The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-01-10

CITATION MEETING
ONE OF MOST VALUABLE AND
SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS EVER
HELD IN THE STATE
IMPORTANT ACTION FOR GOOD IS TAKEN
Large Attendance OF Representative
Farmers And Stock Raisers Pass
Resolutions
Standing room only"

tanuln room only.
That sign might have been dis
played at the South Dakota Expert
ment Association conference last
Thursday afternoon at the State col
lege. Upwards of two hundred mem
bers and visitors from over the state
We're here to attend the meeting called
during Farm and Home Week TO dis
cuss the subject, Better Seed"
In his opening remarks. President
Sam l.. Sloan explained to the visit
ors, who were not acquainted with
the associations history and WORK,
that it is one of the largest voluntary
agricultural organizations in the state,
that it consists of graduates Of the
school and college of agriculture and
their friends among the progressive
farmers Of the state; that it was
started five years ago with 80 charter
members and now numbers over 800
members representing so counties.
He stated that the association exists
for three definite objects: First, to
increase the seed stocks of the best
varieties of field crops so that all who
farm may be able to secure such seed
eventually: second, to increase and
conserve pure bred livestock among
its members; third, to disseminate
from facts based upon experience.
Manley Champlin, of %Brookings, sec
rotary and superintendent of the seed
work, told of the seed improvement
work of the association, explaining
how all of the leading varieties of
wheat, corn, oats, barley, alfalfa. mil
let, prose-, etc, were either introduced
from other regions having similar eli
mate and similar soil conditions or
were developed right here in South
Dakota. Prof. Champlin called atten-
ton to the fact that we no longer
hear of general crop failures in this
state, such as were sustained by the
early settlers. He attributed this
largely to the more general use of
field crop seeds of the better varieties
which are adapted to our conditions.
He showed how the federal depar:-
ment Of agriculture had introduced
hundreds of varieties, how the exper-
iment stations tested them and deter
mined which were best and how,
through the work of members of the
experiment association, seed centers
were being established throughout
the state. He stated that the seed
distribution work of the association
is growing rapidly and that it is
reaching out into other states as well
as our own.
Joseph ID. Morrison of Hyde county,
who has been engaged in grain breed
ing and testing work at the Highmore
Experiment Farm in cooperation with
the L. S. Department of Agriculture
told of the methods used in breeding
improved varieties of grain and as an
example told Of the development Of
EttIiIt III VII Nhtdl anu tho oOit Oo'H'
how they were started with single
heads and had been increased and de
veloped until there was enough seed
to plant several fields in different
parts Of the state.
Andrew Palm, acting treasurer Of
the association and director for Cod
- 80 xron nnv{ ao1ln1 10 thn
floor and in a four-minute patriotic
address punctuated by applause after
almost every sentence, stated that the
experiment association had a bigger
percentage of members at the front
and in the army and navy than any
other agricultural association in the
state and that if the present rate Of
enlistment kept up he suspected that
the next meeting would have to be
somewhere in France. But he remind
ed those who did not go that they
had equally as important if rot as glo-
rious work to perform in producing
the biggest possible crops by the in
creasing use of better seed.
Albert n. Hume, a%gronomist at
State college, was scheduled to lead
a Commute discussion of the prob
lens confronting the association, but
owing to the large number of visitors
at the meeting who were not acquaint-
ed with the associations work, he de-
cided to give most of his time to the
various division superintendent to
outline briefly the work which they
were directing in the association.