534 AGRICLTLTrRAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924. 



Mr. Anderson. Is this station operated in cooperation with the 

 Stated 



Senator Kansuell. I do not understand that it is. 



^fr. M.\RTi.\. There was a conunittee of three appointed. I do 

 not know wlio the meinhers of tlie committee are, })ut I think that | 



Doctor Taylor is a memher, and Doctor Dodson. who is in charo;e 

 of the State experiment farm, is on that committee. Doctor Dod- 

 son does some work for that station, and ^ets out bulletins. 



Mr. Anderson. The State does not contribute anythincr toward 

 the maintenance of the station? , 



Mr. Martin. It only contributes the land. 1 want to state that 

 I have a telegram from Doctor Dodson here, that came this morn- 

 ing. I wanted a statement of the work done by that farm, and he 

 teregra])hed me on the 29th that he was mailmg a statement regard- •] 



ing live stock. When that statement comes in, I would like to 1 



submit it for insertion in this record. 



Mr. Anderson. That may be done. 



Senator Ransdell. We thank you very much for this hearing. 



Mr. Anderson. We are much obliged to you for your statements. 



(Doctor Dodson's statement is attached hereto.) 



Baton Rouge, La., November 28, 1922. 

 }.1i. W. P. Martin, M. C, 



Washington, D. C. 



Dear Mr. ]\[artin: I haA'e just received your letter of the 24th stating that the 

 Budget ("ornmittee had recommended the discontinuance of the Iberia live-stock 

 farm and had recommended an appropriation of only §5,000 for helping to dispose of 

 the equipment. 



I think it would be a serious mistake to stop this work at the present stage of its 

 development and I ho])e that the Appropriations Committee may favor a continua- 

 tion of the work now in progress until such a period as the most important projects 

 now under investigation may be fomj)leted. 



l^ouisiana donated 500 acres of land to the Federal Government for this work. The 

 experiment station rented 500 acres additional and turned it over to the Iberia live- 

 stock farm for three years. Since that time the rental has been donated by the State 

 penitentiary board. 



When the experiments were begun the soil was very much depleted from the con- 

 tinued harvesting of cane and rice, b\it it was representative of the type of land that 

 will be devoted to live stock or agricultural ])urposes other than the production of 

 sugiu cane and cotton, as we develope new enterprises to supplement these two chief 

 industries. 



There have been a great many difficulties to be overcome; for instance, in getting 

 good i^astures, in ( ompletely eradicating cattle ticks, and in other ways that represent 

 pioneering work along the lines jirojeeted when the station was established. 



The major projects undertaken there have been along the line of growing and feed- 

 ing beef cattle, the establishment of a dairy herd, the breeding, grazing, and fattening 

 of hogs, and the production of mules. Coupled with each of the four major ^iroj(>cts, 

 of course, has liccn (lie problem of pnuhning crops most suitable to the animals to 

 which they would be fed. .\uy one of th<'se projects will require the results of several 

 years continued operation l)efore dependable conclusions can be drawn. 



!.,ast year, for the first time, we were able to market a considerable number of beef 

 cattle that had l)i'en develo|)ed wholly on the < roi)s grown at Iho station. Tliis 

 year the second croj) of calves will soon go on the feed and we are just now reaching 

 the f);>inl where valual)le dala \vi 1 rai)i(lly accunudate, if the work i-* continued. 



In the growing of mule colts we have encountered many ditliculties that were not 

 aiiticii)at(!d, l)Ut the experience is such as to indicate means of overcoming these 

 didicuitieH, and the continuance of the work ought to give some \alual»le re.'-ulls in 

 two or three more yoarsliial will be well worth all the expenditures that we have made 

 on liie cxixMitiienlH. 



'i'lic results that have Ix'cn .sfcured in the feeding of rice by-producta to hogs dur- 

 ing the pa.st two years liave given us a great deal of valuable information, but tlu'v 

 ought to be n'peat««d for at least two or three years more to make the data most 

 dependable' 



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