The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-04
Rock Island Will Tell Kansans
of Dry Farming.
Special Train Will Be Operated
Out of Topeka.
RAISE MILO MAIZE.
This to Substitute for Corn and
Wheat in the " est.
VIII Grow in Semi-Arid Regions
With Success.

The general officials of the Rock Is
land in Topeka are planning on
Milo Special train to teach dry farm
ing to the farmers of western Kansas
and the southwest. This train will be
directly under the supervision of H.
M. Cottrell agricultural commissioner
of the Rock Island lines.
The train will be made up and dis
patched from this city and VIII go to
southwest Kansas, western Kansas, all
of Oklahoma lying between Caldwell,
Kan, and Fort Worth, Texas. The
Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle terri
tory. northwestern New Mexico and
eastern Colorado.
The planting of milo maize is the
doctrine of the experts who will con-
duct the train through this immense
Rock Island territory. The advantages
of milo crops will be impressed upon
the farmers of the semi-arid regions
where wheat and corn have been fail
ures on account of the dry weather.
1t is known in Kansas that many
farmers have become discouraged with
the corn crops Of the last two years
on account of lack of rain and they
have moved from the state and sold
their property. The Rock Island
through the agricultural department
will attempt to show these farmers that
they are making mistake and they
are determined to show all the farmers
kind of crops when they plant wheat
and corn in this district.
Agricultural Commissioner Cottrell
says milo maize is the right kind OF
crops for the southwest while corn and
wheat is not. Corn and wheat, he says,
demand moisture, while milo maize
needs very little of it and the proper
tional value of the crops is to the ad-
vantage of the farmer.
The Rock Island through the Topeka
general offices is making arrangements
to supply the milo seed to the different
parts of the territories they will enter
with the special dry farming train. The
banks, publishing houses and CONNER
cial organizations will be supplied with
enough to furnish the farmer and he
can make satisfactory arrangements to
pay after the seed has given forth its
crop.
In other words the Rock Island is try
ing to put a large number of the Kan
sas farmers on their feet and start
them out again with the right kind of
crops.
Here is what Commissioner Cottrell
says about it:
milo is the surest yielding grain crop
that is grown in eastern Colorado, west
ern Kansas and Oklahoma, the Panhau-
die of Texas and eastern New Mexico. |
The United States department OF ag-
rieulture reports the average yield for
five years at Amarillo, Tex, and other
dry land experiment stations at 40 bush
els OF grain per acre year. Farmers
IN the same sections report yields of SO
20 so bushels an acre.
"a bushel of milo will produce from
30 to II pounds of pork. This makes
the average annual pork production
from the dry lands of the southwest
equal to 400 and upwards pounds of
pork per acre where milo is grown and
fed. Ten pounds of milo have the same
feeding value for horses beef and dairy
cattle, hogs and sheep as nine pounds
of corn.
Milo is the corn for the plains of
the southwest and should be grown in
stead of corn where the annual rain
fall drops below % inches. Farmers in
the Panhandle of Texas say that It
never fails to yield crop of grain and
that it will yield 20 bushels an acre in
years so dry that wheat is an absolute
failure. Milo should have the same
place in dry land farming that corn
has in Iowa and Illinois. 1t has nearly
the same composition as corn, like feed
ing qualities, and can be used with
profit for the feeding of every class
of farm animals to which corn is fed.
Every farmer in this section, this
year should plant and thoroughly Gull
tivate at least 40 acres of milo. 1t will
insure his prosperity and the prosperi-
ty of the entire community. Milo we'll
cultivated, is a sure crop and a large
acreage means well fed teams, and
plenty of grain to fatten steers and
hogs and to feed dairy cows"