The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1917-05-09

the farm Loan BANK at Berkeley anu
head of the agricultural department
of the University of California, ac-
companied by Acting President Rob-
ert Levers of the University of Ne
vada and Dean c. S. Knight, c. A.
Norcross and j. w. Wilson, members
of the agricultural branches of the
University of Nevada faculty, arrived
in Fallon last Thursday on a mission
that had to do with ways and means
for increasing the acreage on the
Truckee-Carson project and the lev
cling and seeding by the govern
ment of a large area of lands upon
which water can Immediately be
placed.
DR.. Meade came to Fallon as the
personal representative of Secretary
of the Interior Franklin X. Lane
and the message he bore is the most
important and far reaching that has
ever been suggested for prompt and
business-like method of Immediately
increasing the cultivatable area of
this valley.
At an impromptu luncheon given
by the Chamber of Commerce the
gentlemen of the party explained
the objects of their visit which was
to devise ways and means of increas-
ing the food supply of the nation to
meet the demands that will be made
upon it by the army that will soon
be assembled and to feed our allies
in the war.
DR.. Mead in a short address ex-
planned that the war had developed
into a race with starvation, and that
the nation with the best commissary
would be the victor. Following the
luncheon the party were taken in
automobiles over the project and
visited a number of sections where
tractors are at work in leveling and
preparing lands for this season S
crops. The trip included a visit to
what is known as the beach lands on
the shores of Carson lake. Here
there are about 5000 acres of gov
ernment land that requires no level
ing or other preparation beyond the
blowing and seeding of the crop.
| While it is admitted that it is too late
this season to plant and mature a
crop of grain, this section presents
the most promising advantages for
a speedy return on a minimum of
expense and labor
At a meeting held at the pavilion
in the evening, DR.. Mead addressed
what was probably the largest as
we'll as the most representative body
of our citizens ever assembled at one
time. He at once plunged into the
practical application of the ideas
which he had been commissioned to
investigate. He stated that there
was now before Congress a bill pre-
pared by the Department of Agricul-
ture for the appropriation of S.
000,00 to be devoted to increasing
acreage on government reclamation
projects. This sum would be expend-
ed in the purchase of tractors and
other farm machinery for leveling
preparing and seeding lands. The
speaker expressed the unqualified op-
inion that the first step toward the
practical working out of this plan
would be the preparation of the land
now under homestead Farms now
only partially reclaimed would re-
ceive first attention. The interest
and approval of his auditors in this
declaration was manifested by the
hearty applause that greeted the ex-
preston.
DR.. Mead stated that whilst the
proposal to reclaim other lands not
in private ownership should be a lat
er consideration, the first and most
practical method would be to open
opportunities for the farmer already
on the land. He explained the me-
thod which had been pursued in
Australia, where he spent several
years working out the details of a
large government irrigation project
where identical problems confront
ed him to those prevailing on the
Truekee-Carson project.
Speaking of the possibility of OBJ
tanning loans from the Federal
Farm Loan Bank on the lands in this
project, DR.. Mead stated that with
out an organization of the district
under the State law as provided by
the last legislature, there could be
no relief from the first lien now held
| by the coyernr,,nnt hut that nwnars