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The Commoner
y0L. 15, NO. 5
26
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In the Field of Agriculture
f L i , M ! . i mfmmmm J
CHOPS. NOT AFFECTED BY MOON
Scientists are now convinced that
the moon has no more influence on
crops than, it has. upon, the tempera
ture or the amount of rain or the
winds or any other weather element,
says the United States department of
agriculture. The growth of plants
depends upon the amount of food in
the soil and in the air than is avail
able for them and upon temperature,
light, and moisture. The moon obvi
ously does not affect the character of
the soil in any way, neither does it
affect the composition of the atmos
phere. The only remaining way in
which it could influence plant
growth, therefore is by its light. Re
cent experiments, however, show that
full daylight is about 600,0.00 times
brighter than full moonlight, yet
when a plant gets 1-1 00th part of
normal daylight it thrives little bet
ter than in absolute darkness. If
l-100th part of normal daylight is
thus too little to stimulate a plant, it
seems quite certain that a 600,000th
part can not have any effect at all. It
is therefore a mere waste of time to
think about the moon in connection
with the planting of crops. The moon,
say the scientists, has' nothing more
to do with this than it has to do with
the building of fences, the time for
killing hogs, or -any other of the in
numerable things over -which it was
once supposed to exert a strong influence.
DISKING AHEAD OF THE PLOW
PER MONTH and EXPENSES
Salarr or CommlMloa-Introduce
h luff oar Klntr llutter SeDarutor.
PrndtiMii beat crada of butter from cream or nlllc.
Bwoct'orBour, In lees tbau 6 minutes. Retail 5o
up. Write tor free sample and salary proposition.
Da.Klnff Mfg.CoDapL 290' Chicago, III
$150
,
140 a Wit k for Afctats
Tht Acem SilfhMlIng Flat ltoa.take wo
men by torm they limply can't relU
Selllnff almott aa caay aa giving away.
Something entirely nw. An entire week1 a
Ironing (or a penny, Saves cillta of walk,
ins and makes Ironlnjr day a pleasure.
Carry it anywhere Iron anywhere, on a
porcn unuer mo anaae trees, riomovo neeueu..nvcryooay
or women, ou
dr. will msVi
wait think o( this profit- write ior selling plans and samples.
ACORN BRASS NtFQ.OO.D99t(T, GhlCago,lll.
Interested. Every home a prospect. Agonlt Makt Monet-men
or women, quick, easy, sure. An all rear's business; two sales
ikeyouiu insweeKsixsaitsperaayeasy. uont
which has been punched with many
small holes. If one cares to handle
poison, the insects can be got rid of
on radishes or turnips by the use of
Paris green, using one part Paris
green to 10 parts flour or air-slaked
lime. Mix thoroughly and.jilaqe'in a.
cloth sack. Shake tha sack over the
plants during the early morning,
while the dew is still on the leaves.
WHY MILK AND BUTTER
SOMETIMES YELLOW
ARE
.One application soothes and heals a rough
plmplyskin.and.whenrcpeatcd.aulcklycfTccts
cure. Eczema. Ervsinelas. Tetter. Ulcers
and
all Skin diseases yield to its curative properties.
auc m vox. n au uruggisis.
pesd for f rco sample and book, "Health and Beauty."
JOHNSTON, HOLLOWAY & C..
LI728 Spring: Garden St., ' FMIa., Pa.
0 W
:
ST0PAFTS
" " Salesmen
Jut Out Brand new Invention splen
did seller Light Deflector for Auto
Headlights. Puts lights on the road in
stead or in other people's eyes. Not a
dimmer Iiici-chhcm Urlvlnjg light, .Cuts,
out all tho "glare." Needed wanted on
pvqry machine. Sample, TSasy to put on.
No adjustments no knobs to Uirh lasts
as ldng as tho car. Fully Patented. Low
in pripo sells like lightning. .LISTEN;
you can mako
$45.00 to $125.00 Weekly
JoUbuoh, Ohio, cleared $22 first day. AlieS,
WkhIij, mado $25.60 one afternoon. Illn-
kiq, -wine, "Best article I over .sojd."
