VOL. XXX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., AUG. 3, 1895.
NO. 31.
THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES.
Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Convention at Denver, Colorado.
Editors Indiaka Fai-mkr:
Following the great National Educational Convention at Denver, came the
ninth annual convention—all men—of tlie
association of American agricultural colleges ami experiment stations.
The session lasted from Tuesday, Hie
16th of .Inly till Thursday, the 18th, and
mi Friday, ihe 19th,over i-">o of Hie members went on an all day trip lo the Agricultural College of Colorado at Ft.Col-
lins.
There were about lOStatesand Territories represented by the '.HI delegates who
met Tuesda. morning to hear the usual
hearty welcome by Hie governor and the
mayor and ihe response by Chairman
Alvord. Then regular business began
witli reports of committees through their
chairmen as follows:
Agriculture and chemistry j E. Ii. Voor-
hees, of New Jersey.
Horticulture and Botany, W. 1!. I.a/.-
enliy. of Ohio.
Entomology, c. P. Gillette, of Colorado,
Mechanics, F. P. Anderson, of Kentucky.
These reports showed that much experimentation   and   original    Investigation
was going on in the agricultural oolleges.
-lion on  farming could be
!ms\vVfW.i! such a convention
The reports told of the multitude "f reports and bulletins—ill'i, making 75-537,-
-70 printed pages. Florida had studied
the pineapple and issued a bulletin. Thirteen stations an- specializing on garden
vegetables. Georgia is trying to open a should be cured, not burned in the arid
new province for the sweet-potato as a regions, [n the east soils need replenishing, though iii much of the west as yet no
school course and professional agriculturists   iu th< Heir uise.    President
clute, of Florida, quoted Win. T. Harris's
remark lhat agriculture had not been reduced to pedagogic form.
Professor Etane, of Virginia, and President Bills,of Colorado, spoke on th*'educational aspect of the agricultural Interests. They agreed that agricultural colleges must raise their literary standard
and give students more culture than they
had so far been doing, or else the agricultural courses and colleges would still be
looked down on as inferior and students
be ashamed of their departments. The
fault iii Colorado and elsewhere is not
with the people nor with the faculty, but
with the  legislature which  defines   the
course.- and allows short cuts.
A. i'. True, *.f Washington, D, <'.. gat ,• a
valuable paper. He is at the center of
things and knows the status ofthe agricultural colleges and the nature of their
national Character. He assured Hie members that these colleges have come to
slay. He pleaded for unity in aim and
organization and advocated long tenure
of ollice.    lie slated    that   about    1,000,000
copies of pamphlets  and   bulletins  had
I'cen.selil out.
The association adopted the proposal of
stating resoUs of tests of dairy cows or
herds as bu I terfal : and when desirable
to express these r rds in butter equivalents, io compute by multiplying the
amount of butter-fat by one and one-sixteenth.
ri.is i i litn  or  i ii i: soi...
In discussing "methods *>f maintaining
fertility" there wasa strong sentiment
expressed on the desirability of keeping
farmers mil of the hands of fertilising
companies.      It   was   held   that   manure
source of stand,. Blights', moulds, bacteria, medicinal plants, forestry, questions of longevity and nutrition, effects
of altitude, all these and many more subjects are being investigated and records
are made so fast and numerous that the
up-to-date farmer will soon be of necessity a reader and student; and the study
of agriculture will have to break Up into
a dozen different studies just as "science"
will no longer do for the name of a college chair.
COLLEGE   WORK.
(>n the second  day   Director  .1. II. Council, of Texas, reported  on  college work.
lack of fertile soil troubles thc farmer.
I,oss IIV  INSECT PESTS.
The entomology section gave ils verdict that there was no danger lo be feared
from poison sprayed on cabbage, as a
weak man would nave to eat 22 cabbage
heads to get enough Paris green or London purple to poison him.
A. H. Hopkins, of West Virginia, read a
paper stating that *:*_.."..,MM,.,HH, loss is caused
by the ravages of tree bisects every year,
and also "an indirect loss through injured trees, making defective lumber, estimated   at    $100,00n,linn."      Mark    beetles
He said:   In _D institutions $75^00 have   alone dd*$5^)0,000,6oO damage.   All-parts of
been spent on permanent equipment,
Massachusetts leading With $13,000. Cornell has most teachers of all agricultural
and mechanical colleges.   There arc 45 in
the mechanical department alone at Cor-   and the manual training of colored  boys
■•IL Both of these themes elicited great inlor-
TK.ITI.Ml  AGRICULTURE, est, llll t  1 i I He    generosity.     The     first    Wa-
Professor Hunt, of Ohio, then read one    left I*. real another year; and   on the >i-r
trees arc liable to attack
The section on    n hanii- arts   had two
points lo make: their   section   should  be
recognised in the title of ihe association,
of lhe   best   papers   of   the   session.    His
theme was   "Methods   of   instruction   iii
ond the stultified conclusion was reached,
or seemed to   be reached   that "beyond a
teaching-agriculture." The burden of the  certain  point  negro education *la  pro.
