THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



361 



MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CO-OPERA- 

 TIVE EXPERIMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE 

 GREAT PLAINS AREA, HELD AT LINCOLN, 

 NEB., JUNE 21 AND 22, 1906. 



The meeting was called to order at 2 o'clock p. m. in 

 the Agricultural building of the Nebraska State University, 

 by the secretary. There were present at the meeting the fol- 

 lowing members : Texas, A. H. Leidigh, of the Amarillo 

 station; Kansas, Professor Nicholls, president of the Kansas 

 Agricultural College, Prof. A. M. Ten Eyck, agriculturist, 

 Prof. J. T. Willard, director of the Kansas Experiment 

 station, O. H. Elling, superintendent of the Hays' sub-station ; 

 Nebraska, Prof. E. A. Burnett, director of the Nebraska Ex- 

 periment station, Prof. T. L. Lyon, agriculturist and associate 

 director, Dr. Charles E. Bessey, dean of the school of agri- 

 culture, University of Nebraska, Prof. W. P. Snyder, super- 

 intendent of the North Platte sub-station, E. G. Montgomery, 

 agriculturist, Alvin Keyser, assistant chemist, State Experi- 

 ment station, W. W. Burr, special agent, Department of 

 Agriculture, stationed at North Platte; South Dakota, Prof. 

 W. A. Wheeler, superintendent of the Highmore sub-station, 

 John S. Cole, agriculturist of the South Dakota Experiment 

 station; North Dakota, Prof. J. H. Shepperd, agriculturist of 

 the North Dakota Experiment station, Mrs. J. H. Shepperd, 

 of Fargo, N. D., and O. A. Thompson, superintendent of the 

 Edgeley sub-station; Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of 

 Agriculture, Dr. L. J. Briggs, physicist, Dr. Karl F. Keller- 

 man, soil bacteriologist, T. H. Kearney, of the Plant Breed- 

 ing Laboratory, C. S. Scofield, agriculturist in charge of 

 Western Agricultural extension, Dr. J. A. Le Clerc, of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry, E. C. Chilcott, of Dry Land Agricul- 

 ture, L. A. Fitz, Cereal Investigations, J. B. Rorer, of Plant 

 Pathology, C. J. Brandt, plant physiologist, C. Quinn and J. 

 A. Warren, of the Office of Farm Management. There were 

 a considerable of agricultural students and residents of Lin- 

 coln and vicinity in attendance, whose names were not ob- 

 tained. Among those whose names were obtained were the 

 following : W. H. Borr, L. L. Zook, C. E. Temple, F. J. 

 Allway, C. F. Davis, Fort Collins, Colo., and E. H. Wilke. 



President B. T. Galloway not being present at the meet- 

 ing, Prof. E. A. Burnett was elected president pro tem by 

 unanimous vote. An address of welcome was given by Dean 

 Charles E. Bessey, of the Nebraska State University, which 

 was responded to by Prof. J. H. Shepperd, of the North Da- 

 kota Agricultural College. In the absence of President Gal- 

 loway, no president's address was delivered, but the secretary 

 read the minutes of the previous meeting, held at Washington, 

 D. C., which minutes were adopted by the association. The 

 secretary also made a brief statement concerning the develop- 

 ment and condition of the co-operative work in the Great 

 Plains Area. An address by Prof. J. H. Shepperd, of North 

 Dakota, upon the subject of "The Effect of Crop Rotation on 

 Soil Fertility," was listened to with great interest, and 

 brought out some very interesting discussions. The next 

 paper was by Prof. John S. Cole, of South Dakota, upon the 

 subject, "The Comparative Value of Corn and Summer Fallow 

 in Alternation with Wheat." Mr. Cole gave some very strik- 

 ing results of experiments that had been carried on at the 

 Brookings and Highmore stations, the net results of which 

 seem to indicate that a crop of corn in the rotation leaves the 

 land in as good condition for the following crop of wheat as 

 does the summer fallow. In the animated discussion which 

 followed, it developed that many other experimenters had had 

 similar results. The meeting adjourned to meet in the parlor 

 of the Lincoln hotel, which had been kindly tendered for that 

 purpose by the hotel management. 



AFTERNOON SESSION, JUNE 21, 1906. 



The meeting was called to order by Prof. E. A. Burnett, 

 with practically the same attendance as at the former session. 

 Mr. A. H. Leidigh, superintendent of the Amarillo station, 

 Texas, read a very interesting paper upon "Drought Resistance 

 of Sorghum Crops," which brought out a lively discussion and 

 developed the fact that there is great need of breeding and 

 selection of sorghums for drought resistance. This paper 

 was followed by one on "Drought Resistant Crops," by Prof. 

