The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-07-05
FARMERS VISIT MORO
EXPERIMENT STATION

(By A. R. Chase, Wasco County Ag
ricultural Agent.)
twenty-five automobiles with far.
mers of this county and their families
numbering nearly hundred, made the
trip to the Moro Experiment Station
on Wasco county day last Saturday
The station people went over and ex'
planned the work of the station, con.
sisting of thousands of experiments,
very thoroughly with the visitors anC
there was a general expression OF
regret among the party that they could
not spend week or more rather thar
a few hours at the station.
The experimental work carried or
at the station deals with practically
all phases of dry-farming and in nc
other way would it be possible to gel
in the same length of time the infor.
nation which those who make the trir
receive as to the latest and best dis.
coveries in practical farming in this
section of the country.
One big series of experiments relates
to cultivation and tillage practices.
Different treatments and combinations
of treatments as to plowing, harrow.
ing, cultivation, etc., are given to q
larger number of plots of grain over a
series of years to find out the most
efficient and economical method of dry
land grain raising. Director d. Z.
Stephens stated that he considered
this possibly the most important phase
of the work just at present. Another
large and important division of the
work is the variety trials in which
many varieties of all grains and other
crops including field peas, vetches,
clovers, alfalfa, potatoes, and even
shade trees for the farmstead are con-
stantly being tried out.
A new and relatively unknown vari-
ETY. of grain, possibly imported from
a foreign country. is first tried out in
the nursery under the supervision of
F. j. Schneiderhan, scientific assistant.
1t is here also that varieties are de-
veloped and even created by crossing
and selection. At present over 100
varieties of wheat alone are being
grown and worked with, one of the
largest collections in the world. A
variety which proves promising in the
nursery must, of course, be further
tried out in the regular variety trials
on a larger scale before it is presented
to the public.
These are but very few examples
of the extensive work of this station
seen on the trip last Saturday. Those
who are interested should secure a
copy of an excellent new bulletin
entitled "Dry Farming Investigations
at the Sherman County Branch Exper-
iment Station" which may be obtained
free from the experiment station or
the county agent.
Pollenizer Experiments - While nc
results have been obtained from last
years CRAFTS, CRAFTS and budding of
two and three years ago are this year
furnishing striking examples of their
effect on the setting of fruit. There
are also some convincing demonstra'
tions from the use of bouquets of
Seeding, black, or other cherry blooms
used as pollenizers. A trip to inspect
the cherry orchards and these expert
ments is planned for some day this
week for those interested.
Cherry Pickers-Cherry picking will
begin the latter part of this week.
There are more cherries than usual
this year in many orchards and there
will be big demand for pickers.
Every man, woman, and child who can
pick cherries and does not already
have a place to work should send or
leave their names with county agricul-
tural agent A. R. Chase, at the court
house.