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Show 0 FARMERS WASTE MONEY I BY SENDING AWAY FOR SEED nil Selection From Home Crops Would Add m Vast Profits and Avoid Danger of Im-m? Im-m? porting Plant Pests. Mfo DR. R. J. EVAtfS. NHfE HAVE hi our state conditions iwi ?te different from those of H coil rections of our country. The problems of our system Aptioa farming aud of our dry-PkDiap dry-PkDiap are as yet untouched in rii Treat is fast solving many Jjftsjiteriss iu these liues of work. however, 0nc phase of tho JjBps which 13 being sadly ncg-K ncg-K Our improved S3'stcni of dry-fly? dry-fly? is lolvui;; to a vory marked dc-W dc-W Option of reclaiming the t-ican desert, but it is real-yMb real-yMb limitations. Wo have been Btoo lightly this very important Jvj of plant-breeding iu relation jHUQior. What it has in store Wjne knows, but it is certain that wc can greatly assist nature in her efforts to suit plants to their environment. en-vironment. Wliile the need for bettor bred varieties va-rieties of crops for dry-farm conditions is very great, we must not forgot that these eamo problems confront us under our irrigation conditions. It is very painful to 6tato that the farmers of Utah aro among the vory last to uwakcu to a realization of tho fact that wo uocd pay more attention to better seed if wo aro to compcto with our sister states. It is a disgrace tbet wo tend away for our seed wheu wo desire high-bred seed or when onr varieties va-rieties "run out." Statistics show that our stato oul-vields oul-vields practically every state trom which wo import seeds. Something is wrong and it is not with our coil or climate, but with tho fanner. In tho past bo has been content with just se"edT but something' further must bo dono. Every pound of foreign seed imported into our &tato brings with it the possibility of adding a few new species of the destructive insects or plant diseases to the ones we already havo- Many farmers cover up their lazy methods of fanning by complaining that, their' seed "runs out," while others actually believe that their seed does run out. It is true that in many cases seed does "run out," but it is usually tho farmer who runs it out. It has no other course. That old idea must pas3 into oblivion before the wide-awake farmer who carefully selects se-lects his seed. These statements are not the result of idlo droams, but aro based upon actual cxperionce. Many pructical farmers have selected their seed and upheld tho standard of certain cer-tain varieties for the past ton years without a change of seed. There is another causo of crop failure fail-ure or cause of tho so-called "nmniug out." This is the continuous increase of certain plant diseases aud insect pesta where any crop is grown continuously con-tinuously without properly caring for tho land. Tho farmers of this state would bo surprised if they knew tho great number of tuoSo destroyers stocking stock-ing arouud in th .r soils, on the ditch banks, on tho seed, and in the heaps of rubbish. "NTow, you farmers, beforo ever saying say-ing that your seed "runs out," sec to it that it is not tho insects or plant diseases or you. through poor methods of farming, that aro running tho seed down. Many farmers sell or oat the best of their grain and potatoes pota-toes and then use tho "left overs" for seed. Does this seem wise? What would you think of the stockman who would select his scrubbiest animals to breed from? Tho same laws of heredity, hered-ity, iD general, govern both plants and animals, and why should wo treat them so differently? Selection System. Every farmer can carry out a system sys-tem of seed selection on a practical hasis with most of his crops. But he should seek advice on this subject, as the old ideas and practices of' breeding breed-ing are changing very materially. An article of this nature will not permit of a detailed statement of methods, but if you aro interested in this subjoct write to us at tho college,, statins your problems and crops, and we shall help 5'ou where wo can. The old practice of selecting seed from the bin or cellar is a dangerous practice. In certain sections of. the United States experiment station workers have obtained results which -indicate that largo kernels of grain are usually produced pro-duced by low yielding plants, while the high yi elders more' often produce numerous kernels, but of somewhat smaller size. In other sections the reverse re-verse condition has been found. In Illinois Il-linois an experiment was carried out in which seed from the ono thousand-dollar thousand-dollar prize ear of corn at tho Omaha exposition was grown alongside of some seed from well-bred strains of the same variety of corn. The result was: For tho prize-winner 52 bushels and for tho well-bred seed 10'1 bushels. Tho whple trouble was in the method of selection. In the first case the farmer had been selecting for an ear of corn perfocC in outline, well filled with uniform kernels of a showy nature. Ho was breeding for looks The other man had been selecting high -yielding strains. IIo used seed from plants producing a larger number num-ber of ears at the expense of good appearance. ap-pearance. The first man sacrificed yield for beauty. After all, the thine the practical farmer wants is high yield and lot? of money. Beware ,of advertisements boosting fane' varieties of any crop. If our farmers would succeed in keeping keep-ing up a good high-yielding strain of their crops thoy must use the plant as a basis of selection and tho kernel, ker-nel, head. etc. In certain sections of the United States tho other system may bo successful, but in this climate it is dangerouB. It i a great pity that we havo not worked out theso vory problems prob-lems for our own conditiona, but it must soon como. The quickest and most sure way to cct these results is for you farmers to demand it. Tho present state appropriation appro-priation is insufficient to meet these problems, but if they mean so much to tho state, why not havo it? Legislation Needed. It is tho duty of tho state legislature legisla-ture to cuact stringent laws governing tho importation of poor seed and to enforce en-force farmers to use good seed free from disease and to cucourago the homo produetiou of highly bred strains of crops. , , Iu terms of dollars anu cents tho proper execution of a good system of seed soloctiou iu this stato moans millions mil-lions to its people. The writer has computed com-puted a few figures, based upon the United States department of agriculture agricul-ture roport, which gives somo idea of what this method properly carried out would moan to Utah. The figures indicating increase m viold aro based on results actually obtained ob-tained under experimental or practical conditions in other statos. Nouu aro at hand in this state, because nothing has been done. . A variety of corn yielding five buBhoIs higher per acre brought into general cultivation iu Utah alone, would incrcaso tho yearly output $3U, 000; a variety of wheat yielding throo bushels more than tho present aver-ugo aver-ugo would incrcaso tho output foOB.000 every year; an increase in onts of fivo bushels por aero would incroaso the valuo of tho oat crop to $217,000 each vear; a five-bushol-mcrease in barloy would mean $72,000 more; au increase - of twenty bushels of potatoes would i add another $1!)5,000 annually; an incrcaso in-crcaso of two tons of sugar beets, $310.-000; $310.-000; oue-hnlf ton incrcaso in our alfalfa al-falfa crop would add .?S55,000 more, making au annual increase through tho use of good seed of $2,1S7,000. This does not include the mnnj' crops of less j importance. Now if the acrcago in-1 crease3 oue-half in tho next tun years, as it gives nromiso of doing, this would add $l,003,o00 more to tho annual income in-come of our slate. When once a now, stable, high-. yielding yield-ing strain is produced it will usually keep up its standard with no more caro in tho selection or with no better treatment treat-ment than the ordinary varieties receive. re-ceive. The increased yield will then be largely clear profit to tho farmer. The farmers need to organizo a stato necdgrowers' or nlantbreeders' association associa-tion and get busy on this problem at once- In this way they can more effectively ef-fectively plan and execute their work and can hotter meet tho problems involved in-volved in marketing their improved varieties va-rieties of peed. "VVo aro anxious to as siftt you In every -vvny possible. |