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Show I AGRICULTURE I RELATION OF THE EXPERI-' I MENT STATION TO THE I FARMER H Written for the Doscrel Fanner, - I By L. A. M. H The changes thai have taken place in nearly all branches of productive industry during the tost few years H have been as noticeable in the fnrnir H cr's occupation as in any other. J I H has been but a very few yiars- since H it was thought that farming difTcrcd H from other occupations in that it re-I re-I quired no preparation; in short, that H any one who failed in other 'branches H of industry could farm successfully, In the East it has been but a very few H years that farmers' institutes have H been successful and in the West, H meetings for the discussion of strict-ft strict-ft ly agricultural topics arc comparat-H comparat-H iely a new departure. The farmers H themselves have heretofore taken but H k very little interest in such matters for the necessity of knowing any-H' any-H' thing in their business beyond the : ' ability to plant, cultivate and harvest H' a crop had not dawned upon them .to any appreciable extent. Of late, H however, there has been an awaken-H awaken-H ing, and wo arc coming to a rcalizu-H rcalizu-H tion of the importance of intclligc.it H action in all the details of agricuturc H if the farmer would succeed. The H time has passed when successful H farmers sneer at book-farming, and H todey the successful farmer is wil'-H wil'-H ing to receive aid in his work m H matter from what legitimate source H it originates. The (conditions that H confront the farmer and the difficul-H difficul-H tics that beset his: path, present prob-H prob-H lems which are too complex for his H unaided solution. The farmers m H the past in Utah, under the favorable H circumstances that have surrounded H them, secured good crops. T1k ld H of crops for last year indicates mat H there has been intelligent planning H and wise cooperation in our farm H work. Tn the production of potatoes H last year Utmh rnnkocl ninth in yield H per acre, her average yield being iao H bushels. Wheat the avorogc yie'd in H Utah wns 20.7 'bushel per acre while the average for the United Stotes was but 12.27. Oats in Utah 34, bushels, bush-els, United States 30.23. In the p'ro-duction p'ro-duction -of hay Utah leads with an average yield of 2.5 tons per acre, the average for the United States being but ' 1.35 tons. These figures are but an indication of the agricultural possibilities pos-sibilities of our State. But it is not believed that even with these very gratifying statistics the agriculltutc of Utah has reached the limit cf perfection, and the State of Utah for tbe advancement of her agricu'turnl interests, Iras established within her bordcirs an agricultural experiment station. The agricultural station in this state and in other states of the Union has developed from sma'l beginnings. They arc the result of the formation of agricultural societies in Germany, which hoped thereby to advance the cause of agriculture. The first Experiment Ex-periment station in 'he United States was organized at Midd'cton, Conn., and today upwards of one million dollars arc spent in the Uni-cd Uni-cd States annually in agricultural agricul-tural experimentation and investigation. in-vestigation. But what I desire especially to do in this paper is to call your attention to the fact that you have here within the borders of this State a. station which receives annually from the U. S. Government Govern-ment $30,000 that it might investigate and study those problems which arc too complex for the unaided farmer to accomplish alone. I am of the opinion, however, that the farmers fail to appreciate the value of the Station and fail to appreciate the help they may receive if they sodd-sirc. sodd-sirc. Farmers should feel an interest inter-est in calling upon their experiment stations for information in any critical criti-cal matter that may arise in farm practice, and the Experiment Station Sta-tion should advise the farmer on all general questions pertaining to the farm, A broad field is ztq represented repre-sented but it requires cooperation on the part of 'both if the work be effective. ef-fective. Every subject with which the practical prac-tical farmer of today has to deal is? receiving the attention of one or more of the experiment stations on this continent. Selection and preservation preser-vation or seed, feeding and care of stock, investigation of animal diseases, dis-eases, dairy and pouultry problems, method' of tillage and -cultivation ol soils, are some of the practical subjects sub-jects being investigated. Practical experiments along any of these lines require great care and accuracy in order to have the rcsu'ts reliable and useful. Many of the experiments' n progress at the Station require long periods to establish certain facts under un-der consideration, and these experiments experi-ments arc often very expensive, but the results very often arc of national importance. But in the meantime there needs 'to be done a great deal of work which will be of immediate