the paper was that we must abandon the
notion that a farmer needs but little education. He i.eiicM- thoroughly in technical training but also in culture. "No
education ■•an be too good for the man
who is going to be a farmer," he said.
lie had found, as teachers do everywhere, that as a class the agricultural
students do less work in a given lime in
physics and mathematics than their
neighbors.     The    agricultural      student
nounced an element of discord   to lb.- negro race."
The section on horticulture held a long
Session. The papers presented were
strictly scientific Professor Card, of Nebraska;'showed bow much local factors
influence
BOIL MOISTURE.
He said n half inch of rain would not
soak in   six inches.    Alfalfa   uses  up the
moisture   quicker   than   cereals.     Hot
must lie trained to think as « ell as to do.   \\ inds do not dry up the   soil very   mnch',
but the damage is lo the plants themselves. Many trees on the plains perish
from winter drouth as from Bummer
drouth.    In spring shallow  rooted plants
Poor text-books are better than good
courses Of lectures. There has been too
much originality and through it lack of
system.
Professor W. M.Hays, of Minnesota, in-  are  dried out   by   the wind.   There is a
terestcd all present by some   instances of   popular   notion that  salt   helps land   rc-
practical work he was doing. He has his
students Judge live stock: do laboratory
work in dairying; buy, kill and dress
meat and poultry for three hundred people,— students being detailed to lake
charge of the meal house for a week at a
time.    Farmers   arc   made   in   the high-
tain moisture.  Experiments do not make
it very Certain how   much.   The effect of
wind-brakes will be tried.
"\   I iiim'ici 1.1 ru.;.
I'l-.-id,■nt Budd, of low a, who   numbers
aiming  "boys"   all   ihe agriculture professors   of   Canada,   ami about 30   ofthe
most prominent in the Slates, spoke of
crossing fruits.    Th nolher"   (i.  *•. lhe
furnishing pistil) gives the permanent
qualities to  ihe tree,—.Its power to resist
frost and age— w hile Hi.' pollen gives the
new qualities desired. S.i to hardy 1,'us-
sian apple and cherry varieties, or lo
northern pears, plums, and strawberries
the delicious ilavor and fragrance "f
southern fruits may be added.
The l.utovskv cherry now ripe iii Colorado is one of President Budd's hybrids.
It is as large as California cherries, is
deep red and has good taste. As President Itiidd -lepped up lo a fruit stand and
showed some friends that eberry a German gardener came up and said: "I
raised those cherries. A man iu Iowa
sent mc buds eight years ago." "I am
th*-man" said President Budd. A oertain
man in California is making *."iII,ikki per
year out of hybrids, but President Bndd
works pro bono publico.
II   mini   l.osls   | \  c vi  | |.K.
In lhc evening the general session was
largely of business. Reports from States
ami territories on tuberculosis iii oattle
had been ordered a year ago and Were
now heard. These reports showed that
l"i Studs had taken action on ihe disease,
providing for Hie destruction of diseased
animals. The reports showed that frequently animals supposed to be affected
were found not to be, and in such cases
the cap-ass was returned to the owner
with the full appraisal value of the anl-
11 al besides.
In the morning of the third day, as
usual,a committee .to thank everybody
was appointed, and an Invitation to are"
ception by the governors of I Colorado and
Wyoming was accepted for '.i:.'.u p. m.
All nominations of Ihe five sections
were affirmed. Kol till 11a.m.did the
regular program begin.
A short paper was read urging uui-
•formity in names in works on agriculture. Professor < 'ard, of Nebraska, spoke
of methods. All agree that students need
; text books. In answer lo a qdestion 1'rof-
fessor Card said lhat a greenhouse was
**ne of the best tools to help the student
in horticulture.
MORE ABOUT sol j.s.
Professor Hilgurd, "f California then
gave a vc-ry learned address iiii -oils. He
showed by charts where the alkali is,
and told how it could be dealt   with,     lie
takes a very hopeful view of alkali soils
and says alkali is Inexhaustible. It is
bad lo lei water stagnate on land. Evaporation increases alkali, and si ould be
prevented. Constant ami deep cultivation prevents damage by alkali.
