Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-01-20
SEED CROWFRSO OF
STATE IN SESSION
Addresses Are Given by j
Wylie Sessions and Pres
ident Brannon.
fCapital News Special Service.)

(Capital News Special Service)
Caldwell, Jan. 2O.-The fifth annual
convention of the Idaho Seed Growers
association opened here yesterday
forenoon with the usual formalities
and the afternoon was given over to
instructive addresses and discussions
by the president, ]. Wylie Sessions of
Pocatello and DIR. Melvin A. Brannon
of the University of Idaho and mem
bers of the staff. President Sessions
address reviewed the history of the as
ISOLATION and forecasted the future
calling upon all members to cooperate
in the attaining of higher standards.
His remarks were constructive and
practical.
DR.. Brannon's subject was How May
We Combine Field and Laboratory
Work to Promote Production of Bet
ter Seed and Increased Profit?' DIR.
Brannon defined the laboratory as a
place to labor and said that arm chair
science has no place at the state uni
vcrsity-that their labors both in the
field and in the laboratory are prac-
teal and that the laboratory and field
work are being correlated so that the
one will fit with the other He said
that men would eventually learn to
measure the forces of nature, such as
light. heat and moisture and feed them
into the chemical laboratory of the
plant in the right proportions to make
the plant product its best.
DR.. Brannon drew a very clear illus
tration of the advantage of selected
seed corn by citing some figures on
the corn yield in the three northwest
ern states last year. He said that
OREGON produced 5000 less acres of
corn than Washington produced, hav-
! ing 5000 less acres to toll with at seed
/ ing and harvest time, and got more
money for it's smaller crop than Wash
ington got for 5000 more acres of corn.
He thought that this condition could
be avoided easily enough by better care
in selecting seed and in better care
of the crop from time of planting to
maturity.
Must Conserve Bird Life.
The speaker followed each branch of
the work of the university as related
to the seed business to its bearing on
the field work and in connection with
the chronological laboratory work, he
said that the state must conserve its
bird life as a means of keeping down
the insects that prey on our crops. He
said he would not except the chicken
hawk and certainly not the owl He
told tho seed growers that if they are
going to kill off the birds they may
as well quit business, for it is the birds
that keep down the number of harm
full insects and prevent them from
multiplying
The meteorological laboratory has
found the germs that are useful II
agriculture and is now prepared tc
furnish cultures for the innoculatior
Of legume seed at a cost of Toe pei
acre He told of one farmer who
raised $1,000 worth of peas last yeal
on his land that would have otherwise
been allowed 10 lay fallow, and the
peas improved the land by the actor
of bacteria in storing nitrogen in thu
soil This address was very scholarl,
and was well received.
Concrete Examples Given.
At DIR. Brannon's request, represen
tatives of the state seed testing labor
atory. the experimental farms, etc,
were called upon to give concrete eX
iamples of the world that is being done
\ great deal of discussion was occa
stoned by the announcement that tn
production of straw or seed can b
controlled by the time and manner o
. irrigating crop. 1t was shown tina
a large amount Of moisture apple
to grain field at the time of the frs
joints appearance will cause the stem
4 to grow rank if the soil is rich enoug
- to support a rank growth and that tn
k seed viii often suffer, while fiel
n that is irrigated later will have well
- filled kernels. f.. z. Taylor gave
p very instructive talk about seed pota
@ toes and suggested that more attentio
might be paid to the selection of see
n potatoes by the average farmer b
, either buying pure seed or at least sc
4 lecting his seed from the hill accord
ing to uniformity and yield
The ACCESSIBILITY of holding til
II next annual meeting at the same plac
"a and just before or after the meeting
i of the state dairymen's and the swine
breeders association meetings was dis
cussed and referred to the resolution
- committee. Most of the discussion We
10 favorable to such plan, provide
that the place of meeting should NJ
!, always be the same.
The convention will be in sessiC
today and tomorrow.
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