Arizona republican., 1915-06-08
THREE MONTHS
 >OF GOOD WORK
The Maintenance of Farm Advisors Office a Most Valuable Investment for Farmers of This County Funds Needed.

A review of the work of Farm Ad- , visor James A. Armstrong after three months is a strong argument in favor of it's continuance. When MT. Arm
 strong entered upon the work he ex- plained that he did not know every
 thing and that those who expected
 that of him would be disappointed
 Neither to produce the best results, could he be brought into contact with
 all of the 5000 farmers in this county.
 If he should spread his activities in that way he would fail of concrete results. He could only hold meetings
 or farmers and institute movements
 to serve the farmers in the mass.
 Now here are some of the things
 that have been done under his direc-
 tion: A COW testing association in
 the Mesa, Tempe and Chandler dis
 trict has been formed and forty
 seven farmers have entered into con
 tracts for the testing of GOO cows
 during the year. The cost of testing
 will be 15 cents a month They will
 hc tested fo- butter fat @r the vGl- tune of milk and the result will show that cows are worth keeping. It is
 estimated that of the average lot of cows one third are kept at q loss
 of say $10 a year If this test should
 disclose that 150 of these 600 cows
 are unprofitable that their owners
 are losing BIO year on each of them the knowledge of that fact will be worth $500 a year to that associa tion.
 Another interesting movement start
 ed by Mir. Armstrong is an ant cam of ha harvester ant which it is estimated damages the farmers of this valley $50.OOO annually. The area of land rendered useless by these ants is astonishing One hundred and nine teen farmers have contracted with MT Armstrong to take part in the campaign of extermination and these farmers say that they have altogether 5000 acres occupied by these insects. IT say, the campaign results in clear ing the ants from One-third of this area a benefit of $50O0 will have been | conferred
 The Republican has had two stories lately regarding the demand for sour clover seed which has heretofore been | a waste and worse than a waste to
 the farmers of this valley. It was a | v | strong has informed the farmers that there is great demand among the | or. hardists of southern California for sour clover fertilizer on account of l its leguminouS properties and through 1 his agency the Hill seed house is in l possession of orders for five carloads | of sour clover seed. It is to be plant | ed in the orchards and then turned | under when it has grown. This seed | will bring the farmers as much as all | falfa seed whereas before this it was | found to be a loss to them when it | vas taken to the mills mixed with | wheat or otherNgrains. Mir Armstrong said that all seed sent abroad should ! be redeemed No other seed should | be shipped out of the state and espe- I cially into California where there is a law against the shipment of seeds of noXiOus grasses. A violation of the ' law would probably lead to suits for | damages The recleaning may be ef- | fectively accomplished by an alfalfa l cleaning mill. MT Armstrong esti- | mates that ten carloads of the seed
 may be sent out of the valley this | year. Tho would net the farmers about $7500. It thus appears that the | farm advisor is a profitable institu- =
 tion and ought to be maintained.