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H.—29b

paid to farmers by the factory for sugar-beet averages £1 per ton of 2,0001b. It is reckoned that it takes a crop of from 12 to 15 tons per acre to pay the grower. The Grand Junction Fruitgrowers' Association is a very live concern, and is stated to be of incalculable benefit to the fruitgrowers in the district. Growers deliver their fruit at the depot, which is situated on one of the railroads in the town, where each case of fruit is at once opened and graded according to the variety and quality of fruit it contains. All fruit graded the same quality is shipped in cars and sold as one lot no matter to whom it belonged. The association knows where the best markets arc to be met with and the quality of fruits required in different places, and so regulates the supplies to markets and prevents glutting. The system of handling, booking, and selling, &c, adopted by the Fruitgrowers' Association is on the most up-to-date lines. Immediately the grower delivers his fruit at the depot he need take no further concern regarding it, as he knows that the best possible price will be obtained and at the lowest cost for marketing. Travelling eastward from Grand Junction by railroad, 1,428 miles from San Francisco the crest of Tennessee Pass, in the Rocky Mountains, is reached, at an altitude of 10,240 ft. above sea-level. Here the Pacific slope is changed for the Atlantic. This is the top of the continental divide. As the train travels down the eastern side of the " Rockies " through the valley of the Upper Arkansas amidst hay and cattle ranches, the contrast between the arid and desert country left behind on the Pacific slope and the verdant aspect of the country on the eastern side was great. This I was given to understand was owing to the abnormal rainfall on the Atlantic side during the summer and autumn months of last year. Colorado State Agricultural College, Fort Collins. In the absence of the president of the college, Professor C A. Lory (to whom I had a letter of introduction from Mr. Blanchard), Mr. Alvin Kezcr, Professor of Agronomy, Dr. E. P. Sandsten, horticulturist, and Mr. L. M. Taylor, secretary and purchasing agent, all members of the college staff, very courteously showed me around the college grounds and farm and gave all information desired. The college is situated in latitude 41° N. The area of the farm is 450 acres, and at the foothills and hill country 1,300 acres, making 1,750 acres available for educational operations. For the use and support of the Agricultural College 90,000 acres have been set apart. lowa. The State of lowa consists approximately of 35,934,080 acres. It is claimed for it that although it ranks fifteenth in population and twenty-third in area of land, in. percentage of land improved and total area in farms it ranks first. In the report of the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the Department of Agriculture for 1914 lowa stands first in production of bushels of oats and corn (maize) and also in tonnage of forage crops. In 1913 there were 3,000,000 acres under hay crops, which produced 4,440,000 tons (of 2,0001b.) of hay, and its farm value being £8.526,000, Towa therefore can be reckoned according to area to be the leading agricultural State. It also fakes first place in regard to the value of its horses, cattle, and hogs. Its mean annual precipitation (rainfall and melted snow) is 34 in. The population of lowa according to last census (1910) was 2,224,771. The State Agricultural College is situated at Ames, in latitude 42° N. The college is recognized as being one of the foremost in the Union. In the absence of the president, Mr. H. L. Russell, Dean and Director, Mr. William H. Pew, Professor of Animal Husbandry, showed me every courtesy and went to a great deal of trouble to forward the objects of my visit to that institution, as ditl also Mr. Stevenson, Professor of Agronomy. The cereal crops had all been harvested before my visit. A. large variety of other crops were also grown on the experimental area at the college. The season had been a very wet one. The educational ramifications of the college are very extensive throughout the State, and embrace many projects for the advancement and mutual help of the State settlers. As many of these educational branches are common to all colleges in the United States they will be dealt with under one head. One only need be given here, " The lowa Agricultural Experiment Association." This is an organization in which the farmers of the State and the lowa Agricultural Experiment Station co-operate for mutual help. The president, vice-president, and twelve district representatives are progressive, practical farmers; and the treasurer and secretary and director of experiments are members of the experiment station staff. The general objects of the association are set out as follows : To foster a spirit of investigation and co-operation among the farmers, and to develop a more intimate relationship and a more complete bond of sympathy between the farmers and the experiment station, as well as to assist, the farmers in solving their local problems by means of local experiments on their own farms ; and to encourage the growing and handling of improved varieties of crops in a careful businesslike way for seed purposes, so that, as far as possible, there may be a good and pure local supply for every need, and so that by co-operation of the members in a given locality carlots or even train lot's of uniform quality and of a single variety may be furnished to the trade on demand. The immediate objects of the association are to encourage a more general use of lucerne as a farm crop, and to enable the farmers to learn, by experimenting on a small scale, how best to grow and handle this crop under various local conditions; to conduct such local experiments and demonstrations as will enable the farmers, if possible, to secure a good stand of red clover year after year, instead of failing very frequently, as they now do; to make tests of the use of lime and rock-phosphate applications on the various soil types of the States; and to distribute ,

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