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On March 5,
1937, the State of Arkansas, by action of its General Assembly,
officially recognized the problem of land use with the provision
for establishment of a new and fourth branch experiment station
for the study of land utilization through livestock and forestry
in the limestone section of the Ozarks.
Arkansas is a
state of widely diverse soils, topographies, and climates. As a
result, the agriculture varies greatly in different sections of
state and presents a diversity of problems.
The Arkansas
Agricultural Experiment Station system had been maintained since
1888 by the people of Arkansas for the purpose of studying the
numerous problems confronting agriculture and rural living and of
securing basic information concerning these problems. Since
Arkansas is essentially an agricultural state, its Agricultural
Experiment Station system is a service to all its people.
The
intensifying interest of the state’s citizenship in the conduct of
agricultural research under varied conditions in Arkansas gave
rise to the establishment of branch experiment stations to deal
with problems in the actual areas of production and under soil and
climate conditions of those areas. The Arkansas General Assembly
of 1925 provided for the establishment of three branch stations.
The following year the Cotton Branch Station near Marianna in Lee
County, the Fruit and Truck Branch Station near Hope in Hempstead
County, and the Rice Branch Station near Stuttgart in Arkansas
County were established.
With growing interest in the state in the livestock industry, and
with nearly half of the land in farms in timber, there was an
obvious need for utilization studies. This public desire and
interest culminated in the establishment of the Livestock and
Forestry Branch Experiment Station in Independence County.
This fourth Branch Station, located in the eastern part of the
Ozark Plateau, consists of 3,042 acres representing the major soil
types and general topographical conditions typically of the area.
The Station is northwest of Batesville, 3 miles south of State
Highway 69, and between the towns of Cushman and Bethesda.
The acreage is divided into two tracts. The main tract contains 2,
155 acres on which experimental work and studies are being made in
land use; livestock, pastures, different kinds of pasture grasses,
clovers, and combinations, forage crops, soil and water
conservation, varieties of field crops, and other crops of
possible economic importance to the area. The second tract is
located 3 miles west of he main section of the Station near the
White River, containing 887 acres of forest. A great part of this
timber tract is virgin hardwood.
Although the Station is far from complete, much more has been done
to equip the new 3,000-acre laboratory. Improvements made include
the construction of five buildings and laboratories, and 7 miles
of fencing, building of a mile-long grass spillway, construction
of 6 miles of roads, and preparation of sections of the Station
for plat and pasture work.
No one can
predict the ultimate scope of the findings of this Station, of
just what it will contribute, except that it will return to
Arkansas greatly multiplied the invested public funds. That, after
all, is the way of research and its great justification. Research
delves into the unknown, and follows uncharted byways-not with
assurance of success, but with courage, experience, knowledge, and
with common sense as a guide.
Mr. W.C.
Wilbanks was named Assistant Director in Charge and assumed these
duties on May 17, 1937.
Batesville
Grand-Record newspaper clipping 1937
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