The Washington herald., 1920-02-19
8 aI '
77,0OO SILOS
IN WISCONSIN
Dean Of College Of Agricul-
ture, Tells Of Fam
Progress,
GROWTH Is LASTING
GROWTH Is LASTING
State Organization Directs
Judgment Of Buyers of
Agricultural Lands.
Special Cerrespondence of The
Washington Herald.

Madison, Wis, Fep. Is - When I
called on Dean Z. A. Russell, Of the
College Of Agriculture. OF the Uni
versity. and upon his disavowIng any
knowledge OF politics = even farm
politics-I asked him whether Wis
consin farmers were prospering.
Yes, our farmers have not tied up
their prosperity TO one crop. like the
cotton growers or the Dakota wheat
raisers," he answered. We have
diversified farming. and our farmers
are getting along pretty well. For
example. we have in the State, 1900
silos. and are increasing the silos at
the rate of 10000 to $4,000 every
year. Our dairy interests produce
5000. .00o.0 900 a year. yet the upper
half of the State is only half de-
yeloped."
Has there been a rise in land
values here. as is reported in Iowa ??
No Dangerous InantIe..
NO: our land has risen from 90
to so per cent. but there has been
no such dangerous imitation as in
Iowa, and / hope there never VIII
be-"
"T was told. in Chicago. that Of
81 sales of Iowa farms at from s5oo
to 500 an acre. two-thinds OF them
went to city investors-not to farm
ers. Is the same true in Wiscon-
sim"
That is not the case In wiscon-
sim" replied Dean Russell. our
H. l., q lpl lou "a
farmers who sold their land. down
there, at those fancy prices and
have come up here for practical
farming. We have been gaining set
tiers more rapidly than any other
state. and we are taking care OF
them. too. The cooperation OF our
bankers and colonization companies
has developed great team work. in
helping farmers to help themselves.
For example. bankers and others
unite in buying trsinloads of cows
and selling them at cost TO the
farmers. upon the basis OF the faT-
mer's applying half OF his cream
check. each month. toward paying
for the cows. and using the other
half for their feed. The same thing
is done with pigs. Carloads Of dy-
namite, for clearing stumps, are
bought. and sold at cost to indi-
viduals At retail that would cost
the farmer about twenty-five cents
a pound. and they get it for four
teen or fifteen cents.
Fruit Zone Misrepresented.
"A few years ago some unscrupu-
lous land dealers misrepresented
the fruit zone. up on Lake Superior
in the bayfield, peninsula-and
included in it all the peninsula,
awing a straight line from Ash
land over TO Superior, and pretend
ing that all north of that line was
frost proof. on account of the lake,
whereas only five or ten miles back
from the Lake is frost proof-and
not all of that. II depends largely
ION the air-drainage
The result of that misrepresen-
tation was that the whole region
was injured. and the settlers who
planted fruit. outside of the legitI-
mate frost-proof belt lost money
But in the proper region. close to
the LAKE. it is all right. and they
have deTeloped great cherry and
apple orchards. There is one cherry
orchard. in Dorr County. of l.2OO
acres, the largest cherry orchard
in the world. Apples in the Bay
field Peninsula are very fine though
they do not take on the color that
the same varieties do in South
eastern Wisconsin. near the Missis-
sippi River.
Breeds Are Standardized.
But the greatest progress in Wis
consin. is in the naturalization of
breeds-both of livestock and of
seeds-and the development of CO.
operation. We have 1928 livestock
breeders associations. and each
locality has some one breed. In one
region. all the cows are Holsteins
in another all are Guernseys, We
have the largest cooperative enter
prise in America, except that of the
California Citrus Fruit Growers. 1t
is the Wisconsin Cheese Factories
Cooperative Association. Seventy
per cent of all the cheese made in
America comes from Wisconsin,
lt.OOO.0O0 pounds a year"
Next, | talked with Prof r A
Moore. the agronomist. before whose
desk l found table bearing speci-
mems of arfstocratic, thoroughbred
corn. To an average city man IL
would appear ineNpHcable that any
body could grow eloquent over breed
ing corn-or any other grain-but TO
a scientific breeder. the subject is
hiled with romance that thrills his
very soul.
. Prof. Moore told of his twenty-one
years of work in getting rid of the
scrub seed, of which there were many
scores OF varieties in WisconsIn-and
introducing the pediereed welI-bred
corn-just two varieties for half OF
the State, and three others recon-
mended for the rest of the farms-for
the same is not best for every part
OF the State. The result is that Wis
consin today beats the world in its
corn-yieid per acre. and il natures
its crop in 100 days from planting.
Leads Corn Yield.
The government crop report states
that the yield for the leading corn
states is as follows: Missouri. q
bushels per acre: Illinois. 35; Michi-
gan. 20; Minnesota. 40; Iowa, l.6;
Ohio. A; Wisconsin. &. The average
for all the United States is about S5.
One-eighth of the United States
crop of barley comes from wiscon-
sin. and ninety-elght per cent of
that is the offspring of a single
berry, nursed and bred throupn
twenty years under the care of the
agronomy department of the AsrI-
cultural College. assisted, in recent
years, by some 1900 graduates,
upon their farms, who act as vol
untary testers. Ask an agronomist
IL seed breeding is prosaic.