 A. M. Ten Eyck, of the Kansas Experiment station. This 

 paper brought out a very lively discussion considering the 

 methods of field selections of grains, Mr. Ten Eyck favoring 

 the method of bulk selection, while the majority of the other 

 speakers favored the selection from individual plants. Many 



interesting facts were brought in this connection, the discus- 

 sion being carried on until a very late hour, when the meeting 

 adjourned to meet at the Agricultural building of the State 

 University. 



MORNING SESSION, JUNE 22, 1906. 



The members of the association met at the Experiment 

 station at 9 o'clock a. m. and spent two hours in driving over 

 the Experiment station grounds in carriages furnished by the 

 Experiment station. This furnished an excellent opportunity 

 for the visiting members to see something of the very exten- 

 sive and thorough work in agricultural experimentation being 

 carried on by the Nebraska Experiment station. At 11 

 o'clock the meeting was called to order by Prof. E. A. Burnett, 

 with about the same attendance as at previous meetings. The 

 time and place of the next meeting was taken up as the first 

 order of business, and it was moved, seconded and carried 

 that the next meeting should be at the Agricultural College 

 of Kansas, Manhattan, Kas., in June, the exact date to be 

 determined upon by the executive committee. The election 

 of officers was then taken up, with the result that Prof. E. A. 

 Burnett was elected president of the association for the 

 ensuing year; Prof.'j. T. Willard, first vice-president; Prof. 

 J. H. Shepperd, second vice-president; and E. C. Chilcott, 

 secretary. The following executive committee was then 

 elected: Professor Nicholls, A. M. Ten Eyck and E. C. 

 Chilcott. Prof. T. L. Lyon then delivered a very interesting 

 address upon the results of experiments which he had made 

 upon the effect of the change of seed from one locality to 

 another. Professor Lyon exhibited several interesting tables 

 which he had prepared, showing the effect of change of seed. 

 The net results of his experiments showed very conclusively 

 the desirability of using carefully selected home grown seed in 

 preference to seed brought from any other locality. This 

 brought out a very interesting discussion, and while there were 

 a few dissenting voices, a very large majority of those present 

 agreed with Professor Lyon's conclusion. Very few had ever 

 carried on as conclusive experiments as had Professor Lyon. 

 At 12 o'clock the meeting adjourned to attend a luncheon 

 tendered by the Lincoln Commercial Club at their clubrooms, 

 where the association was very hospitably entertained. 



AFTERNOON SESSION, JUNE 22, 1906. 



The association met at 2 p. m. at the Agricultural build- 

 ing, with about the same attendance of the previous meetings. 

 Professor Burnett called Professor Nicholls to the chair and 

 he presided during the afternoon session. The first paper 

 was to have been given by Prof. W. A. Olin, of Colorado. 

 A letter was read from Professor Olin, stating that the 

 sickness of his wife prevented his attendance, but that he was 

 heartily in sympathy with the work of the association and 

 regretted his failure to attend. He also enclosed a paper 

 upon "Seed Selection Essential in Crop Production Under 

 Semiarid Conditions," which paper was read by the secretary. 

 Dr. L. J. Briggs, physicist of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 then delivered a very interesting address upon, "Proposed 

 Physical Investigation in Connection with the Co-operative 

 Cultivation Experiments," in which he pointed out the close 

 relation between cultivation methods and physical determina- 

 tion and described some of the methods he proposed to adopt 

 in the field. Dr. Briggs was kept busy answering the nu- 

 merous questions that were asked concerning the work, which 

 he succeeded in doing in a very satisfactory manner. The 

 large number of questions asked showed that there was a 

 very active interest in the physical investigations. Prof. O. H. 

 Elling then delivered an address upon the subject of "Crop 

 Production in Western Kansas," which showed that Mr. 

 Elling was thoroughly acquainted with not only what was be- 

 ing done upon the Fort Hays sub-station, but also by farmers 

 in that vicinity. Mr. Filing's paper gave rise to the compari- 

 son of conditions and problems at the several sub-stations, 

 which showed that many of these sub-stations have practically 

 the same problems to deal with, and it is believed that the 

 discussion will result in the adoption of similar methods in 

 the attempted solution of these problems. Mr. L. A. Fitz 

 then delivered an address upon "Some Methods and Varieties 

 for the Winter Wheat District," which was listened to with 

 marked interest, and would have been discussed at greater 

 length had not the hour of adjournment arrived. A paper 

 by Prof. L. R. Waldron, superintendent of the Dickinson 

 station, was read by title, "Some Relations of Abnormal 

 Seasons to the Co-operative Experiments," but the program 

 was so full that it was not possible to read the paper at length. 



