Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-07-04
Work At tiighmoor Farm.
VISITORS ARE INVITED TO sKK THE
EXPERIMENTS.

|. Highmoor Farm was purchased BY tn
state 10 1909 and turned over 10 tn
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station
to be used In conducting experiments Il
orchardiDg and with various other crops
Il During the six seesons that the farm ha
been in the hands Of the Experimen
Station large number OF experiment.
have been carried out. Results hav'
been obtained which are Of much practi
cal value to The farmers Of the state.
| The results Of al experiments are pub
lished - rapidly - possible In the pub
licity letters aud bulletins Of the station
However, II Highmoor Farm 10 to realiz'
its greate:t usefulness to the farmers o.
the state, the orchards and the expert
mental fields and plots must be seen
For this reason the Experiment Station
wishes to extend IN invitation to al Wit
will, to visit the farm at some time dur
ing the summer. It 10 hoped tha
oranges and other organizations will ar
range for field. meetings at tho farm
Arrangements for such meetings shoult
be made with the director of the Expert
ment Station at Orono. II such ar.
raDgements are made the station will
furnish coffee to the guests and will ar
range TO have members of the staff pres
ent to explain the object Of the expert
| ments.
Highmoor Farm 10 easily accessible
It lies on the state highway between
Lewiston and Winthrop. The Farming.
/ tr.n hro a oh ~ kha Aa;na Nankral rail roo 4
passes along one side OF the farm. There
is flag stop "Highmoor" at which al
trains will stop on notice to the conduct
or. It 10 possible for visitors to come
from either direction by train, spend
or hours ct the farm, and still return
homo In good season.
While it il hoped that some OF the
agricultural organizations will find II
convenient to visit the farm In body II
is realized that many people will prefer
to come ut some other time. Such visit.
ors are always welcome and this year
they will find each experimental field
and plot plainly labeled with card de.
scribing the nature of the experiment be.
ing carried on. This system is so COM
plete that stranger can 60 on the farm
without guide and obtain very fair
notion OF what is being attempted and
accomplished. In addition to this the
superintendent and such members of the
station staff % may be present at the
farm will be glad to answer questions or
to explain the experiments more In de-
tail.
The following paragraphs outline
some of the work In progress at the farm
this year.
There are In the neighborhood Of 1000
bearing apple trees on the farm. These
trees are for the most part between Is
and 80 years old. Before the farm came
into the possession Of the station these
trees had been very badly neglected and
were bearing very few apples. One OF
the first things which the station under
took was to see whether orchards which
bad been 80 systematically neglected for
20 years could be brought into profitable
bearing. The results speak for them
selves.
At the present time various fertilizer
and cultural experiments az we'll as
quite elaborate spraying experiments, in
which different plots are sprayed with
different mixtures and In different ways,
are In progress.
Work on breeding now varieties Of
apples has been under way for several
years. With this there is Q nursery
which contains over 1000 seedlings.
Cions from most of these young trees
have been grated on to old stock In or
der to bring them into bearing earlier.
Experiments to test the mutual infiu-
ence of stock and cion are also being
carried on. In connection with this .
young orchard of 500 trees and contain
ing 10 different varieties has been set.
OF the experiments outside OF orchard
ing, probably the oat work 10 better
known than any other. This year over
20 different varieties are being tested In
field plots. Many of these are new va
rietIes originated In the plant breeding
work Ut the farm. An oat garden CON-
tains nearly 1000 rows. Each row 10
planted with seed from single plant.
Many of these are hybrids between diff
ferent varieties and species. This oat
garden represents the first step In the
breeding of new varieties. This garden
also contains representatives Of q large
number of wild and cultivated species of
oats gathered from oil parts Of the
world.
A fertilizer experiment to test the Of
fect of potash on the oat crop 10 also be-
ing carried on. In all there are over
200 experimental plots of oats. About
IL acres OF farm oats are planted with .
variety of our own breeding known as
Maine $40. This IL regarded as the best
oat yet obtained for southern and central
Maine. Its average yield for the last
three years on our plots has been over S5
bushels per acre.
There are also cultural and breeding
experiments with sweet corn and Hint
corn. Breeding experiments with old
fashioned and improved yellow eye
beans as we'll as with some other vsrie-
ties are In progress. Part OF these bean
experiments are In . screened cage which
prevents crossing BY bumblebees. Pure
breeding strains that have been sufa.
ciently tested under this cage are being
grown in isolated, multiplying plots.
Certain work on potato diseases is also
being done at Highmoor. This 10 more
10 connection with problems which es-
pecially concern potato raising In the
central and southern parts Of Maine, or
have to do with certain lines OF indie.
pendent investigation which the station
is conducting In addition to the coopera-
tive studies ut Aroostook Farm.
From . practical standpoint test OF
the resistance Of different varieties OF
potatoes to the Rhizoct0nia disease 10 .
most important one. It 10 located on
land where Irish Cobblers have been se.
verely injured by the fungus which
causes this trouble. On this field 16 lots
of tubers, representing IS different W.
rietles, and including some OF the moro
| Important commercial sorts, are planted.
Most of these were furnished by Profes-
sor Stuart, the potato expert, from the
seed of pure lines he 10 growing ct
lAroostook Farm and were selected 90 -
to furnish st least one representative OF
each Of the groups into which he has d.
vided oil American-grown potatoes. lp
addition to any resistance to the attacka
OF tho Rhizootonis fungus which may Be
shown BY them tho practical farmer will
| be interested In observing the differences
! 10 characteristics as exhibited By these
representatives OF different types OF po-
tatoes when grown side By side.
Visitors arc always Welcome except on
Sundays.
Director.
Millions Of Loss by Rain.
WIlfred Wheeler, secrstaEy OF the
Massachusetts, Board OF Agriculture, haa
made an estimate Of %, ,000, 900 q the