Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1922-08-04
FARM PAPER EDITORS VISIT Elk
PERTINENT FARM


tn members Of the states agricul-
raj experiment staff visited the North
,ntral Experiment Station at Grand
-apids on Visiting Day, July p, was
realty impressed with tne extensive
md intensive work being done at the
Grand Rapids station urder the super
intendency Of Otto 1. Bergh. Their
interest for the day conferred mainly
on tour lines Of work being carried on
thereon the breeding up Of the farm s
fine dairy herd through the use of pure
bred sires; on the extensive experiments
to determine the rate OF manuring on
different varieties of potatoes being
made in cooperation with the United
states bureau OF plant Industry; on the
discovery That even ON a dairy farm
'i1vic ..t;;nulc has been plentifuly dis
tlibutcd the soil may cone to lack GER
tain clements, such as potash, and on
substitutes for corn silage in regions
where the climate is not favorable to
the best production Of corn.
The visitors spent much Of their time
in the dairy barn looking over the'
animals and comparing their records,
which show rapid increases in the guam
titles Of butterfat produced from gener-
alton to generation when a purebred
sire of high-producing strain has been
used. They were impressed by the
statement that at the start the COWS
in the herds Of the Grand Rapids sta
tion produced On an average only
about 1876 pounds of butterfat, where
as for the year 1920 the average yield
was 34l.3 pounds. They were inter
ested, again, on learning that the herd
had been placed on the states accred-
tied list as free from tuberculosis, a
fact which emphasized the high stand
ing Of the state in the number Of its
tuberculosis free dairy herds.
Interest was marked again in the
large increase in the potato yield
through the experiments with five, ten
and twenty tons of manure to the acre;
five tons giving an increase Of 86.5
bushels, ten tons 1919 and twenty tons
1868, over the yield of 1855 yielded
On land which had no manure. The best
results, taking into consideration cost
Of labor and other factors, seemed to be
The discovery that there was lack
of potash in the soil came as surprise
to the expcrimenters, and the fact ex
cited the interest Of the visitors, be-
cause through several years manure
had been plentifully supplied, the ex
PLANTATION, as presented by DR.. F. j
Away of the soils division, seems tt
be that while manure had been applied
it was the solid manure from which
the LIQUID content had been allowed
to escape, and it is the liquid manure
which contains the potash. For thi!
reason large manure pit has been add
ed to the equipment of the farm, ane
the results of it's use will be observed
with care. The discovery of the neet
of potash at the Grand Rapids sta
ton is Of significance to dairy farmer
generally.
In the silage substitutes sunfower'
and soybeans mixed give good results
and are relishcd by the cows, according
to the station report for 1919, the soy
bean silage being preferred even t.
corn silage, though the latter is eater
with more relish by the cattle than tn
sunfower silage.
Other lines of experimental work
which drew and held the attention O.
the visitors, were the results with win
ter grains from early seeding. Earl,
seeding-from August Is to Septembe
l for wheat, and August Is to Septem
Der IS for ryc-giving decidedly tn
best results. Minturki, variety o
winter wheat bred by the Minnesot
experimenters has given excellent re
suits at the Grand Rapids station. Th
success with alfalfa at such a norther
post, where two cuttings give from
to 6 tons of hay, was another fact o
much interest. The attack on plan
diseases, at this station as at others
also aroused great interest.
A. D. Wilson, formerly extension di
rector of the University Department o
Agriculture, represented the regents o
the party at Grand Rapids, and wa
one of the speakers On the program
which followed the visit to the barn
and the fields. Among the other speal
ers were A. J. Glover Of Hoard S Dairy
man, and j. F. Reed, president of tn
Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation
MT. wilson talked OI Tic IuJufe oI ayr
culture in northern Minnesota, whe1
he is now operating farm; Mr.. Glove
Of the place of the dairy COW on til
farm, and Mr.. Reed Of the work Of til
farm bureau.
The party of editors and experimer
station men went from Grand Rapit
to Cloquet to inspect the forestry ST.
ton, and thence to Duluth to look ov;
the work at the Northeast station und
the direction of NJ. J. Thompson. The
were greatly impressed by what the