Walker, Khrn. writes, "Double my order
And ship C.O.D." Gorman, Iowa, wires,
"Ship gross quick, wiling money. Sold
19 today." Profit 930.40. JIurry, gtjt
some of this money yourself. Wiley, G.,
reports 11 sales the first day. Millard,
Ohio, (says "Everybody wild over Deflect
or." Thlw i your .ckaace t make mosey.
Don't hesitate a minute. No charge for
territory sales g;warHHtecl you can't
help but make money- SEND NO MONVY
just write lor run details. Address tho
Ulckmyer Deflector Co., 437 8. A II.
uiug., Toledo, Mwio.
Disking land before plowing is
one of the things which all farmers,
but particularly those located oh the
high-priced corn-belt land, should
practice. Some men have found it
profitable to disk blue grass sod, but
the practice has its greatest advant
age when, applied to stalk and stub
ble land.
The soil will absorb more water
when it is disked before, plowing.
This has been a very important point
in recent years when the soil bias sel
dom been soaked with' water. The
more water stored in the soil, when
the crops are put in, the larger will
be the return if the iseason is dry.
The thorough mixing of- the stalks,
stubble and other surface organic
matter with the soil,. -which .results
from the disking, is very advanta
geous. On stalk land, particularly
the weighted disk takes the. place of
the stalk .cutter and .this at the same,
time thoroughly mixes the organic1
matter with the soil. A disk may
also be- used to out up green manure
crops before turning them under and
brings about- a more thorough .mix
ing of this organic matter with the
soil. One of the fundamental prin
ciples in plowing any land is to thor
oughly mix the stalks, -grass or trash
with the surface soil, and this is
greatly favored by disking in advance
of the plow.
Land with a pulverized surface can
be turned with a plow in such a way
as to give a much better seed bod
than where the disking is not done.
The land plows more easily and the
pulverization is at the same time
more thorough. The disk harrow is
one of the most valuable of farm im
plements, and its use in advance of
the plow is just as important as Its
use following the. plow. Missouri
Experiment Station..
The belief that a bright yellow col
or in milk means Tichness in quality
is not true. Experiments conducted
at the college of agriculture of the
University of Missouri show that the
change from white cream and. butter
in winter to yellow cream and butter
in spring and summer does not indi
cate an increased fat percentage. The
very highest colored milk that a cow
can give may have the lowest fat per
centage. Such a condition is found
in the so-called colostrum milk, the
first milk that a cow gives after giv
ing birth to a calf.
The explanation of the wide dif
ference, between the results of the ex
periments and the popular belief in
regard to the relation of color to
richness lies in the cause of the na
tural yellow color of cream and but
ter. It was found that cows were not
able to produce the yellow coloring
matter for their cream and butter.
The coloring 'matter must be derived
from the feed. The yellow coloring
matter of milk was found to be iden
tical with a yellow, coloring matter
mm us wiueiy aistriDUtea in plants
and fresh grass.
This coloring matter is called car
otin. It takes its name from the
carrot, where it is very abundant,
and where 'it was first discovered by
scientists more than one hundred
years ago.
The difference in the color of cream
and butter in winter and spring was
iouna to oe aue to the fact that the
winter feeds contain little or no car
otin. No marked increase in the fat
percentage accompanies the increase
in color when foods rich in carotin
are fed. It has been shown that the
average cow gives a higher per cent
of fat in its milk during the winter
than in the spring and summer.
worm, larvae of the white butterfi
says a writer in the Practical fH'
In small patches they are often 52
annoying and destructive, yet Z
trolled with comparative eW Z
prompt action. They readily submit
to the free application of almost any
dust-like material, such as inS
powder, fresh lime, tobacco dU8t
wood ashes, road dust, etc., or of anv
poisonous or corrosive spray Z
kerosene emulsion, hot water or hot
soapsuds, whale oil soap, sprays con
taining arsenical poisons, etc. First
point of importance is that worm
are disposed of before they have had
i chance to hide themselves inside of
the fold of the- leaves of the young
head, especially around and near tho
stem or-heaTt. For the home grower
or small market gardener, an easy
way is to carry a-small (hand) pow
der gun loaded with some good in
sect powder, buhach being best, and
to eo over the patch occasionally,
applying a puff or two into the heart
of each plant. This quickly disposes
of the worms.
