OF INTEREST TO FARMERS
CHOOSING PROPER LEGUME
It is fully as important to fit the
legume to the soil as to fit the soil
to the legume, yet we seldom hear
much about this phase of legume
growing. There are legumes which
will grow as well on acid soils as on
soils well supplied with rime. In
fact, some make their best growth
on such soils. In the more northern
states, alsike clover is recognized as
more acid-tolerant than most of
the clovers, while the mammoth red
clover will thrive on soils where the
medium red clover fails, particularly
on the lighter soils and soils which
are inclined to be sandy. Medium
red clover will make a very good
growth on soils too acid for either
alfalfa or sweet clover. Of the an
nual clovers which may be seeded
in small grain, the hubam clover is
as particular regarding soil acidity
as is alfalfa, while the Wood’s clov
er. or dalea will usually make fully
as good a growth on the acid soils
as on soil heavily limed. This last
legume is apparently better suited
to the light infertile soils than to
rich black soil. The soybean is a
very sure crop and many feeding
tests have shown that soybean hay
approaches alfalfa hay in feeding
value. This legume can be grown
with great success as far north as
Central Minnesota, and south to the
gulf, giving splendid results on dis
tinctly acid soils. In fact, this le
gume grows splendidly cn most any
type of soil, rich or poor, light or
heavy, acid or neutral. In the
south the velvet bean has been grown
extensively and with splendid results
on very acid soils, as has also the
cowpea. Peanuts usually give bet
ter results on acid soils. From the
standpoint of their adaptation to
acid soils, legumes can be divided
into three groups: 1, Legumes which
ordinarily will not do well an acid
soils—the sweet clovers and alfalfa.
2, Legumes benefited by lime but
which will make a fair growth on
moderately acid soils—Canada field
peas, medium red clover, mammoth
clover, crimson clover, white clover,
alsike clover. 3, Legumes not seri
ously affected by soil acidity—burr
clover, sulla, vetches, field beans,
soybeans, Cherokee clover, kudzu,
velvet bean, cowpeas, peanuts, Japan
clover or lespedeza, lupine and ser
radella.
PROFIT IN GUINEA BROILERS
Guinea broilers weighing one
pound are in demand as substitutes
for wild game and bring a good
price. They are much cheaper and
easier to raise than chickens and
may be grown in the late spring
and summer when the chicken sea
son is over. There are several ob
jections to having old guineas
among chickens, but these may be
overcome by keeping only year old
stock from which to breed. Young
guineas will not fight chickens and
will lay in hens’ nests or out of
doors. I leave three or four eggs
in the nest, says a successful ex
perimenter, and several hens use
the same nest until one of them
wants to sit. Then I take out all
the eggs and force her to make an
other nest. This is all I do to
break them from sitting. If not al
lowed to sit they will lay all sum
mer. Their eggs are a little small
er than hens' eggs but are excellent
to cat. I set the eggs under a
chicken hen. When they are
hatched, in 28 days, I keep the
birds confined in a coop with a
wire enclosure in front until they
are a week old. Then I turn them
out after the dew is dry. They must
not be allowed to get wet until they
have feathered out. They will find
all their own feed from then on,
except grain at night and they will
be as fat and plump as partridges
and weigh about a pound when 8
weeks old. I feed them when they
are little as I do baby chicks, only
they will eat a great deal less than
chicks. Broilers at 8 w'eeks old
bring from $1 to $1.50 a pair. The
best markets are hotels or restau
rants.
SOWING CLEAN SEED
There is no larm problem whose
solution lies so completely within
the farmer’s hands as that of weeds.
And yet like the poor, the weeds are
always present. The plainest thing
that need be said on this subject
is this: The weed problem is made
many, many times harder on some
farms by the practice of seeding a
new crop of weeds each year. Not
intentionally, of course, and often
unconsciously. The lower 40, thanks
to good weather and a liberal ap
plication of fertilizer, produced 70
bushels of soun doats per acre.
What’s more natural than to use
the crop for seed? It doesn’t look
weedy, and so it must be all right.
