The Butler Weekly Times Newspaper, October 12, 1905, Page 12

FARIIER and PLANT BREEDER. | Work of Assistant Secretary Willet M. Hays. GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL. The country has realized for some time that it has in its Secretary of Agriculture a real farmer; its new Assistant Secretary is likewise & farmer, and unless all records and ap- pearances are false, a goad one. He has the valuable faculty of knowing how to do things, and at the same time] using this new seed, as in the case of te be able to tell others how. This| thousands of acres in the State of Min- Assistant Secretary is Willett M. Hays.| nesota, and figure out the gain to the Professor Hays was Secretary Wilson’s| country. And this is only from re- choice for Assistant Secretary, after] sults already obtained in seed improve- Colonel Brigham's death, — it ap-| ment. pears as though Professor Hays’ ap- To D Wh Yield van anvthi al ‘0 Double the eat Yield. pointment was anything but a politic Tee wheat beeshinn werk in going one. There is a fine entente cordial t iB between these two broad-gauge men|0n steadily, and Professor Hays says and the work of the Department has|that he has probably not yet reached taken a distinct forward sweep since|the halt-way point in increased yield. Mr. Hays’ appointment. He put his|!n the work of simple wheat breeding by selection each grain is planted and shoulder to the wheel at once and seemed able to dispense with the usual| cultivated separately, a thousand of them in rows, each one like a tree, and t months of “breaking in,” wo or three moi . then the best ten heads are selected from those thousand plants, and the plumpest grains again selected from those ten heads. Then you are ready for the planting of next year. And so on for ten years. In hybridization there are many more pains taken. Here the best specimens of two differ- ent varieties are crossed upon each other by hand poilination and the com- plex system of selection simultaneously carried on year by year. But the labor is more than justified by the results. Other experiments have been success- fully carried along under Professor Hays with the idea of changing the constituents of the crops—putting mere protein or muscle-producing elements in the grain and forage crops just as the beet grower works to put more sugar into his beets, Practical Farm Teaching. All this work is technical; it might be the doings of the recluse, The other side of Professor Hays’ make-up stands forth when he gets out on a swing ‘round the circle and preaches what he knows; when he distributes gratifying results. The average wheat yield of the Northwestern States— Minnesota and the Dakotas—ranges, as I remember, from thirteen to fifteen bushels to the acre, which is about the average for the entire United States. Increase this say one-fourth by simply WILLFT M. HAYS, ASSISTANT SECRE- TARY 0 IRICULTURE, which an Assistant Secretary for a big department usually undergoes, He fits his environment wel! wherever he hap- pens to be, Instructing his classes in the field at the University of Minne- sota, located just between the Twin Cities, you would have suspected that Professor Hays seldom visited St, Paul or Minneapolis; on the other hand, .when you see him walking along the streets in Washington you would scarcely expect him to be able to drop . astraight furrow. But in coming city.| were there to study plants and ani- ward and wearing a crease in his}mals and then go back to the farm. trousers he has not lost his straight-] They were at a college, to be sure, but forms of trains—a practical educator. More agriculture in our national sys tem of education is his slogan, practi cal farm education that will enable » man to farm better and make mor money at it. He urges the consolida- tion of the small rural schools—bring ing four or five of them into one good sized school where more competen’ teachers can be hired and a much broader education afforded. The in- teresting thing about his boys at the University of Minnesota was that the: HYBRIDIZING WHEAT IN THE FIELD. forward way of taking people at their| they were taking a sort of high school word and believing just what they say.| agricultural course, many of them for I asked him for a photograph to ac-| one or two years, and were not figur- eompany this letter, remarking that I)ing on getting a diploma and then would like to have one of him as he} leaving the farm and striking out for looked as I last saw him “down on the|/some city, as is unfortunately the his- farm” (he would be arrested if he went} tory of so many of the graduates of the around Washington looking as he was| agricultural colleges, then), and he gravely responded that Working through the Boys. he had no photograph such as I wanted, . but that he would send me one taken|, ‘Do your new methods stick with the at a later date. boys when they get back on the old farm?” I asked. “How do the boys’ fathers take it?” _ “Oh, they think at first when the boys go home and want to make changes that we are teaching them a lot of new-fangled notions. After the first year perhaps they let the boy take atry on a small scale Then with the good results shown by the trial they are more than likely to come areund by the second or third year and there is apt to be quite a shaking up of methods in the woik on the old, pla