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DRY FARMING ENTERPRISE THAT IS UNIQUE
C. A. Newberry of Alliance, Neb., Shows His Faith in Scientific Farming by Financially Backing Prof. Hunt
(Written by G. W. Hervey and Published in the Twentieth Century Farmer July 21, 1909)
There it now being conducted at Al
liance, Neb., an example ot farm enter
-prise that possibly has no parallel in local
agricultural interest in any other district
of the United States. It has been the
custom since tho founding of this country
that the land owner, unaided and alone,
takes his chances when buying a piece ot
land, whether or not it is productive and
to what extent it may be made a remuner
ative investment. His methods of tillage
and his general conduct in crop manage
rnent havo not been questioned, in the
sense of placing him under the direction
of an instructor to teach him how to plant,
how to cultivate and how best to proceed
in the general labors of getting a remuner
ative yield.
Tho innovation in farm management
that has been introduced at Alliance, Neb ,
is, however, a feature in present-day agri
cultural education that means much to the
progress and development of tho dry land
districts of the west. The same system
and method of education and instruction
could, with profit, be introduced into
every stato in tho United State-, and every
county in each of these states, There is a
lack of knowledge in how to handle lands
in cultivation to securo the best yields in
crop and at the samo time maintain soil
fertility. This is not alone true in tho
newly settled farm districts on the fron
tier, where many of the land owners and
farmers are novices in the business of soil
tillage, but it is true of many land owners
in the older states where careless methods
have been pursued for generations.
No Cost to Firmer
The Alliance, Neb., agricultural enter
prise is peculiar and out of the ordinary,
from tho fact that business interests not
directly associated nor possessing agricul
tural lands were the promoters and sup
porters of the plan whereby there has
been organized and put into oporation a
system of scientific farm training for the
benefit of a score or more of farmers in
the Immediate neighborhood of Alliance,
at no cost to the farmer. The demand
for instruction in scientific agriculture at
this particular point was introduced last
February at the annual meeting of the
Box Dutte County Farmers' Institute as
sociation, from a speech made by Prof. E.
W. Hunt of Syracuse, Neb , who was
then engaged in the State Farmers' Insti
tute lecture course of Nebraska, in which
the speaker outlined a course of training
which might with profit bo pursued in
western Nebraska. Prof. Hunt made
himself so impressively familiar with the
needs of the western part of the state of
Nebraska, from an agricultural and crop
producing point of view, that he started
his hearers to thinking seriously whether
or not they could afford to continue longer
in their present hit-or-miss methods of
farming.
Hunt's Idea Indorsed
The food for thought that Prof. Hunt
distributed at this meeting of better farm
ing, of the application of scientific methods
and the urgency of at once taking hold
while the advantages of the crop year of
1909 wero available, resulted in a called
meeting of the Commercial Club and a
general endorsement of Prof. Hunt's ad
vice as to employing some competent,
practical, scientific farmer to come to Al
liance and instruct a dozen or more farm
ers in that locality in crop-growing upon a
basis adapted to the conditions that exist
there, in climate and soil. This was at
first planned to make of each farm an ex
periment station, so to speak, a plat of five
acres or more was to be selected and
planted in various crops, under the di
rection of the expert farmer. The usual
tools of the farm were to be employed in
this work and tho work done by ihe farm
er according to instructions, and results
compared with the same kind of crops
raised over the country under different
treatment,
It fell to the lot of C. A. Newberry, a
prosperous hardware merchant of the
city, to become the Moses for the occa
sion. Mr. Newberry for many years has
been impressed with the possibilities of
the Alliance country as an agricultural
district and has been trvine to instill this
sentiment into the citizens of his town and
neighborhood. Seventeen years ago this
man started in business at Alliance with a
small tin shop; he is now the owner of
one of the laroest and finest harriwa
stores in the state and realizes the advan
tage that agriculture would have in build
ing up the commercial and local business
interests ot the town and county.
In the absence of substantial support to
go forward with this farm development
enterprise that had been suggested and
seemed to receive the endorsement of pub
lic sentiment, he felt inspired to take up
the work himself and at once commented
a canvass of the country for a competent
man to take hold of the work, but failed to
find him. He then fell back upon the
originator of the recommendation, Prof.
