The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-02-01
PERIsHo SPOKE TO PRODUCERS
Continued from Page One)
w. Warren.

curacy of this prophecy. Among the
famous varieties of alralfa brought by
Professor Hansen on his various trips
to Siberia is the Cossack which has in
creased from a teaspOonful in 1906 to
over 1000 bushels in 1916. We are
told that this breaks the worlds re-
cord for rapid increase. The best OF
this South Dakota achievement lies in
the fact that this variety of alfalfa
fourishes upon our dry and supposed
ly less productive lands. A few weeks
ago one wagon load of Cossack seed,
containing so bushels was sold in Fort
Pierre for $4,000, all grown on n
farm in Stanley county. Mr.. Mills, A
State College student, informs us that
his father recently sold in Wall, a
town near the Bad Lands, a still larg-
er amount of alfalfa. The rapid in
crease of cheapness of production of
alfalfa in South Dakota has been great
ly facilitated by Professor Hansen's
modification of an ordinary obacco
planting machine into IN alfalfa plant
er. The old way of growing an alfalfa
field. or rather getting one started,
was to SOW 90 pounds or more to the
acre. This new method which in
wolves the setting of small alfalfa
shoots will seed a twenty acre field
from one pound of seed.
The entomology department at
State College under the leadership of
Prof. Harry SEVERN is doing much for
both the livestock and crop interests
of the state. Mr.. SEVERN is making
a special study of the life, history and
methods of determination of flies, in
sects, etc, of this state which are not
only responsible for the diseases in
plants and animals but which so ma
t~erially reduce the milk production of
our dairy COWS and loss of flesh of our
cattle in the feeding pens and pas
lures. A new bulletin is just now
ready for the press upon the devasta-
ton of ~grasshoppers, including a dis
cussion of crickets, ~cutworms, army
worms, etc. Professor SEVERN and
Mr.. Gilbertson. his assistant. did much
with their g%rasshOpper catcher last
SUMMER in saving the alfalfa fields
west of the river. The work of this
department cannot be too greatly EN-
phasized. 1t is well understood by
those who have made a careful study
that the crop production is reduced
from II to 10 percent each year be
cause Of insects. This is certainly
worth considering. In South Dakota
we produce approximately 100000
bushels of corr which is worth about
$1,000 600 annually; also $4,000, 900
bushels of wheat which sells for about
$36, 600, 900. These two leading crops
produced last year more than 800, 900 :
900. Ten percent of this amount
would be So 900 900. Did you ever
stop to think that the farmers of
South Dakota lost more on account Of
insect pests in two crops alone than
We are producing annually in total
dairy products, or mineral wealth or
in the poultry industry? And when
you add 10 corn and wheat, the oats
and barley produced yearly with a val
uation Of Is millions and Is millions
respectively, you will find that the
annual loss because Of insects is ap-
proximately $4,000 600.
Our dairy department under the
management of Professor G. Larsen
is a great factor in the wealth pro
duction of the state. | do not need
even to speak of the famous College
Belle Wayne family which is now SO
well established in South Dakota
among the Holstein dairy breeders
However, | would like to call your at
tention to a few less known facts
which are Of vital Importance to South
Dakota. Our dairy department with
the United States Department of Agri
culture cooperating performed the
first experiment of its kind to ascer
tain the real effect of alkali water or
stock. In our dairy barn for more
than one year a number of cows dranl
no water except the strongest alkal
water which we could ship from the
western part of the state. These COW:
were not even allowed to eat daml
grass. After all these months abso
lutely no i'll effects had been produced
in the physical condition or the mea
quality of the cows. That alkali wate'
may injure horses and cattle is true
but this experiment shows that tn
probabilities are that the evil effect
due to drinking too much of thi
water before the animals become &C
customed to it.
The dairy department OF the colleg
was one of the first, il not the first, t