Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-04-22

say tnat experiment STATIONS are no
profitable investments for the State
And why should not the people qui
demanding that our experiment sta
ton farms be transformed into demon
stration farms and made profitable in
the ordinary sense of the word? Or
the other hand, why should not the
people demand of a station those
things for which stations are estab
lished throughout the world, namely
to investigate and if possible, solve
practical farm problems and thus, as
the cattlemen said, Make the farm
and the ranch at once better business
proposition and more desirable place
to live" The people, through their
representatives, should see to it that
all experiment station money is eco.
nomically spent upon investigation
work, and let the matters pertaining
to the proper conduct of the investi-
cations occupy place of primary i'm
portance in the Investigators mind,
and not demand. if necessary, he aban
don all experiment work, in order to
make his books show passing profit.
The fact is, every real experiment
station, not only in Texas, but the
| world hoe u,hi Oh, o,;1
original investigation to demonstra.
ton. 1t requires investigation, for
underlying principles of corn improve,
ment. 1t requires experimentation,
then, to utilize these principles in the
production of better strain of corn
than any yet existing, but after this SUI
perior variety is once produced, the
planting of it upon larger area, with
view to increasing the quantity of
ed over as wide an area as it is adapt
ed to, becomes at once a demonstra-
llOu 10 plOuldDlt ltll NY Old-
ton Superintendents that they are
not growing crops in competition with
their farmer neighbors, that they are
planting in order to study some prob
lem connected with the production of
riment station is DATA, and | contend
that this data crop is many times
more profitable than any crop Of corn
or cotton which they might possibly
Grow for the market. 1t is principles
which we need, first of all. Once they
are discovered profitable crops are
more easily produced. Many people
have, Of late, deplored the frct that
once we learn to more easily produce
/ crop thera is an over-proluction
The idea of tIe station is to secure
such principles as will enable us to
produce a given crop Of cotton, for in.
stance, sufficient to supply the worlds
demand, at less cost than has been the
case heretofore. 1t is no fault, there.
fore, of station work, if the knowledge
which it obtains, is misused by the
people for whom it is intended. The
idea is not more acres or more bales
of cotton than are needed, but the
needed number OF bales of cotton upon
a smaller area, so that the farmer may
obtain greater profits and greater leis-
ure, in order that he may live more
happily and more completely than has
been the case, for instance, upon Tex
as cotton farms in the past
The Texas Experiment Stations fire.
1uently make money upon certain en-.
terprises, and at the same time OBJ |
,ain valuable information for the |
farmer. AS an instance of this, we
refer to steer feeding experiments |
which we conducted the past two win
ters. In 1911, at Cleburne, Texas, one
pen Of steers, fed the old way, netted
HtlI ONlel Only Oi CSnIS per utdu'
Fed a ration containing ensilage, I'M
der the direction of the Animal Hus.
bandman to the Experiment Station,
similar pen of steers netted their
owner 5000 per head This winter
sixty head Of steers were fed on the
Feeding and Breeding Station They
were divided into six pens and each
fed a different ration, with view to
determining the most economical ra-
ton in beef production Results are
not ready to be reported as yet, but
let it be sufficient to say at this time
that a bunch Of cattle which cost
$4,000, sold at Fort Worth recently
for more than $4,000, to say moth
ing of a premium of $4,000, won by
these cattle for the best finished, ac
cording to carcass tests.
A bunch Of goats which cost less
than $4O0 the past year have produced
more than 5000 worth of wool (the ex-
act returns have not been received) |
and ninety-four high grade Angora
kids. These goats have lived upon
buds and sprouts and leaves for the