Newark post., 1913-04-23
CARRYING SCIENTIFIC KNOW
LEDGE TO THE FARMS

The establishment of an Agricul
tural Extension Department, tw'
years ago in connection with th'
work of the Delaware College EX
pertinent Station has proved 0.
great benefit to the farmers OF the
State. The plan was tried as al
y experiment., but has received the
stamp of approval by the action OF
the recent legislature in increasing
the appropriation to 5000 Il year
for the next two years. by means
of this fund the Station experts are
enabled TO cooperate with the man
on his own farm. and working to-
gether. solve the practical prob
lens.
During the last two years the
work has included cooperative cX-
periments or over 100 farmers in
all sections of the state. The col
Iege has furnished seed i'll numer-
Gus cases for crop testing and Ill
some instances the fertilizer. Rep
rescntatives from the Station have
visited the places where expert
ncntS are being carried on to note
the progress and offer suggestions.
Experiments with SOY beans, pota-
toes and alfalfa have been especial
Iy satisfactory.
The plans recently outlined TOR
DE coming season. by Prof. Il.
HAYWARD. director OF the Station,
are of interest to every farmer.
The work, under the different de-
partmemtS follows:
"Professor {. \. McCue, the
horticulturist, is making some elab-
crate plans for the testing of
number of varieties of cautaloupe
seeds in the cantaloupe section OF
Sussex county. In this work the
college will furnish enough seed
for the grower to plant from one
half to two acres. The grower fur
nishes the fertilizer and does the
necessary work. A representative
from the college will visit the grow
ers from time to time to make notes
on the progress of the work. AT the
harvesting he will make a careful
comparison of the value Of the diff
ferent varieties for market pur-
poses. including the size of the
fruit. its netting. color Of the flesh,
depth Of flesh, flavor and the ship
ping and keeping qualities. The
Importance of the cantaIOupc crop
is rapidly growing iii Sussex cOun-
ty and the acreage this year will be
larger than ever before. The col |
lege will also render service i'll coll
trolling the blight and fungous dis
eases to which this crop is subject. |
"Professor McCue has planned |.
similar work with tomatoes but i'll !
this case the fertilizer requirements !
will be more closely watched. For
a number Of years fertilizer tests .
have been made on the college farm
and the information gained from |
these experiments Professor McCue .
will apply to farm conditions. 1t .
is difficult to oVcr-estimate the val .
ne Of the tomato crop III Delaware.
On many farms it is looked upon .
as the best money crop that the
farmer can handle. and the culture
requirements are practically as
well understood as II is with any
other staple crop. As important as
the crop IS q comparatively small
Of work has been done with
it by the scientific investigators. A
study is under way with the agri-
cultural extension funds with fer
tilizcr requirements in hope that
cost Of production can be material
ly lessencd
Professor McCuc and his assis-
tant, Mr.. Pelton, have outlined an
extensive study of the round
or Irish potato III various potato
growing sections of the state.
studies were made last
year i'll Sussex and New Castle
counties and the results were
so encouraging that further work
will be carried out this year
The work will require chiefly fer
tillzcr requirements on different
types of soil. TO this end the col
lege furnishes the fertilizer as well
as the seed but Of course in all cases
the grower gets the crop, and by
furnishing the land and doing the
work of investigation co-operates
with the college III getting informa-