Hunt, and prevailed upon him to quit his
farm for six months and take up the work
planned for the Alliance experiment,
Prof. Hunt was finally secured and at
once took up the work of organizing about
twenty farmers into a club for crop rais
ing, under his directions. The five-acre
experiment plot, however, had to be given
up and in its stead the general farm was
adopted as the method of operation. The
fBnl wBbLmijBKB
0. A. NEWHEI1IIY, THE PROMOTER
nnd Financial Supportof tho Alliance,
Neb., Dry Land Crop Experimentation.
farmers were not inclined to putter with a
small tract, a garden patch, in their way
of looking at it, and thus neglect their big
field crops. The more extended work of
tho farm was taken hold of by Prof. Hunt
and ha is delighted with his prospect,
though the real force of his instruction
cannot bo made so manifest to the ob
server nor to tho farmer, as instructions
will be only partially carried out, some do
ing better work than others who am more
crowded,
Newberry the "Moses"
It was observed that C. A. Newberry
was the Moses of the occasion. He not
only led tho way in this educational enter
prise, but has put up the money from his
own bank account to employ Prof. Hunt
to conduct and carry out the work thus
planned as a scientific test of what the
crop resources of the Alliance country are
worth; furnishes him with a team to travel
over the country in his mission of instruc
tion and supervision of crop management.
Prof. Hunt goes from farm to farm five
days each week and on Saturdays meets
theso farmers in Alliance for consultation
and discussion on any feature of the work
thev desire to bring up.
The best feature of this crop-growing
enterprise, under the instruction of an ex
pert farmer, is the fact that it is not car
ried on under experiment methods of small
test plats. The growing of crops under
farm plans and farm proportions robs it of
the experiment station prejudice that
some farmers may havo who will say,
"Yes, you can grow a little garden patch
of wheat and corn and get fine yields, but
you can't grow a whole field of forty acres,
like I do, and get any better returns than
I do, and I doubt if as good." Here Prof.
Hunt matches his knowledge of how to do
the work against the farmer's disposition
to get his crop in, nnd there is business
going on from the start that convinces the
farmer that this expert is not afraid of the
real thing and knows what he is talking
about. This is the way it seems around
Alliance now. Prof. Hunt is the man who
knows things about farming up in that
country and there would be no use in any
one setting up his views against the profes
sor's. Public opinion would not stand it
for a minute.
This is an advance measure in farming
that the agricultural college and experi
ment station is not yet prepared to take
hold of, owing to there being no provision
or liberty in the government of these in
stitutions authorizing such steps. The
time is not far off, however, when there
will be county experiment stations owned
by tho several counties of the leading agri
cultural states, whose duty it will be to
farm under the instruction of an expert
college man, and this supervisor be em
ployed by the county to give instructions.
Hint tor County Poor Farms
The county poor farm of each county
could profitably be made to carry on this
farm experimental work and thus become
an educational interest to the citizens of
the county, as well as au asylum for the
indigent poor. Tho beautifying of these
county farms by horticultural attention
whereby scientific instruction and practi
cal tree, orchard, garden and floriculture
is taught and demonstrated, would make
of these places a kind of paradise on
eartn, instead of habitations of distress
and misery as many of them portray at
the present time.
The soil testing that Prof. Hunt intro
duced with his work in the outstart, de
termining how much soil and subsoil and
the character of these soils that each farm
possessed, was a new idea with the farmer.
He had a soil testing auger which he ap
plied on the various lands where crops
were to ne grown, from which observa
tions he determined the kind of crops best
suited to these fields, the tillage needed,
etc. The present season has been of such
character, from a moisture standpoint, as
to partially interfere with the force of the
system of cultivation in use by Prof.
Hunt It has been a saying all oer
western Nebraska for years, even in the
sand hills, "Give us plenty of rain in the
growing season and we can 'raise as good
crops as can De grown anywhere " The
very remarkable wet season that has pre
vailed throughout that district this sum
mer has made crop-growing a certainty,
under most any kind of system. But the
BfcAr f
PROP. E. W. HUNT, DIRECTOR OF
the Scientific Farm Crop Work now
lielng Carried on at Alliance, Neb.
force of good cultivation and scientific
methods applied is expected to be in evi
dence with Prof. Hunt's work at Alliance,
notwithstanding.
Potatoes a Feature Crop
One of the special features of crop in
tho Alliance country is Irish potatoes.
