board Of Agriculture
and afford every aid to this Board in
its efforts to advance the agricultural
industry throughout the State.
The State Fair, under the manage
ment of the Board of Agriculture, has
shOwn rapid development in all it's
departments and the number of the
exhibits and the attendance have stead
lily increased.
The Experiment Stations which have
been established have done good work
during the past two years and are in
a hpalthful condition. The results are
good and it is to be hoped that the
work may be continued and the scope
of the stations increased. "
Our sister state, North Dakota. is
c~ndcavOring. with no small degree of
success, to work out this problem and
secure the desired results by means
Of certain demonstration farms, and
in view of the good results which she
has attained thereby | desire to bring
to your attention the plan of the sys-
tenn which has been inauguratcd. Mr..
Porter, Superintendent of the Demon
stration Farms, writes me that the
plan is as follows {:
"The director of the experiment sta
ton selects a county where be believes
a farm should be established. He then
selects the city neal where it is to Je
located. If he can find a good up-to-
date farmer within three miles of that
town, who is in good standing with his
neighbors, he talks the matter over
with the farmer and enters into
a contract with him for a period of
ten years. A piece of land is select
ed and laid off in as many four-acre
fields as there are years in the rota-
ton decided upon. These are accur-
ately surveyed and the alley way be
tween sowed with grass. The farmer
is furnished pedigreed seed the first
wear, from the station, and corn and
clover seed every year. He furnishes
all the labor and machinery under the
direction Of the Superintendent. At
the end of each season, if his work is
satisfactory, he is given the entire
crop, except samples, and 800 for
his extra labor in working the small
fields. If his work proves unsatisfac-
tory, he is dropped from the list and
the work given to some other farmer
who will do it. Each farmer or man
ager is given a rain gauge and a set
of maximum and minimum thermomet-
crs. He is required to make out a
daily report card from April until No
yembcr, which tells of any work done
on the farm during the t~wenty-fOur
hours just passed, the minimum and
maximum temperatures, the rainfall,
and whether the day is clear, partly
cloudy, or cloudy. In this way the
superintendent has n complete record
of the seasons work together with
the weather conditions on the farms,
which he can refer to without difficulty.
In order to get the weather conditions,
each manager must make out a card
every day, and this helps him to sys-
tematize his work.
As the farmer finds out better meth
DDS of work and sees the effect of good
blowing, clean seed, m%anuring and
crop rotation, he begins to apply these
methods to his own farm. His more
progressive neighbors do likewise. He
sees from : practical standpoint that it
will pay lin in dollars and cents. His
neighbors watch the operations very
closely and they often try to grow
better crops and do better farming to
beat out their demonstration farm, If
possible
7 believe that we could and should
profit by the experience of our north
EN- neighbor.
Farmers Institutes
There have been held during the