Arizona republican., 1919-05-26
TELLSFARNERS
 OF WORK DUNE
 AT STATE FARM

The following address, delivered Sat urday at the state experimental farm near Mesa, by c. E. Thompson, profess sor of agronomy at the college of agri- culture, state university, and superin- tendent of the farm contains a great deal of matter explanatory Of the work that the state farm has been able to accomplish in the interest of the farm- CTS of this county in the short time it has been in eXistance. The address follows:
 "The Salt River Valley Experiment Farm has been in operation approM- mately three years. Three years is a short time to definitely work out many agricultural problems, yet this farm has succeeded in solving a considerable number of problems. and the knowledge and information gained from this farm has, in many instances, gone far be- yond the borders of the state.
 Tt is and has been the purpose of this experiment farm to work in friend lM sympathy and cooperation with the farmers of this state. It is the purpose of the farm to get the information the farmers want and get it before they want it,-then when they ask us ques- tions give them freely all the informa- ton at our command. It is our pur- pose to determine the varieties of crops that are best suited to Arizona condi- tons and to determine methods of planting. handling, harvesting and us ing these crops to the best advantage. When these things have been deter mined the information has been given 10 the farmers, in some cases by bulle- tins or pamphlets describing the work accomplished, in some case by meet ings held at the farm, and in a great number of cases this information has been given in response to telephone calls and visits of farmers to the farm itself.
 During the three years that this farm has been in operation it has dis tributed to the farmers of the state choice milo seed to plant 1000 acres, enough Hegari seed to plant 2000 acres. enough Sacaton June corn 10 plant 25O acres, enough Early Bart wheat to plant 4000 acres. and enough six row barley to plant coco acres. In addition small quantities of considerable num- Der of other varieties of seed have been distributed.
 "A large number of varieties of crops have been tested and compared with one another. Two varieties of barley have been thoroughly tried out and the average yield secured from them has been better than GO bushels per acre Two varieties of oats have been tested and while this years crop has not been threshed, the average of the two pre- V1ous years give yield above 95 bush els per acre.
 At least nine varieties of wheat have been tested. The average yield of these wheat varieties has been twice. the average yield of wheat for Arizons. as reported by the U. s. Crop Reporter. t'our varieties of field peas have been tested, l6 varieties of COW peas, IS va. rleties of soy beans, nine varieties ot corn, six varieties of sorghums. more Lhan 20 varieties of flax, two varieties; of cotton, l3 varieties of vetch and a large number of miscellaneous crops such as buckwheat, horse beans. rape. castor beans. perilla and many others
 An experimental orchard has just been planted on the farm. This orchard contains more than 600 varieties of fruits and nuts. Although this orchard work is new and no definite results nave been obtained to date. it will. we believe. in a few years, save the fruit growers of the Salt River Valley ani Arizona many thousands of dollars.
 Those in charge of the farm have 1t all times tried to be progressive an.5 ID to date and have tried to bring into general use those farm practices that nave promised to be most successful in his state. This experiment. farm was )ne of the earliest growers of Sudan yrass here. One of the first fields ef iairy Peruvian alfalfa in this section ef Arizona was planted here on this ex- pertinent farm and this farm has perl