Minutes of Adjourned Meeting. 23 



to the farmer on his own farm the benefits of the investigations conducted at the Experiment 

 Station. The Agricultural College Committee gives its unciualifled approval to this plan, 

 and urges every member of the Board of Agriculture to co-operate with the college in the 

 further extension of this important project. 



Co-operative Experiments with Farmers. — In 1910 tliere were 366 men in 105 counties 

 co-operating with the central Experiment Station at Columbia in experiments to determine 

 the best metliods of farming. In carrying forward this work, 3,000 different packages of 

 seeds were used and more than 20,000 pounds of fertilizer. These experiments have already 

 demonstrated that alfalfa can be successfully grown in every county of the State and that 

 the best varieties of corn for Missouri are Boone County White, Reid's Yellow Dent, Johnson 

 County White and St. Charles White. 



Outlying Experiment Fields. — The Agricultural Experiment Station is carrying on in- 

 vestigations in 21 localities, representing the different soil types of Missouri. This work is 

 a part of the great agricultural soil survey of tlie State. These investigations are demon- 

 strating profitable methods of agriculture for each locality. In Christian county corn yields 

 have been increased 16J-^ bushels per acre, and clover one and three-fourths tons by the 

 application of results discovered on the Billings experiment field. On the Lamar experiment 

 field in Southwest Missouri it has been shown that corn may be increased from twenty to 

 forty-five bushels per acre. On the same field wheat was increased twelve bushels per acre. 

 Soil experiments on the experiment field in Northeast Missouri have increased the yield of 

 wheat by fifteen bushels per acre, with a corresponding increase in the net profit. 



Soil Survey. — The Agricultural Experiment Station, in co-operation with the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, has organized and is now conducting a thorough and 

 complete agricultural survey of Missouri. The Experiment Station has completed the survey 

 of Atchison, Bates, Carroll, Cape Girardeau, Cass, Cedar, Cooper, Crawford, Franklin, 

 Howell, Jackson, Laclede, Lincoln, Macon, Marion, Miller, Pemiscot, Pike, Platte, Putnam, 

 Saline, Scotland, Shelby, Stoddard, St. Charles, St. Louis and Webster counties. 



Boys' Corn Growing Contest. — In 1912 there were 2, .500 Missouri boys and yoimg men 

 enrolled in a corn growing contest under the direction of the College of Agriculture in co- 

 operation with the Missouri Corn Growers' Association. Full directions for selecting seed, 

 for testing the vitality of the seed corn, for preparing the ground, planting, cultivating and 

 harvesting the corn are furnished these boys by the College of Agriculture. A record book 

 is also furnished each contestant in which he can keep an accurate record of liis work, and 

 can determine the cost and net profit made in growing liis corn. When the crop is harvested 

 the corn is exhibited at county corn shows and judged by men from the College of Agricul- 

 ture. At these meetings the boys are given valuable instruction in corn growing. 



Correspondence. — In one year's time men in the College of Agriculture have received 

 and answered 52,407 letters and post cards. In most cases personal replies have been made 

 to definite questions relating to agricultural practice. The correspondence of men in the 

 College of Agriculture has increased 30 per cent during the past twelve months. 



The Traveling Dairy Instructor. — The College of Agriculture is helping in the development 

 of the dairy industry of the State. It maintains a traveling dairy instructor whose whole 

 time is devoted to organizing and instructing dairy associations and individual dairy farmers 

 in Missouri. 



The Organization of New Departments. — The College of Agriculture now offers instruc- 

 tion in every important phase of agricultural activity in Missouri. Three new departments 

 have been recently added: Farm management, forestry and poultry husbandry. 



THE NEEDS OF THE COLLEGE. 



The demand upon the College of Agriculture for instructional work at Columbia, for 

 investigational worli in the Experiment Station, and for various kinds of services to the 

 farmers of Missouri, require additional equipment, more teachers and a general increase in 

 material equipment of the College of Agriculture. Tlie most pressing and important needs 

 of the institution in the judgment of your committee are the following: 



A Live Stock Judging Pavilion. — More than six hundred students are now enrolled in 

 live stock judging. No adequate room is available for this work. The small pavilion now 

 used for this purpose is wholly inadequate. The live stock equipment available for in- 

 struction in animal husbandry is very meager. We urge the Legislature to appropriate 

 more money for the purcliase of purebred live stock. 



The brancii short courses in agriculture, inaugurated last year for the first time, have 

 been remarkably successful. The college has no specific appropriation for this purpose. 

 We ask the Legislature to make a special appropriation for brancli short courses in agriculture. 



We commend the new project for tlie appointment of farm advisers for Missouri counties. 

 In our judgment this will make it possible for the college to bring to the farmer on his own 

 farm the benefits of the investigations conducted at the Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 In our judgment the counties should pay at least half of the cost of the farm advisers, but 

 the Legislature should appropriate sufficient money so that the college can pay a part of the 

 cost of administration and salaries of the farm advisers. 



