W.C. Allsbrook Oversees Crop Research at McClullers Station, 1955

“Proving Ground for Agriculture,” from the July, 1955 issue of Extension Farm-News, a monthly newsletter for the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service put out by N.C. State University.

Grapes used in experimental work are inspected by Allsbrook and Cecil Thomas, director of test farms for the State Department of Agriculture.

Seeds bother you when you’re eating watermelon? This seedless, ice box-size melon test-grown at McCullers might be the answer.

Many farmers have tried the new hybrid corn varieties and liked them. Allsbrook is shown here with a foundation seed corn planting. There’ll be 33 acres, including foundation stock, at Clayton.

Nematode research won’t be overlooked while McCullers Station is being shifted to its new location outside Clayton. Here is a tobacco field which is being used to show the effect of soil treatment in nematode control.

W.C. Allsbrook, the genial superintendent of McCullers Station, won’t be bothered by claustrophobia any longer. The research program over which he is in charge will have plenty of room to flex its muscles at its new, larger location near Clayton.

But for all its humble start 19 years ago with 20 acres of leased land, the old McCullers Station did right well for itself. It grew to 194.8 acres of land owned and 65.5 additional acres rented, but because it had reached its practical limit, the entire operation is being switched to a 448-acre plot.

The tobacco breeding program remains at the old location at present because of a shortage of funds. The financial rub won’t hamper research on new materials for controlling suckers or studies of the life cycle of insects that affect tobacco. Research men will also continue breeding for new varieties of tobacco which are resistant to diseases and nematodes, will work on plant beds and new methods of controlling pests, and try to find the right amount of water to be applied in irrigating.

Tobacco farmers will probably be heartened by the fact that one of the first activities at the new site will be a stepped-up effort to develop mechanization. In other words, eliminate some of that back-breaking labor always associated with handling tobacco.

Other crops won’t suffer because of the exhaustive work being done on the state’s No. 1 cash crop, either.

The 270 acres of cropland will include 33 acres of corn, part of which will be for foundation seed stock, part for corn breeding work, and the rest for weed control experiments.

There’ll be 10 acres of cotton for breeding work, yield trials, wilt and nematode control research; 10 acres each of soybeans, vegetables, and small grains, with emphasis on developing new, higher-yielding, and disease-resistant varieties; two acres of lespedeza and four acres each for alfalfa and grain sorghum.

Scientists will study soil fertility in forage crops, sweet potato breeding, always on the lookout for ways to improve varieties.

Long-range crops such as raspberries, grape arbors, peach and apple orchards, are still at McCullers but the experimental orchards will be started at Clayton next fall.

And farmers can rest assured, anything promising will be farmed-out to other research stations for testing under varied climates and soils.