Theso are grown in great abundance and
in quality far exceeding those produced in
most potato-growing districts of the United
States. In round numbers it is given out
that there were shipped from Alliance of
the 1908 crop 400 carloads. The acreage
is steadily increasing and this year's ship
ment is expected to greatly exceed that of
last year. Prof. Hunt says: "This is a
natural soil and climate for the successful
growing of potatoes of a superior quality.
There really should be no disease here
among potatoes if the potato growers
would only use a little judgment and
caution in the handling of their seed. All
the potato disease found here has been im
ported with foreign-bought seed. We ex
pect to show the potato growers how to
get rid of these diseases and then to tell
them how to keep rid of them."
E, Mead Wilcox, from the Nebraska
experiment station, professor of agricul
tural botony, a specialist in plant diseas
es, has been sent to Alliance to conduct an
experimental plat of five acres in pota
toes. His first assistant will live in this
potato patch day and night. There will
be no opportunity missed in the learning
of diseases and how to combat them. "The
dry rot, or rather a new form of this di
sease, is the great trouble here, but we
are on the road to completely wipe it out
of existence in this district," remarked
Prof. Hunt. Tho disease called "stem
end disease," which develops in storage
and does not show when harvesting, is a
form of rot that has given much trouble.
Prof. Hunt has invented a treatment in
storage which effectually kills the germ
that causes this ailment.
Mr. Newberry has supplied the fighting
force at the potato disease headquarters
with a four-row Aspenwall sprayer to
handle the treatment such as the experi
ments demand until the crop is grown.
Prof. Hunt says: "Home grown seed is
the thing, as it is acclimated and need
have no disease infected district. No im
ported seed should be used unless in
spected by some expert to guarantee free
dom from disease."
Favors a County Appropriation
Prof. Hunt is growing more earnest and
enthusiastic in the work in which he is en
gaged. He feels that he is the originator
of this method of carrying information to
the farmer. There is a demand for more
such work in all lines of agriculture and
stock raising. He recommends the pas
sage of a bill authorizing county commis
sioners to levy a tax to create an experi
ment station in each county, where this
work can be carried on under the super
vision of an agricultural expert. Mr
Hunt can no doubt get all the backing
necessary for the passage of such a bill
before any body of legislators that Ne
braska may elect. This would give pro
gressive, up-to-date counties an opportun
ity to go forward as rapidly as they de
sired in the matter of agricultural train
ing. Prof, Hunt, who figures so prominently
in this new farm educational enterprise,
recently opened up at Alliance, Neb . is a
native of the state of New York. He was
born on a farm and graduated at the
Rochester, N. Y., unuersity. His vaca
tions during his earlier years as a teacher
were spent on a farm in preference to idle
summer outings or sight-seeing. In 18S5
he took the chair of English in the Uni
versity ot Nebraska, which he held until
failing health in 1S91 caused him to resign
and return to the farm. He located near
Syracuse, Neb,, on a ioo-acre run-down
farm and commenced to practice and study
scientific agricujture. and succeeded in
both regaining his health and building up
a worn-out farm to a degree of fertility
that has been a source of great satisfac
tion to himself and an advantage as an
. object lesson to others. He has also been
, engaged on the farmers' institute lecture
course for several years.
It may be safely predicted that Prof.
Hunt is one of tbe coming promioent
characters in the agricultural educational
work of the country. He is an affable
gentleman, a fluent talker and is imbued
with the spirit of his work to such an ex
tent that makes him not only "highly ser
viceable as an instructor, but an enter
taining discussionist on agricultural topics
at all times and on all occasions. We
hope to be able at the end of the present
crop season to give our readers a detailed
report of tho work that Mr, Hunt is now
overseeing at Alliance, Neb.
CROSSESGHANNEL
Louis Bleriot, Frenchman, Flies
From Calais to Dover.
MAKES TRIP IN MONOPLANE,
Clever Pariclan Sails Over English
Channel in a Little Less Than Half
an Hour, Twice as Swiftly as the
Fastest Mail Boat But Few Per
eons on Scene to Witness Finish of
Remarkable Feat.
