The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1913-06-17
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:: oKLAHoMAs pEMoNSTRA- u
(; TiON FARM DEPARTMENT I:
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given more attention and more ma
terial assistance than in the sta OF
Oklahoma. Each legislature since
statehood has generously considered
the problems of agriculture tending
toward the development OF the agri-
cultural resources of the state and III
none of these movements was more
effective work accomplished than
through the creation of the depart
ment of demonstration farms. The
department as created by the state
conforms largely to the plans now i'll
operation in various other states in
the union, and the following brief
sketch of the history of the depart
ment outlines what has been accom-
plished during the short period that
the department has been in opera
ton.
Under the present law the state
board of agriculture may contract
with some reliable farmer in each
county to maintain and operate
demonstration farm of forty acres.
The farmer furnishes the land and
labor and the state furnishes the seed
and gives instructions for the hand
ling of the crop. Should the farmer
fail on account of unavoidable con-
ditions to make sufficient crops to
pay for the rent of the land and all
labor done upon the crops, at the
price of thirty cents per hour Tor Ia
bor of man and team, the state re-
imburses him for the loss sustained
However, if the crops harvested
should more than repay the FARMER
under the terms of the contract the
surplus does not revert to the state
but to the farmer. Under this law
the demonstration farm department
has been operating since 1909 and
has accomplished the following re-
suits:
1t has maintained an average OF
Nifty demonstration farms through
three very bad crop years and these
farmers have shown each year prot
its above all costs. These demon e
stration farms have, in most instanc-
es, been object lessons to the farm
ers of the community in the proper
methods of good farming. They have
all been a source of reliable seed OF
standard crops, since the seed fur
nished the demonstration farmers in
the first instance was the very pest
that could be obtained and they have
been instructed to keep the same
pure These farms have served as
a source of inspiration to surround
ing farmers as well as a means of in.
creased profits to the demonstration
farmers themselves. They Lave
shown a production more than fifty
per cent greater per acre than the
average farms Of the state.
The demonstration farm depart
ment has, during its existence, written
more than one hundred thousand let
ters. More than thirty-five thousand
of these are the product of this one
years work and more than fifty per
cent Of these have been in answer to
inquiries. The department has mall
ed out thousands of bulletins giving
information regarding new crops that
should be grown in the state 1t has
issued twenty thousand copies of the
quarterly report of the state board
of agriculture, entitled Manual Of
Farm Crops and Allied Subjects"
which contains information especial
ly adapted to Oklahoma.
The condition in our state, where
a great many of the men on the farms
come from sections of the United
States where agricultural conditions
are entirely different demand an ele-
mentary and primary source of in
formation concerning the handling of
crops grown in this state. The dem
onstration farm department has been
the direct means of introducing at
least two new crops which are GER
tainly making good, and which will
in time add to the prosperity of the
entire state; and has furnished in
formation both by letter and bulle
tins on the following subjects: Dairy
ing, feeding of cattle and hogs, meth
DDS of eradicating many forms of
injurious insects, such as the chinch
bug, green bug, boil worm, web-worm,
grasshoppers, etc, proper methods of
growing and handling all sorts Of
small grains, sorghums, maize crops
sweet clovers, alfalfa and other le-
gumes, vegetables and fruits. 1t has
also furnished information on mar