In some cases where there is deep soil
and lhe alkali is all on top it will pay to
use the sera),er. and bodily remove six
inches of the surface.   (iflen gypsum add.
ed to the soil will be serviceable. Gypsum forms the sulphate of soda, which is
much less   harmful   than   the  carbonate.
Common salt will enter a> beet and  taint
it where   the  sulphate   will   nol.    Alkali
once dealt with the land is relieved for
good.
si   \ i.i-; or  ci * t \ i-s,  i-I iu   i it i'ir.
The section on horticulture had 27 top-
lot I., discuss, i inly a few conld be taken
op, and a committee was appointed i*> select a few subjects for next lime. The
section appointed a committee to decide
on a scale of points lo be used as a standard in judging garden products, Professor
< 'ard. **f Nebraska, w as elected chairman
for 1898.
Professor Tourney, of Arisona, in a paper, called attention to the alarming decrease iu perennial grasses, in grazing
countries. In Arizona, where onlv one
per cent, of Ihe land is tilled, the grazing
lands have been largely ruined by over
stocking;-ind parte Of Nebraska and other-
Stales have lost their native grasses.
Stockmen used to graze one range dov, n.
then drive   long distances to new ranges:
but now ihe question is how many cattle
are. to graze one range.
In lhe last general   session a committee
reported In favor of adopting the metric
system of weights and measures, saying
that now was the best lime, as the United
states would never be in better idltion.
But the mailer was laid on the table. A
motion was carried to send a com mission
abroad
ro sir Dt   Minn ri.i ritAi.
methods and red  agricultural  leaching to a pedagogical form.
Ai each session of the National Educational Association, some on*' theme predominates; as manual training, i-hild-
study, co-ordination, etc. s<, in the sessions of the agricultural educators this
time, lhe trend of all the papers was that
students and farmers need uiore enlightenment. The farmer boy must lie willing
to take a general education, and not try
loo early to be a specialist. Several
speakers were applauded when they staled thai the standard of studies should be
raised iii agricultural colleges,and that
farmers should be well enough educated
to represent farmers in our State and National legislate e halls.
ON   IRRIGATION.
Irrigation will doubtless receive much
attention next year. The delegates were
much impressed by the results of irrigation ln Colorado. And at one session the
farmer-senator, Boyd, of Colorado, (who
was made a member of the Association),
gave a telling objee I lesson by introducing two stools of oats, one four feet high
and lhe oilier about ls inches. The first
w as an irrigation specimen, the oilier had
only rain. Both had grown on Ihe same
soil, within flve feel of each other. This
Illustration was the more effective because the rainfall here has been unusually large. Thus, iu Colorado, with irrigation, lu bushels of wheat can i.e raised as
easily, and with much more regularity
than mi bushels In eastern Slates where
there is not irrigation.
The strawberries for sale iu abundance,
at flve cents per quart, on the streets ,*r
Denver, were objects of frequent comment—ordinary berries being larger than
lhe choicest ones that appear preserved
at fairs jn some other States.
The Russian thistle was set  In quite a
new light, by this convention.   Professor
Bolley, of North Dakota, regards the Russian thistle as the worst of western weeds,
but not so frightfully danger*.us as it is
usually regarded. II thrives only iu dry,
poof soil, ii cannot he exterminated, but,
like other w ceils, it cannot   lie kept down.
President Budd, of Iowa, remarked  thai
in   lliissia,  he  found   lhe   mustard   plant
more an enemy than the thistle.
s.i. Denver, Col.     Psrcy it. Burkkt.
UNCLE SAM SHUTS DOWN ON FREE SEEDS.
A Washington dispatch **f .inly -m says;
"Th*' seed division of the Agricultural
Department will be abolished on October
i.   Secretary Morton has issued an order
staling that the practice of distributing
seed broadcast at Governmental expense
will be discontinued during the fiscal year
1896 and 1886, and thai the services of the
employes engaged ill that work will not
be required after October _. Accordingly
Mathias E. I'agin, of Illinois, chief of the
Division   at   $_VKKI   a  year and the entire
force of employes, will be  dropped   from
Hi*- rolls.
"Secretary Morton's action la baaed mi
a recent decision ot Mr. Olney, then Attorney-General, regarding the class of
seed purchased by the department,   The
latter held in effect that the Secretary of
Agriculture was empowered lo purchase
only those seed described in Section :>_.7
of the revised statutes, viz.: Rare and
uncommon to the country or such as can
bc   made   more   profitable   by    frcipient
changes from one part of our country to
another."
This order is not much to be regretted.
The seeds sent OUt have not usually been
better than those furnished by the seedsmen, and often they were quite   inferior.