The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-13

North Dakota is now under the super
vision of the association.
There are twenty-five field agents
and one field woman working for the
cooperation of the farmers wives
and daughters in the big movement to
improve conditions in the rural homes
Of the state, especially to promote the
use of labor saving devices in the
farmers households to lessen the
labor Of the women of the farms.
There are. 5,105 farmers of North
Dakota members and co-operators of
the association. In the territory in
Of, the farmers are carrying out some
form Of cooperative work. The
organization seeks to secure crop
rotation, crop diversifcation, to en-
courage live stock raising, to teach
better farm management and to in
crease farm efficiency. N ;
There are 44,612 acres farmed under
the cooperation with the better farm
ing movement. In addition to this
several thousand acres are directly af-
fected.
One Of the striking features of the
movement is the direct results secur-
ed to the farmers in increased yields
under the methods and supervision
~ IAN AA1o 40 "4ISlS lllS
benefits appeal most strongly to the
farmers and most certainly interest
him through his pocketbook. The
average yields of the demonstration
fields are greater than those of the
fields farmed in the ordinary way to
the following degree: corn II bushels.
wheat SIS, a t So, barley GA, rye 3,
flax 3, potatoes 26 bushels, clover 4
tons. This in many cases means the
difference between farming for moth
Ing and a profit.
During 1913 there were 3,612 acres
of alfalfa directly under the super
vision of the associations field agents.
Inc average yield for two cuttings
was 2.3 tons per acre.
The cash value of the work conduct
ed by the association is shown in the
1act that the additional crops grown on
the acreage actually under the demon
stration of the field force showed a
gain of $4,000. This has a practical
side that cannot be ignored.
Bringing stock into the state was
one OF the successful movements of the
better farming organization. Due 10
the direct influence of the agents there
were shipped into North Dakota during
1913, $500 cattle, 16S pure bred sires,
1880 sheer. and a large number of
hogs. The increasing benefits of this
movement will be more apparent in
future years as the existing cattle are
graded up.
A factor that should not be over
ISOLATION was the distribution last
spring of 10000 pounds of alfalfa seed
and the creation of d sentiment favor
ing that crop.
Under the direct supervision of the
Better Farming movement another
state crop contest for the youth was
conducted, the maximum yield being
LOG bushels of mature corn per acre BY
a Ransom county boy.
The first pork producing contest ever
put on in the entire United States was
i~naugurated and carried to a successful
completion by the association, only lit
ter OF pigs eight months old being
produced that weighed 1900 pounds
and a successful demonstration made
that pork can be successfully grown in
North Dakota at 1.6 cents per pound.
There were $50 Farmers clubs or
ganized. There are 1000 farm families
members of these clubs, and the men,
bership includes the farmers, their
wives and their daughters. There were
TAT meetings of these clubs held in
which programmes Of interest to par
ents and children had a total attend
ance of Sc, 900.
The seed termination tests under the
direction Of the movement reached q
total reported Of 1900. ..
During the year, through the direct
efforts of the field agents 81 additional
silos were constructed and in the teI-
fltory covered by the organization the
number Of st1os built was $50.
Increased interest in dairying and in
feeding live stock for the market has
been created. The movement Is spread
ing over the state and there is increas-
ed demand for additional field agents !.
Under a new law counties can levy O
special tax to cover the expense Of I'M
ploying these agents, which Director
cooper secures from the agricultural
colleges, the department OF agriculture
IN washington, the larger farms OF the
northwest and other sources.