benefit to the farmers. This latter work will be more along the lines jf instruction than investigation for tli-s Station, but would often save the farmer a great deal of time and expense ex-pense to find the information wanted. There must, however, as I have already al-ready said, be a greater interest taken ta-ken by the farmers' themselves in these inquiries before any station, however zealous the workers in tint station may be, can 'be of the greatest great-est value to those in whose interest it was established. I have often in the past few years heard people cypress cy-press themselves who entertained very grave doubts as to whether the cx-pcrmincnt cx-pcrmincnt stations were securing secur-ing results commensurate with the cost. If the experiment stations had done nothing else than furnish to the world the Babcock test they would have placed a large credit to their account. Tt is true that there have been very few discoveries made by the Station workers that rise to the importance of the one made by Dr. Babcock, yet in the long line of researches Uu.t bear upon the economy oP stock feeling, feel-ing, upon the composition and use of formulae which will enab'c us to rid ourselves of fruit pests, upon the saving sav-ing and application of manures, upon the relation of food to the composition of animals, upon tests of mechanical appliances for all parts of the farm; upon questions of seeding and harvesting har-vesting of crops, ,and upon various other questions, the stations have ""given useful information, which whilo in their nature are not startling or will have a tendency to revolutionize farming, yet have been of great assistance as-sistance to the farmer in enabling him to make his 'practice more precise. pre-cise. 1 Icreascd knowledge in any domain of agriculture may materially affcU the income of the nation. Thus an process that will increase the crop cf corn by one per cent will make mi (t increase of 20 millions of bushe's in the United States. The kinds of work which the experiment ex-periment stations arc doing may be grouped in three classes; First, experiments exper-iments that are somewhat simple in nature, as variety tests of p'anis and seeds, field experiments wit.'i crops, the study of actual feeding ij practices of the farmers, etc. Tho-'.e fl simple problems arc really experi- I ments in practical agriculture, and while they have brought results of co 1-sidcrablc 1-sidcrablc va'ue, arc not to be reckoned among the best work which the c- j pcriment stations arc doing. Second, there is the work of disseminating , information on farm problems, a work which requires a great dcnl of J time, and, 3rd,lherc arc more com- V plicated investigations under way, X Such as digestion experiments, the M study of plant diseases, insects in M jurious to vegetation, problems the results of which arc of much greater ft importance than those of the sim- ft pier kinds. It is not always an easy ft matter to sec the practical results of ft these works of investigation: for in- Ij stance when the Experiment Station ft in Connecticut was making the experi- ij ment upon the accquisitiin of nitro- gen from the air, by growing plants, Is it seemed to the ordinary observer p a waste of money for men of fairly h large salaries to spend their time V washing and burning ordinary sea sand, and planting the seed in the J soil thus prepared, but the result cf i that experiment is of inestimable ft value to the farmer. They learned ft that some plants possess aiiu that I some plants do not possess the 1 property of accquiring nitrogen from I the atmosphere. This discovery is . f ' importance 'because we now know why certain crops do not draw certain cer-tain important plant foods from the soil but rather leave the soil in belter bel-ter condition than it was when son n. Our own experiment station luu endeavored to keep in touch with the needs of the fanners in this inter-mountain inter-mountain section and are now studying study-ing questions supposed to Gc of most local importance. Questions concerning concern-ing irrigation are being studied and as this is a question that does not concern the farmer in tlie east o much, is of more local importance. Our conditions arc such that it would be useless for the people of Utah to compete with the corn growing states in the production of a larc hog, but it has been thought that with our enormously 'krge yields ci 'luccrn that this crop' could be uti ized in the production of the bacon hog. Experiments to test this1 question of the economic production of the bacon It hog have been in progress during th ' I past six years, and the experiments I have confirmed tthc idea that the I bacon hog can be produced as chcap- I ly in Utah as anywhere in the United Unit-ed States. Tests arc also being made i at our station with the different field crops. Some forty-four varieties of fall wheat were sown on the station grounds last fa'l, and while this work of testing varieties is not so important import-ant as some other lines of work, still 1 it has its value in bringing in and acclimating