CUTWORM CONTROL
FLEA BEETLES INJURING VEG
ETABLES
eaal thaac
i ' ..! TXrol n inilao nr 4.nl1
fty t v AW14J' "V" vuv.jn.jr M. JUUipilB,
I-JO-1JV .. .
Many complaints havecome to the
college of agriculture of the Univer
sity of Nebraska in regard to the flea
beetles that are eating the leaves of
radish, cabbage, and other vegetables
of this family at the present time.
Tho beetles that cem to be doing
most of the damage are the cabbage
flea beetle, a small, shiny, bluish
black species, and another kind,
known as the striped flea beetlo.
which has a small yellow stride on
each side of the back. "When the bee
tles or the leaves on which they are
working are touched, the insects
jump away like fleas. They can be
driven away from gardens by dust
ing with finely sifted ashes or air
slaked lime. To each pint of the fine
ly sifted ashes or lime add one tea
spoonful of kerosene ;or two finely
crushed moth balls. Mix thoroughly
and dust the mixture on the plants
from, .a .coffee an, .the bottom of
C - "
OBSERVATION TOURS VALUABLE
A feature, of the county agent work
in Nebraska this year has been the
agricultural observation tours taken
in the respective counties for the pur
pose of focusing attention to some
special method or practice of special
value to local agricultural conditions,
says the United States department of
agriculture. Silo excursions were
held in five of the counties, and they
were followed with very excellent re
sults. In western Nebraska,
and especially in. Dawes county, the
number of silos lm. . -uZ
?n dn5ollowine tuese observation
tours. The growing ot sweet clover
and the value of alfalfa were also
made objects of special excursions.
As a result a great deal of sweet
Mad?"! be PUt ln 0n sandy soils In
JJ52 T C0UntJ' and the mhod ot
be followed out in all parts of that
county and in other counties.
GREEN CABBAGE WORM
!n 6n rlPedeS 0f woma are fad
ing on cabbairea. mnnf . .,
W1U b the .UMVe cabbage
Cutworms are the naked, greenish
or dusky larvae of a number of spe
cies of dusky-winged moths that fly
at night for the most part, says the
New Mexico college of agriculture.
The usual life history is as fol
lows: The eggs laid by the moths in.
late summer hatch into small cater
pillars, or "cutw6rms," which lie
concealed just beneath the surface
of the ground near -tender parts of
plants. They feed mostly at night.
Later cold weather and lack of food
necessitate hibernation in the soil or
under rubbish, weed piles, etc. In
the spring, feeding is resumed again.
The damage is more noticeable at
that time for the cutworms are fair
sized, , hungry, and vegetation is
.scarce. After a time the caterpillars
reach their full size, go Into the soil
to pupate, and late. emerge as moths
to lay more eggs for later genera
tions. Alfalfa fields harbor enor
mous numbers of these cutworms.
Control: Many moths may be
caught at night by placing a light
above a tub of water. This will not
reduce the number of cutworms
much as the females do not fly far
before laying the eggs. It will re
duce the nuisance of having the
moths in such large numbers about
the house. Water standing 6 or 8
hours on an irrigated field should
If ill many of the cutworms in the
soil. A reliable remedy is the poi
soned bait made ad follows: Mix 1
pound of P,aris creon with 25 pounds
of dry bran. Add 2 or 3 quarts of
molasses to 5 or 6 gallons of water
and stir the mixture thoroughly into
the poisoned bran. Let this stand
for several hours before using. In
infested fields scatter broadcast, in
the evening, piece-J of this bait the
size of two or three fingers together.
In gardens, stre , the pieces along the
bases of the plants being attacked.
9
LARGEST TARMS MOST PROFITABLE
Results of the farm survey work
Conducted' co-bperatively in Gage
qounty, Nebraska, by the United
States department of agriculture and
the Agricultural Extension service or
the Nebraska University farm, show
that of the 54 farms having their
business analyzed, the .10 most profit
able one were almost three times
larger than the 10 farms making tne
least returns. In' spite of the com
mon belief that the small farm is
better and there is more opportunity
to take care of the crops, secure Hot
ter yields, and consequently mw
more money, the largest yields anu
the largest profits were found in tne
largest farms, The average laur
income-of-the -beat 10 farms was ii
mi
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