OCR Text |
Show 26 COMMISGIONER OF INDIAN AFBAIBS. : I believe there is a splendid chance for increased efficiency of on; 8(:hool.. service by special aorta and eooperatlon along the Hues indicated. I must Insist that you give the development of the school farm your most careful , attention, to the end that the highest degree of efaciency and results be accom-pliahed. .There is absolutely no excue for a waste acre or. overlwked oppor-tunity on a school farm. We need all they wlll produce, and can not justify the purchase of anything we can raise. It @ inconsistent and indefensible for us to expect Indian boys and girls to return home from their schools and do more than they have witnessed their teachers doing for them when they are supposed to be qualifying themselves for industrial equipment and self-support. Superintendents, inspectors, supervisors; and special agents are dirwted. to ' give this matter thelr prompt and most careful attentfon and fully advise me of the steps taken by field offlcers to ma!xe ef[eetive these suggestions. SACATON EXPERIMXINTATIOX PA&. . . ' ' ' The demonstration farm at. sacaton; Ark., conducted coopbra-tively with the Department of Agriculture, has given satisfactory results. . . &.special ithdy;h& keen made pf the,grade Egyptian cott6n which has been under observation there for beveml years The land in which the staple was planted .was regraded so that it might be irri-gated ;more scientifically, with the .i.eault that it has made the largest yield 6f cotton ever bbtained at this farm, although the land already had:,gown from. five t~ seven coimcutive crops of cotton. A 4-acre plat of cotton prcnluced an average ,of 890, pounds of lint per acre. This is the largest average yield of long staple Egyptian cot-ton ever produced in the State of Ariiona. Approximately 10,935 pounds of lint were produced on 15 acres; 90 pounds of l i t from progeny rows of the "Pima," the name given to the flew, type of long staple cotton, were shipped to the Mancheater F i e Goods- 'spinners' Assocation, England, for spinning tests, and 1,074 pounds of "Pima," from Phelp's ''seed were sent to New England spinners .for the same purpose. The cotton grown during the calendar year 1914, with the exceptions noted above, has not yet been sold on ac-count of prevailing'low price. . . . There is also on hand at the farm about 80,000 pounds of seed. which. could not - be hauled to Salt \River Valley points on. account of the high water in the Oia River. -- About 10,890 poubds of seed were distributed to the schooland reservation farmers for' planting during the season of 1915. While the Indians la@ season planted only 296 acres, the reports indicate that.their interest in the growing , of cotton is commendable, as over the southern cotton section there was discouragement on awounto4'low prices. , 1. The surrounding communities have, equally with the lqli+s,'re; ceived the benefits of this farm, as last year wGte ranchers of the Salt River Valley produced 6,421 bales of cotton, which,at ali average . , . |