Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1921-07-15
FARMERS SEE RESULTS
OF HUNDREDS OF AG-
RICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS


er president of the association. was
next introduced and made telling
short talk on conditions, advocating
cooperative marketing and conclud-
ing with the statement that he be-
lieved that when the farmers got to-
gether and sold their own produce
there would be about as much use
for the middle man as there is to-
day for bartender.
]. X. Mccormack, banker and the
chairman of the agricultural com
mittee of the Spokane chamber of
commerce was introduced and made
a plea for closer cooperation be-
tween the farmer and business. urg-
ing economy as the best means for
the farmer to free himself from de-
pending on favors from the bankers
He predicted that while conditions
looked good, there were still hard
times to come unless the people of
the country worked together for the
good of all.
The Palouse farmers got a straight
jolt from J x. Smith, manager Of
the Sperry flour mill of Spokane,
when he told them that the time was
not far distant when wheat would be
bought on the basis OF gluten con-
tent. He stated that it was neces-
sary for the mills to go to Montana
and the Big Bend to get the gluten
necessary TO maintain the standard
to the farmers the necessity of i'm
proving their method of tillage so
as to return to the soil that nitrogen
that the wheat is constantly taking
out and that summer following
wastes. In the drier sections water
is the limiting factor, but the wheat
tent. In the Palouse country We
have plenty OF moisture but the sum-
mer fallow system of tillage is rob
bing the soil of its nitrogen and un-
less the farmer plants leguminous
crops or in some other way returns
nitrogen to the soil he will suffer
the consequences of low gluten
content in his wheat.
Concluding the program Of
speeches, Dean Johnson discussed
the experiment station and its value
to the state. His speech appears in
another column of this issue.
Fifty Autos in Caravan
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the
visitors were divided into three
groups, each group in charge OF eX-
pertinent station experts, and were
taken on a tour of the big college
farm. with $50 acres devoted almost
exclusively to Investigations in the
interests of better agriculture. Fifty
automobiles made the trip over the
farm. In the bis experimental farm
are 1854 separate experimental
plots. The % plots in the Spillman
field were laid out 20 years ago to
study various cropping systems and
tillage methods. Ninety-siX plots are
included in the rotation field TO
study crop rotation systems now
practiced in the Palouse country and
experimental rotation systems. A
study of the effect of seeding dates
on the yield of winter wheat is car
ried on in % plots and 1875 are given
over to a study of small grains, Va
rieties of forage crops adapted to
climatic and soil conditions OF the
state are under investigation in 543
plots and there are eight fields OF
silage crops. Eighteen plots are
planted to sunflowers for investiga-
tional purposes and % to red clover
sweet clover and alfalfa. In the
cereal breeding and selection plots
there are 1928 separate rows, and
each row will tell its story at the
time of harvest.
e The caravan of automobiles made
its first stop at field No. 6, where
, rotation and cultural experiments
: are under way. Four main expert
T. ments are being conducted in TINS
r field. including methods of applica'
5 ton of manure. summer fallow meth
DDS. wheat in rotation and time and
depth of blowing for spring wheat
5 The results obtained from this fleio
are summarized by the station eX'
perts as follows:
Manure Increases Yield
Manure applied in the spring each
wear before blowing at the rate OF
10 tons per acre increased the aver
age annual yield of spring wheat ~
acres per bushel.
Manure applied in the fall each
yaor hafore DloWing at the rate OF