The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1914-07-10

W ANSAS has six experiment sta
IA tons, all but one Of which
are In the western third o
the state. The oldest station is a.
Manhattan and was established IN
1888 by a federal act which passed
Congress the previous year and pro
vided $4,000 year for an expert
ment station in every state and ter
ritory in the Union. At the present
time 1t is being supported about
equally by state and by federal funds
All the stations but the one at Man
haitian are maintained by state ap
propriations. The United States de
bartment of agriculture, however, Is
cooperating with the state in con
Quoting farming investigations al
Manhattan, at Hays, at Garden City
and at Colby. Likewise, the depart
ment of agriculture is cooperating in
Irrigation investigations at Garden
City.
At each of the points just named
we are lifting water from 80 to 12C
feet for irrlgating purposes. At the
Garden City station, the pumping out
fit cost something like $4,000, while
at the Colby station we are testing
out less expensive pump and en-
CINE, or one valued at about $4,000
for the whole irrigation plant, build
ing OF reservoirs, etc, and we expe;l
II to develop sufficient water to irrl
gate some twenty acres of land. The
Garden City plant supplies water for
about eighty acres From these two
irrigation plants We hope to ascertain
the cost of lifting sufficient water to
produce ton Of alfalfa or a bushel
OF grain, as well as the best time and
manner to apply the water ID the
crop.
Practically all the economic crops
produced In Kansas came originally
from sources outside of the state, and
mostly from foreign countries. For
example, the winter wheat which is
grown in this state, and which is
priced so highly as a milling wheat,
came from Russia, and nearly all of
1t that is being grown today came
from seed originally developed and
improved at the Manhattan and Fort
Hays experiment stations. Hundreds
of varieties, from all parts of the
world, have been brought together
md tnutnA Of ~ khngn nAipf1 In
an effort to find the best ones to grow
under Kansas conditions, with the re-
suit that Turkey Red, our present
hard red winter wheat, survived all
Others. This variety has supplanted
the spring wheats which were first
grown after Kansas was settled, and
the soft winter wheat which has
later crowded out the spring wheat.
Today at least 80 per cent of the
eight million acres that are now
planted to wheat in the state is OF
the Turkey variety. This is now the
leading winter wheat state in the
Union, not only in point OF total
amount produced but in the bread
making quality of the flour as well.
Another case like that OF the
wheats consists in the sorghum
crops. Many varieties of sorghum
from foreign countries were assem-.
bled at Manhattan and Hays, and
were tried out to learn their relative
adaptability to our conditions. After
the most promising ones were select.
ed. they were greatly improved for
production under Kansas climatic
conditions. Now we are testing out
their comparative value with corn as
feed for live, stock, in the form OF
ensilage and in the form of grain, etc
What has been done with wheat and
the sorghum crops, has also been
done with corn and other crops at
the Kansas stations.
In the same manner, the different
breeds Of live stock, including beei
types, dairy types, horses, hogs, sheep
and poultry, have been worked with
feeding tests run, types of animals
developed for milk production and fol
beef production or meat production
Instances are the tests maintained