new varieties, and it may be in securing varieties bet-tcr bet-tcr suited to our conditions than any now in use. We arc testing yearly different varitics of wheat, fa'l and spring, oats, banlcy, corn and grass Tests arc also made of the different I! methods- of tillage, a comparison 'A II the results of different times of plow-Si plow-Si ing, fall and spring, early and late, j and different depths. I shall give in i detail the results accommplished in a few of the. experiments hi our i station, but first I desire to call your attention to at least one of the important im-portant results achieved 'by another station. In the cast it is common practice to use commercial fiertilizdrs, the desirable constituents being nitrogen nitro-gen and soluble phosphoric acid. Whm the station in Connecticut begun be-gun its work in 1875 a number of brands of fertilizers' were being sold These brands were taken, analyzed and their composition compared with the selling price. It appeared at tlu rate farmers were paying, for the nitrogen ni-trogen frcjm 10 1-3 icents to $1.67 and for the soluble phosphoric acid from 10 Gents to 25 cents per pound, the last reports- in that state show that the farmers are now paying about 12 cents for the nitrogen and not moro than 8 1-2 cents for the phosphoric acid. On this item alone, the station has saved for the state of Connecticut Connecti-cut more than it has1 ever cost them. I know of one inte'ligent and progressive pro-gressive farmer in Cache county who had concluded that the plant food in his soil had become exhausted, and that it would be necessary tt ine commercial ' foYtilizcns. He wis M told the experience of the ex- H periment station in regard to im- H ported fcrti'izcrs, and advised to H (Continued on page 14) H EXPERIMENT STATION WORK (Continued from page 3) adopt a system of rotation. He 'Is now growing luccrn on the worn-out soil and making dairy farming a specialty with marked success-. The influence of our station in dairy farm ing has been marked. In Cache county but a few years ago there va not a dairy worthy of the name to be found and while we had the conditions condi-tions necessary for the economic production pro-duction of lagc quantities of the finest fin-est dairy products yet at certain seasons of the year carloads of both butter and cheese were shipped in 10 supply the market. Considerable surplus sur-plus butter was made during the summer months, but as it was made in small dairies and handled through the stores, the reputation of Utah butter was not the best. But some years ago the college began be-gan for illustrative and experimental experimen-tal purposes a dairy with all the modem mod-em appliances and today wc have m that valley alone two large cond.n-saries, cond.n-saries, one-third of all the factories in the state and aJout one-halt of :he factory output. The feeding of farm animals is at present far from being understood The Experiment Station has spent thousands of dollars and years of time in making a careful study of Utah fodders and their adaptability to the different requirements in the animal economy. Luccrn being our moit extensively grown forage crop, has received a large share of this investigational investi-gational work. Questions were 'frequently 'fre-quently asked as to the best time to cut luccrn. Some farmers claimed that it should be cut as soon as the first blossoms appeared. Others when the luccrn was in full bloom, still others that it should be cut ten days after full bloom-. For the purpose'of ans-weVing these questions, Uie station purchased about 40 head of two-year-old steers which were divided into different lots or sets: A piece of lucern was divided into three different strips, cuttings ' being made froim these strips at definite defi-nite intervals. The hay from a certain cer-tain cutting was then fed to one set of steers, from another cutting to another an-other set, etc. The results of one year's work was not considered .conclusive, .con-clusive, but at a very great expendi ture, of fimc and money, this ex- I pcrimunt was continued along these 1 same lines for five different years. H The results obtained from these I different years' work was taken and the average obtained. It was found that the average yield per acre from the strip cut in early bloom was 10,- 719 pounds; in full -bloom, 9,829 pound alter full Worn 9,100 pounds. The annual yield of digestib'e matter per U acre was found to be as follows: I Cut in early bloom 6,413 pounds 1 Cut in full- bloom 5,912 -pounds I Cut after full bloom 5,309 pounds J The final test in this experiment, however, was the amount of beef produced pro-duced with luccrn cut at these dif-feren dif-feren dates. The strip cut in early 1 bloom was found to produce 705 J pounds of beef per acre; cut in full i bloom.561 pounds of beef while that J left for ten days after full bloom 1 produced 490 pounds. The stockm.in ! feeding luccrn will discover from this j experiment how he may get $7.50 ' per acre more for his luccrn, with beef selling at three and a half cent per pound live weight, by