You can’t expect to rake much hea way teaching the older farmers, b you can get at them throvgh the boys.” Breeding up Plants. The work which has made Professor Hays most famous is his plant-breeding SHOWING IMPROVEMENT IN TIMOTHY BY BREEDING. ents. He is the wizard of farm saedf literature and delivers lectures to the]: farmers in halls or from the rear plat-| - 4 a eteoeeteiessts nape esieesiginlicseesn neseteeessenecenaneese ssc Sy SG SS Sst ST by breeding. And Professor Hays drew a parallel, step by step, between the improvement of the Wealthy apple, tracing its history and improvement from the tree developed by Peter M. Gidden of Minnesota, and Messenger, an imported English racing horse, which became the leading progenitor of the American racing or trotting WHEAT ROOT SYSTEM. horse, and he thus showed that plants were capable of the same development by breeding as are animals. If you are interested in learning something about plant breeding you a copy of Bulletin 29 of the Department of Agriculture, or probably Professor Hays himself has a few extra copies. ———EE—EEE FROM POLE TO EQUATOR. Arctic Explorer Now Penetrating the Heart of Africa. Whether in the frigid grip of the north polar country or the burning sands of tropical Africa, the Duke of Abruzzi seems equally at home, This Italian scientist, who made such a high reputation by his recent arctic explora- tions, has started for unknown regions of Central Africa with a fully equipped expedition, proposing to explore the Ruwenzori Mountains and climb their highest peaks, This range crosses the Equator in the vicinity of the Lakes vanza, whence flow the waters of the le. It is some eighty miles long, a vast pile of blac. rock hurled upward in some ancient convulsion of Nature. The English explorer, Stanley, found Iuwenzori twenty years ago, It was pointed out to him as a big salt moun- tain, As the sun ascended, it assumed shape before his view—a great moun- tain clothed in snow—and it took him weeks of travel to find out that it be- longed to a range. Stanley believed that the Ruwenzorl range and the Mountains of the Moon, which can be found on old maps, are identical. Ac- cording to the old geographies, the waters of the Nile rise in the Moun- tains of the Moon, The Duke of Abruzzi has a difficult task before him to conquer the Moun- tains of the Moon, even though their summits fall somewhat short of that orb. A large quantity of supplies must »e carried on the backs of natives, and though the start will be made in the most torrid of tropical climes, the party will soon ascend into temperate regions and then trudge for months in a truly polar climate. ee Milk In Your Tea. “The use of plenty of milk with tea,” says The Lancet (London), “is a wise precaution and must be regarded as a sound physiological proceeding, since the proteids of milk destroy astrin- gency and probably prevent the other- wise injurious action of tannin on the mucous membrane of the siomach, In the intestinal juice the proteids are separated and the tannin probably com- bines with the sodium salts, The im- moderate drinking of tea is an un- questionable evil, but, on thé whole, we are inclined to think that the evils of tea-drinking have been exaggerated. The real difiiculty is to convince people that a lightly drawn infusion gives them their money's worth.” might write to your Congressman i, was 1,296,000, with annual GROWTH OF RAILROADS, | INTERBEATE COMMERCE COM-| MISSION PLACES PAR VALUE AT 13 MILLIONS. More than Three Quarters of a Billion Doliars Paid Out Annually by the companies in Salaries to Over a Million Regular Employees. The annual report of the eed Commerce Commission, giving - road statistics at the end of 1904, miles of railroad in the United! States. More recent railroad construc- tion haS brought this figure up to| more than 300,000 miles. The num- ber of railroad corporations included in the report was 2,104. That the railroads are prosperous is shown by the fact that only 1,323 miles of road were in the hands of receivers, The total number of locomotives in use was 46,743 and of cars, exclusive of those owned by private companies, 1,798,000. Of these, 39,000 were In the passenger service and 1,692,000 engaged in hauling freight. Prac- tically all the passenger Jocomotives and cars were equipped with air brakes and automatic couplers, and the same was true of freight locomo- tives and a large majority of freight cars. The number of persons on the pay shows the enormous total of 297,073 % rolls of railroads in the United wages and salaries to $817,598,000. The par value of the amount of railway capital was $13,213,124,000, or a capitalization of $64,265 per mile. Six Per Cent. Dividends, Of the total capital stock out- standing, 42 per cent. pald no dividends. The amount of dividends declared during the year was) $221,041,000, or a little over 6 per} cent. on dividend-paying stock. The} number of passengers reported as car- ried by the railways in the year was) 715,419,000, The number of tons of freight carried was 1,309,899,000, an increase over the previous year of over five and one-half million tons. or UNEXPLODED PROJECTILES, Danger Lurks Therein-Chinese Inquisitiveness Proves Fatal. The dispatch coming from the Far East of the killing of nearly a dozen people by the explosion of a mine near Chefoo, brings to light