Dover, July 2C This sleepy sea
port town experienced the keenest
thrill Known in a generation when at
sunrise n white winged, birdlike ma
chine, with loudly humming motor,
swept out of the haze obscuring tho
sea toward tho distant French coast
and, circling twice above the high
chalky cliffs of Dover, alighted on
English soil. A Frenchman, Louis
Dloriot, portly and red mustached,
calmly descended from the saddle,
limping on a bandaged foot which had
been burned on his previous overland
flight. Immediately two compatriots,
who had been waving a big tri-colored
flag as a signal for tho landing place,
fell upon him enthusiastically, embrac
ing him, shouting and pounding him
on the back. They, with a few sol
diers and others who happened by
chance to bo on the scene, wero tho
only persons to witness tho finish of a
remarkable feat.
DIeriot left Les Baraqucs, three
miles from Calais, nbout 3 a. in. on
one of the smallest monoplanes ever
used. He crossed the channel In a
little less than half an hour, twice as
swiftly as tho fastest mall boat. His
speed averaged more than forty-five
miles an hour and sometimes it ap
proximated sixty miles. Ho kept about
250 feet above tho sen level and for
ten minutes, while about mid-channel,
wns out of sight of both coasts and
the French torpedo boat destroyer
which followed him with his wife and
friends aboard.
The wind was blowing nbout twenty
miles nn hour and the sea was choppy.
The aviator was swathed in n single
garment of drilling Impervious to tho
wind, which covered him from tho top
of his Read to his feet, only his face
showing. He wore also a cork life belt.
KING VISITS WHITELAW REID
British Monarch at Country Home of
American Ambassador.
Sllsoe, England, July 20. Tho royal
standard floats over Ambassador
Reld's residence at Rest park and the
precincts wore the center of attraction
for tho country people, who came
from miles around.
Tho king and queen, with the Amer
ican ambnssndor and Mrs. Reid and
several of tho other guests attended
services at Sllsoe church and received
nn ovation. A guard of honor, com
posed of several corps of boy scouts
from neighboring villages, was drawn
up outside tho church and saluted tho
party when It entered. Thousands of
spectators, many of whom camo on
bicycles, crowded about the church
nnd swarmed on fences and trees,
cheering tho king. The church was
filled with parishioners and tenants
of the estates, the service lasting an
hour. At tho close the choir sang tho
national anthem and tho people out
sldo took up tho hymn.
SIOUX GO TO NICARAGUA
Little Bison Secures Unsettled Tract
and Will Move Hundred Families.
Now Orleans, July 2C That n col
ony of Sioux Indians will remove from
tho Dakotas to an unsettled tract of
land In Nicaragua Is declared by Lit
tle nison, a Slouv chief, who reached
New Orleans from Blueflelds. He
went to Nicaragua to arrango for tho
concession of the land' wjth President
'Maya. Little Bison declares he will
i modlntely take 100 Indian families
Nicaragua nnd that his co'.ony Mil
aoon bo Increased by tho addition of
seeral hundred other families of
North American Indians,
General Strike Called In Swe'den.
Stockholm, July 27. Forty thou
sand workers In the paper, wooleu,
cotton and alUed Industries weni on
a strike. Tho strike, It Is stated, will
bo extended to tho Iron works on Aug.
2. A circular has been Issued to tho
trades unions throughout the country
calling for n general strike on Aug. 4.
Battleship Michigan Shows Speed.
Philadelphia, July 20. The United
States abttloshlp JOchlgan, which re
turned from her trial trip, Is reported
to havo brokon alt speed records for
a vessol of tho battleship type. The
Michigan Is said to have made a frac
tion over 19 knots nn huor.
BRENNAN'S
SANITARY
FOUNTAIN
It couldn't be better
IT'S BEST
Conrad Koch
Jewelry
and Watch Repairing
Special attention given to
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Excursion Rates Everywhere
It is impossible to present a detailed list of the attractive excursion
rates now in effect.
YOU CAN GO EAST on daily low rates to Atlantic cities and re
sorts; eveiv day rates to Wisconsin, Michigan and Canadian resorts
and for the celebrated tour of the lakes.
YOU CAN GO WEST: There are very attractive rates every day
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personally conducted camping tours from Cody into the Yellowstone
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SEE YOUR OWN COUNTRY: jUptween America's prosperity and
low railroad rates there is every reason why you should join the great
summer travel throng.
F. L.
L. W.
ESI
iTime Table
Alliance, Ncbr.
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