Maybe the neighbors all buy some
of the seed, the owner charging
only a little more than local prices
of oats for feed. And just so long
as weed-infested seed is sown, the
weed problem will cause no end of
trouble. The weeds entirely choke
out the crops, or lessen the yield by
using plant food and moisture. The
first step in this weed problem is
to buy and sow clean seed—the
cleanest seed it is possible to get, re
gardless of the price. Such seed
is always the cheapest you can af
ford to buy. No matter what you pay
for it, the price of good, clean seed
is always low, in terms of results.
Trashy, dirty, weak farm seeds are
dear at any price._
SHAPING FARM LIFE
In a prize winning essay a western
farmer's wife said some fine things
about the county farm bureau that
will bear repeating. Referring to its
relation to the farm woman, she
laid: "The farm bureau has a place
for every active, thinking farm wo
nan. It is the place where she may
do her part for the betterment of
the farm home and caring for the
physical, mental and iporal develop
ment of the children in the home.
The 4-H club today offers greater
opportunities for farm boys and girls
than any college class room can ever
offer. It not only teaches how to do
INTELLIGENT CURIOSITY
Much of value and interest about
igricultui'e can be gleaned from j
studying the literature of the an- .
cients. In his book on Roman farm
management, Varro advocated the
same scientific approach to the
farm problems of his time as are
advocated by the agricultural sci
entists of today. "The most ancient
farmers," said he, "established many
principles by experiment and their
descendants for the most part have
simply imitated them. We should do
both these things, imitate others
and, on our own account, make ex
periments, following always some
principle, not chance. Thus we
might work our trees deeper or not
things, but it also teaches how to
meet people and how to associate
and work with them. Perhaps it is
too much to say that 4-H club work ,
offers greater opportunities than col
lege class rooms, but it is true that
thousands of boys and girls who will
never attend college are deriving
most excellent training in the club
movement." She also referred to the
splendid work the farm bureau is
doing in fostering the co-operating
movement and in popularizing the
newer knowledge about crop produc
tion, livestock breeding and feeding,
cow testing, poultry culling, etc., and
ended her essay with these words:
"The nation’s food is in farmers'
hands to start with. Why not the
farmer merjfe his efforts through
co-operation to meet his situation?”
That should be the great aim of the
American farmers from now on—
learn to co-operate with each oth
er, to the end that they may re
tain complete control over their pro
ducts till they reach the ultimate
consumer or nearly so. The more
nearly such an objective is realized
the more profitable will agriculture
become, for with it there will also
be developed a widening of markets
and a control over production that
will ultimately do away with bur
densome surpluses.
DON’T MIX SEEDS
“Blending” seed corn, which has
had some publicity during the past
two or three years as a new meth
od of increasing yield, isn’t as ef
fective a method as some may think
it is, according to an expert at one
of our western agricultural colleges.
Under the new method, the seed of
two varieties or strains is mixed to
gether and planted. The intercross
ing that follows is said to result in
a “blend" highly beneficial to the
yield. In the first place, this auth
ority explained, only about half the
kernels produced by the plants
grown from the mixed seed will be
a result of a cross between the two
varieties. This comes about from the
fact that three possible kinds ol
crosses can occur: (1) between
plants of one variety; (2) between
plants of the other variety, and (3)
between plants of the two varieties
The relative frequencies of these
crosses are one, one and two, re
spectively. If the varieties used have
the same grain color, kernels of the
three different crosses can not be
separated. The best way to cross two
varieties and know that they are
crossed is to plant them in alter
nate rows and detassel one or the
other. All seed produced by the de
tasseled plants is hybrid seed. In the
second place, granting that the hy
brid is a better yielder than either
parental strain, best results are not
obtained from mixed or blended seed
until the second year. During the
first year, intercrossing occurs be
tween the two varieties and the yield
that can occur from the intercross
ing the first year is that due to the
influence of the crossing on the size
of endosperm. This is so small that
very little, if any, increase in yield
can be expected the first year from
planting mixed seed. Consequently,
unless seed from the first year’s
crop is saved and planted the second
year, any possible benefits from
blended seed will not be realized.