incidents going to show that the land in the vicinity of Port Arthur is a fertJe field of un- exploded land mines and shells. When the Russians were shelling the Japanese positions near the vil- lage of Suishiying many shells fell in the localities desired by the gun pointers, but the ordnance was of such a defective quality that they failed to explode. A good lot of these projectiles have lain where they fell, objects of the careful investigation and inspection of the wondering and speculative villagers, On on® occa- sion a dispute arose as to the danger in these innocent-looking pleces of iron, and a bold native, to prove his contention that they were harmless, as well .as his bravery, struck one of the missiles with a big stone. This was going a little too far, and unfor- tunately he hit it on the nose, the ten-| der spot of projectiles. It exploded with a terrible noise, killing ten of the interested spectators. Another Chinese discovered a shell which had found a resting place in the fresh water lake just behind the Russian naval dockyard of Port Ar- thur. At that time the leke was one mass of ice and the head of the shell was just sticking up through the frozen mass. John Chinaman was at- tracted by the shining brass screw at the top and went out on the ice to try to get it off. Good metal was worth having in the land of the Oriental, and this is what attracted him. He used an old nail to remove the tempt- ing object. His inquisitiveness was a dear lesson for his family, although the pieces were never found. amounting The Department of Agriculture is just issuing an attractive illustrated | has bulletin on school gardens. In his in- troductory, Dr. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, says, educational system to bring early to the mind of the child facta,which will be of value as em im ce i SCHOOL GARDEN WORK. in this way in the cities, and the result been that much school garden work has been organized and thousands of pupils have learned something of grow- ing plants, ) ‘ A_small tract of land back of the De. partment of Agriculture Building has —” aside for model school garden ri ; The bulletin in question has illustra- gardens in various cities, and has pla outlined for on oor. tions of a number of successful school | . isa green soap, consistency of paste, a perfect cleanser for automobile machinery and al! vehicles; will polished surface, oils. If your dealer does not carry American Crown Soap in stock, send ushis name and address and we will see that your wants are supplied, Put up in 1234 25 and 60 Ib pails, | ially suited for farmers, Books that will help ———_———— eee NO° OTHER WAGONS APPROACH In Perfect Adaptability Under all Conditions to The Strong Old Hickory MANUFACTURED BY Wagon Manufacturing Co. LOUISVILLE, KY. ‘LARGEST PRODUCERS OF FARM WAGONS IN THE WORLD Kentucky DO A Quarter of a Century of unfailing service irk’s AMERICAN CROWN SOAP not injure the most highly Made from pure vegetable proves the ABSOLUTE RELIABILITY James S. Kirk & aaa of the t CHICAGO, Ue BOOKS BOOKS ees every farmer to make more out of his farm WYCKOFF, SEAMANS & BENEDICT Write for our catalogue, WEBB PUBLISHING CO, Well Drilling G Over 70 sizes and styles for drillin; either deep or shallow wells in any kin o. soil or rock. Mounted on wheels or | sills, Strong, simple and durable. chanic can operate them easily. _ WILLIAM BROS., Ithaca, Thoroughly tested Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries and Trees EERE nd THE EVERBEARING STRAWBERRY — = FLOWERING ' Cut Flowers and Floral Designs. Also Vegetable Plants MISSOULA NURSERY CO, et7 BROADWAY, NEW TORE Sandwich SEF FEED FULL CIRCLE TWO HORSE HAY PRESS St. Paul Minn. Machines With engines or horse powers. | Any me- The Baler for speed. Bales 12 to 18 tons a day. Has 40 inch feed hole. Adapted to bank barn work, Stands up to its work—no digging holes for wheels, Self-feed Attachment increases cap- acity, lessens labor, makes better bales and does not increase draft, SEND FOR CATALOGUE Tad) Repeaters | are the original solid top and side ejectors. This feature forms a solid shield of metal between the shooter's head and the cartridge at all times, throws the empties away from him instead of into his face, prevents smoke and gases from entering his eyes and lungs, and Keeps the line of, pigs i} unobstructed, The | MARLIN. action i} works easily and smoothly, making very liule noise, Our new automatic | recoil-oper- ating locking. device makes the Marlin the safest breech-loading i} gun ever built. 120 i] pase catalogue, 300 il- justrations, cover- AA for Send for Catalogue SANDWICH MFG. CO., 124 Main Street, Sandwich, Iif Pine, Fir, Cypress and Yellow Pine. Write for Catalogue, Eagle Tank Co., 281 N. Green 8t., Chicago, Ill. IF YOU WANT A JACK Send for our Jack Catalogue. Sure t tain the description of exactly what you weet nine colors, three stamps. Hyd ae ydraulic Jacks our Specialty New Haven, Conn. Watson-Stillman Co., * 46 Dey St., N. ¥, City, Che Missoula Nursery \ Producers of Northern grown acclimated trees and the best varieties for planting in Northern States, Every Variety of Standard Fruit Ornamental, Small Fruit Plants, Shrubs, Vines and Roses, ' a ‘ A SPECIALTY OF PLANTS AND SHRUBS shipped by express. Catalogue and Price List Free. Sd Mail orders have prompt attention. ~ MISSOULA, MONTANA,