cutting 11 at the proper season. In some sections sec-tions of the state this experiment has ' been followed very closely and meth-(Ods meth-(Ods have .befen miitcYially changed from former practices in accordance with its teachings'. As I have already stated the pork producing problem in Utah resolves itself into growing pigs with the minimum amount of grain and the maximum amount of alfalfa or other cheap food. For six years the experiment ex-periment station has conducted experiments ex-periments to determine the value of luccrn for hogs when used as pasture and when fed dry. During the time these experiments have been conducted conduct-ed more than 250 pigs have been in connection with them. To determine the value of luccrn pasture one set of pigs was turned on to pasture with a full grain ration; another set wjith a three-fourths .grain 'ration; another with one-half; another with one-fourth grain ration. Another set was turned on luccrn pasture without grain. The results of six seasons' tests which have Just been published in bulletin form show that in every instance the highest total gains and the highest daily rate of grain were secured from the set fed on full grain ration. The true test of economic production, however, Hos in the quantity of food consumed for one hundred pounds of gain. In this the onefourth grain ration st excels in every test, requiring the smallest quantity of food for oiw hundred prounds gain live weight. Gains. I, Full grain ,,, -,,.. . ...........'..,,"" " Three-fourths .................... , , ,rin, 83 One-half ....... ,..ww..w... 62 One-fourt.h .............. jo Cost of Production. Fu'l ' grain ......,.... 100 Three-fourths .Jx............. J4 One-fourth ...., ..-.. .. 66 1 If the cost of production were the only consideration it would be an easy matter to draw a correct conclusion for Ithc gains from the lowest grain rations ra-tions were made at 'least cost per pound. However, the pigs on full grain ration, make so much larger to tal gains that it more than balances the greater rate per cent profit on n the partial ration that under ordinary. "conditions this would -be advisable. As to the qucston of cost of pork production it was found that with nearly all of the feeds used pigs sc'l-ing sc'l-ing at three cents per pound live weight cither a loss or a very small profit wi'l result, but in every instance with pork selling at four cents per pounds there is a small profit. Some years ago all of the horses at the co'lcgc were used in an experiment ex-periment to answer several questions. First, the relative va'uc of luccrn and timothy, pound for pound; second, I the practicability of reducing the I '"' fodder or roughage fed t6 about omj-l omj-l hailf that fed by the ordinary Utah farmer; third, the relative value of v oats and bran and shorts when fed in t .connection with above fodder crops. . The heavy horses received 15 pounds J 1 of Githcr thimothy or lucern and 12 L pounds of oats per day. The grain was divided into three H feeds, six pounds of it being fed :.t the noon meal. No hay was fed at I noon. The lighter horses, used for M light work and averaging about 1,100 pounds in weight received 12 pound's' I of cither luccrn or timothy and nine I pounds of oats. This experiment 9 men't was conducted with slight varia- i tions from the above for a number of seasons now and we shall soon publish pub-lish the results. Sufficient data, arc at hand now to show conclusivc'y that cither for working or driving horses, lucern when fed pound for pound in comparison with timothy en ablcs a horse to maintain weight better bet-ter and to present a more sleek, rounder, better flushed appearance. Much prejudice has existed and still exists in some sections against luccrn for horse feed. Ve hope that our work has removed some of this prejudice. preju-dice. In our climate with our system sys-tem of irrigation we can lead the world in the production of this croo and the ambition of the station officers of-ficers is to become so tTioroughly familiar fam-iliar with a4I the details of this wonderful won-derful p'ant, this salvation of the ard region, that the eyes of the farming world will be turned to us for information infor-mation in reference to it. The poultry poul-try industry has been made a subje-t of study by the station. Four year ago experiments on egg production were commenced and results have already al-ready been obtained that indicated the changes which if made will make the poultry industry one of the most profitable industries of the state. The experiments made in this line of work by M.r. Turpin arc of practical practi-cal importance to the farmers of Utah. We have received requests for the results of our work in this line from nearly every civilized country upon earth. It has been discovcre.l, for instance that from the standpoint stand-point of egg production more depends de-pends upon .the individual hen than upon the breed. Mr. Turpin has shown that the poultry industry is a profitable one having hens at the station sta-tion giving more than 200 per cent profit on the feed. |