The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-09-22
LATAH COUNTY FARMERS To
BECOME PURE SEED GROWERS

| Moscow and Latah county are tC
have seed growing community and
make an effort to produce pure seed
Of many kinds for the northwest. The
work is to include grains as well as
other farm producets, but special at
tention will, be given to producing
pure seed of peas, beans and potatoes,
which are to be made a speciality. An
expert will be placed in charge of the
work and will assist the farmers in
securing pure seed and preparing it
for planting and also assist in the
raising of the crops The expert is
F. L. Kennard,s who resigned as
county agent for Whitman county,
Washington, to come to Latah county
and take up this work.
Mr.. Kennadr has been engaged in
similar work for IA yearss..4He. grad
uated from South Dakota in 1906 and
spent five years with the United
States department of agriculture. For
three years he was agronomist for the
University of Idaho and spent four
years at the head of the University of
Minnesota farm crops department. He
was county agricultural agent for
Whitman county, Washington, for 18
months.
The work is being undertaken by NJ
E. Washburn and H. N. Wilson, who
started in a small way few years
ago to encourage the farmers to raise
peas, beans, potatoes and other crops
instead of summer fallowing their
land between grain crops. So success
full have the experiments been that
the firm of Washburn & Wilson,
which undertook to handle these crops
that had not had market here be-
fore, will pay out more than half a
million dollars this year for these
"specialties" or ''extras" rasied by
the farmers of Latah county. Mr..
Kennard will take charge of the field
work and will devote his time to
operating with the farmers. His ex-
perience and advice will be at their
disposal and he will help them, much
as county agent does, to secure the
best seed possible, plant it in the best
way and try to raise the biggest
yields. Mr.. Wilson said:
eve find there is an enormous de-
mand in the west for pure seed, which
is difficult to obtain. We have en-
ployed Mr.. Kennard on contract to
take charge of the field work and hope
to have enough pure seed raised in
Latah county to supply large part
of the demand in the northwest. The
experience of the past few years has
shown that the soil and climatic con-
ditions here are ideal for this kind
of crops and they yield well. We feel
that the farmers here should be sell
ing instead Of buying these seeds at
fancy prices"
H. Whittier, cashier of the Moscow
State Bank, says the movement
started by these people will mean
much to the farmers of Latah county
and the people of Moscow. "It means
producing something beside wheat or
grain,' said Mr.. Whittier. s'It means
less land lying idle in summer fallow
and opening market for by-pro-
ducts that have heretofore not been \
worth bothering with by
the farmers. This movement started
a few years ago has grown into pro-
portions that means much to the agri-
cultural interests of the country, if
it continues to grow"
The firm of Washburn & Wilson,
from the modest start in inducing
farmers to devote more time and at
tenteion to these by-produdts, will
pay half million dollars to Latah
county farmers for by-products this
year and $4,000 for labor in pre-
pairing this stuff for market. They
will ship ten carloads Of prunes and
pears, % carloads of apples, SO to
IS carloads of potatoes and 40 car
loads OF peas. They have handled
through their packing, picking and
asserting plant this year, 20 carloads |
If beans which went to the markets
If the United States and Europe. /
And all of these products were grown
IN land that, under old conditions,
would have been summer .fallowed |
and would have produced nothing. It
s claimed by farmers who have been
growing these crops that the land
produces better crops of wheat after
any one CT these crops, than if it had |
3een summer fallowed and produced