Show is WI O J VlfW THfW I i Secretary of Agriculture Has Broadened Views HAS A GREAT FUTURE FAEMESS WEST OP THE MISSISSIPPI MISSIS-SIPPI ARE PROSPEROUS 1 1 Hopes to Be Able to Make the West era Range Horse Capable of Entering En-tering Into Competition With the 1 Horses of Europe For Army Purposes Pur-poses Sugar Beet Culture in Utah J and Elsewhere j Chicago Sept 1 James Wslson secretary sec-retary of agriculture has returned from a riD through the western states j uhere he has been Investigating concH 1 tinny regarding irrigation and other matters which will tend to widen the scope of agricultural Industry Mr Wilson has been investigating I the systems of irrigation In western ii Nebrasa Colorado Wyoming Utah part of Idaho and North Dakota and the result of his observations twill be fraught with interest to western agriculturists I agri-culturists He has gone into the ques i twn of the condition of the rnn horse J He hopes to make the animal capable of compe > ting with the horses of Europe Mr Wilson is enthusiastic concern ing the agricultural future of the west and confident that hard times have i passed for the farmers west of the Mississippi Mis-sissippi During his months trip thruugh ibe western states he exam ned into the conditions existing among i the farmers He found that the latter 4 had felt the wave of prosperity and < that they were buying new machinery J matong numberless improvements and are able to pay off their mortgages 4 REGARDING IRRIGATION I have been through the mountain p states said Mr Wilson In order to I j learn what could be done regarding ir rtgatrcn in the range lands of western Nebraska Colorado Wyoming Utah j part of Idaho Montana and North Dakota Da-kota Ths principal object of my trip through these states was to ascertain 41 to what extent they could add to ithes annual reduction by further impra ticn Duiiinsr the course of my obserr J rattan I have found t3iat hese states have already used up the vatsrs ira many dfetricsi without being able to irrigate the bottom lands They ore i now agitating the theory of damming the waters in winter Various schemes j are on foot to bring this about Some advocate the idea that the government should take up the matter and pay for I the cost of damming Some think liter i I I state governments should begin the I work 0 thers are organizing companies II and selling the stock in the east t Everything Every-thing points to a renewed activity In j agriculture in these states I Some rivers in these states are no ij being used for irrigation purposes Among these are the Grand river In New Mexico and the Yellowstone river The Yellowstone has a magnificent vial I Icy all through Montana It is getting to cost money to get the river out of 1 its banks however and to build aqueducts aque-ducts to irrigate the higher lands of the valleys THE RANGE HORSE This inquiry naturally led to an investigation in-vestigation Of the condition of the range horse Why is the horse Of the range practically worthless1 This is a question which has troubled western agriculturalists Kr years The range horse can be made a profitable source careful investiga S of income I find by tion over those seven states that the grasses of the uplands though they are never irrigated are very nutritious They are just as nutritious as the bluegrasses blue-grasses of Iowa provided of course that the animal gets enough of range I find that the animals with rare exceptions have nothing to keep up their growth In the winter or to maintain 4 main-tain their quality of sustenance obtained ob-tained during the summer months Leading range men agreed with me that a colt kept growing bott > summer and winter continuously for two years would be as large a colt at five years with no feed in the Winter They also agreed with me that good wintering would give them a horse weighing 300 or 400 pounds more at four years than he Is at five years old or without any better blood than they have got a 1100 or 1200pound horse just such a horse as Is now used in European armies SOME POSSIBILITIES I have an agent in Europe at the present tim Investigating the requirements require-ments for heavy draft carriage horses and animals needed for army purposes 1 have very little doubt that if the range horses in the western states were properly cared for they would be able to compete with European horses I hope to bring about such a competition competi-tion and to make the market for American Amer-ican hcrse lively in European countries coun-tries During my trip I found a very extensive interest in growing sugar beets to make sugar Grand Island Neb is on the edge of the dry belt Sugar beets are one crop that grows in spite of drouths About 3000 to 4000 acres of land are necessary to cultivate a sufficient crop of beets to keep a factory fac-tory in operation The dry product or the pulp is not being used to the best advantage At 4 Grand Island and Lehi Utah it Is fed to range steers The amount of It that would make two pounds of gain on a firstclass Steer worth 6 or 7 cents would make a pound of butter but such has not occurred to tho sugar beet I growers |