The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-04-02
Experiment Stations Seek
Facts for the Farmers
Written by Oren A. Fitzgerald for
Idaho Farmer.

1uduO + dIuCIs
Just as the fourth annual feeders
day, held recently at the Caldwell sub
station farm, at which 1922-23 expert
ment results were reported, indicated
the cheapest and most efficient ra
tons for finishing beef cattle for mar
ket. so are the far-reaching result:
obtained from the Investigations be
ing conducted at the other substatior
farms operated at various points IL
the state by the University OF ldaht
college of agriculture experiment sta
ton making available new knowledge
dealing with soil improvements, or
chard and garden plants. breeding and
feeding of animals, control of insects
and plant diseases, and many other
vital problems.
Idaho differs from nearly every
other state with respect to this agrl-
cultural experimental work. Climatic
and soil conditions are far from uni
form and concentration of all expert
mental work at a central station, a
plan used in some states, would be
| impracticable Idaho has agricultur-
al lands at all elevations from few
hundred feet above sea level at Lew
iston to the high plateau lands in
the upper Snake river valley and
north central Idaho. Results on the
home farm at the university regard
! less of their success, would not Justl-
! fly immediate recommendation to the
| farmer in the irrigated area of the
south or the dry farming section in
| the southeast and far north. Each
! district has conditions peculiar to it
/ self and for that reason experiment
| tai work must be conducted with those
differences constantly in mind.
To serve the agricultural industry
which is the states greatest asset,
| in a manner which will minimize the
embarra ssment of the wide variety of
conditions, the university operates
subsidiary stations in each of the i'm
portant basic farming districts in the
state, in addition to the central sta
ton, operated in connection with the
laboratories at the university. These
stations are located at Aberdeen in
| the southeast, Caldwell in the south
west, Felt In the upper Snake river
district and Standpoint in the pan
| handle These four substations and
| the home stations are operated at
| less cost to the taxpayers than that
apportioned to experimental work in
other states which centralize all acti-
witty. Reports show that Idaho oper-
ates for 45.3 per cent of the average
cost of similar work in Oregon, Utah,
Washington, and Montana.
A study of the report of Dean e.
J. Iddings of the college of agricul
ture, director of the experiment sta
ton, indicates the great extent of
the field work and it's benefits to the
state The many lines of investiga
ton being followed by the home sta
ton and substations are ably set forth
in,
has not been published
The Aberdeen Station
The activities of the Aberdeen sub
station consists of improving the use
full plants by selection and breeding;
the introduction Of new lands; i'm
provement of cultural methods for
producing crops; the duty of water
on alfalfa seed; the application of
commercial fertilizers on crops, and
the improving of potatoes by selec-
ton and rogueing. All of these prob
lens were and still are of vital in
terest to the territory served by the
Aberdeen station, but the results were
often of more than mere local signi-
ficance. This station has also de-
veloped new variety of wheat, |
known as federation, which has out
yielded by an average of approx |
low, introduced into the section early |
in the stations history as the variety |
best suited to that area. Arrange
ments were made to distribute 5000 |
pounds of this new wheat to Idaho
farmers during the fall of 1922. Head I
were made and the heads l.
are to be planted this spring to fur
Their improve the strain, according
to the report of Dean Iddings.
The Aberdeen station has developed
three varieties of oats, which stand
at the top of the list in a 10-year
variety test. They are the golden
-ain, victory, and Idamine. The gol-
len rain is the highest yielding oat
grown at the station. The Idamine {
s a pure line selection of the silver
nine. 1t is we'll adapted to both the
upper and lower Snake river valley
md has become quite popular with {
armerS in the irrigated regions.
Trebi barley was obtained from
Asia and upon being placed on test !
bowed up remarkably well and since t
is distribution by the station in 1917 I
las been practically the only barley I
rown in the state under irrigation. t
t is planned, according to the re- t
ort, to try out new set of varieties O
gainst trebi to see if there is any S
Their barley that might be better Q
dapted to Idaho conditions. i
A variety of corn was produced last
ear in an attempt to develop yellow b
lent that will mature as early and a
i've as high a yield of grain and o
lore forage than the rustler's white g
ent. Results have shown enough v
romise to justify continuation. p
Experiments are in progress with c
eference to sugar beets, alfalfa and p
over varieties and seed production, Il
osaic and leaf roll of potatoes Il
trough the assistance of the sta tt
on's plant pathologist. The sugar
set experiments deal with tests of el
lrious cultural methods and records ST
/ different systems of irrigation. An tt
tempt is being made to find the al