When seed from the first year’s crop
is planted the second year about half
the plants will be hybrid between
the varieties or strains blended. If
any hybrid vigor results from the
cross, the hybrid plants will yield
more than the plants belonging to
the two varieties which make up the
other half of the plant population.
The yield the second year, there
fore, should be greater than that
during the first year.
HOW TO KILL A CHICKEN
When chickens are killed and
dressed for sale, cither for home sale
or for shipment, the best method of
killing is by bleeding and piercing
the brain. To do this, the bird
should be hung with the head down
ward at a convenient height, with
the feet held either with a string
or by means of wire loops in which
the feet are placed. The head of the
bird is held firmly in one hand,
writh the comb resting in the palm,
making it possible to open the mouth
with the fingers of this hand. The
jugular vein, which is located at the
back of the mouth at the base of the
skull, can then be cut by a down
ward stroke of a sharp-pointed knife.
If properly done, the blood will flow
freely immediately. If the blood falls
to flow freely, the slash should be
repeated. As soon as the blood is
flowing freely, the brain is pierced
by inserting the knife in the groove
in the roof of the mouth, and
plunging it back into the skull, mid
way between the eye and ear lobe.
When the brain is pierced, the bird
will give a characteristic shudder.
Piercing the brain is very import
ant when the fowls are dry picked
When the lower portion of the brain
is pierced, the muscles of the feather
tracts relax temporarily and the
birds are picked easily and with less
injury to the skin. Since this re
laxing of the feather-control muscles
lasts only about a minute, picking
should be done as quickly and com
pletely as possible before the feath
ers set. No attempt is made to pluck
the bird clean during this minute,
but rather to remove as large an
amount of feathers as possible, pay
ing special attention to getting
those that pull hardest and the spots
where the skin is most likely to
tear or break After removing the
tail and wing quills, the body feath
ers are removed In large handfuls
by quick pulls. A dull knife is very
effective in removing pin feathers
ALFALFA FOR PIGS
It Is advisable to feed alfalfa or
clover hay to pigs being fattened in
the dry lot. Good quality, leafy hay
Is the best substitute for pasture
during the winter. It Is not neces
sary to chop or grind the hay to
mix it with their grain. Pigs will
eat sufficient alfalfa if good quality
hay is kept in a rack where they
can help themselves at any time.
so deep as others do to see what the
effect would be. It was with such
intelligent curiosity that some farm
ers first cultivated their vines a sec
ond and third time, and deferred
grafting the figs from spring to
summer.” Many of the farmers’ ex
perimental problems can now be
studied by the. experiment stations
but the intelligent farmer who gets
pleasure out of his work will al
ways be making some experiments
of his own just the same.
MINERALS NECESSARY
Minerals are not only a requisite
feed for hogs but also a fine tonic
In general and a splendid prevent
ative of worms.
Leads in Admiration
of Leeds, Tin-Plate Heir
Olive Hamilton (above), demure,
dark-haired beauty, leads in ad
miration of William R. Leeds, tin
plate heir, just divorced by th«
Princess Xenia of Russia. Leeds,
however, denied he would marrj
Miss Hamilton.
(International Xewereet
Clash With Governor;
Prendergast Resigns
fVilliam Prendergast resigns as
thairman of the New York Stata
Public Service Commission follow
iig a recent conference with Gov
jmor Roosevelt over the phona
rates of the New York Telcphona
Company. The New York Gov
trnor requested the commission te
tut the new phone rates and fix
rates of its own. Prendergast’s
resignation Is reported to have re
lulted from a divergence of opin
ion on the functions of the Publir
Service Commission.
(International Newaree!}
Baptist Leader Is
Candidate for Senatf
The vkeverend H. G. Dorsctt, hotel
keeper and Baptist leader of Wake
Forest, N. C., is a candidate fo.
he U. S. Senate on the Republic*'
ticket, to succeed F. M. Simmons.
1 democrat. Dorsett says that he
'•vill defeat the custom that a poor
"a.nr cannot be elected to a high
ublic office in North Carolina.
datamation*! NcwarMli
Wounded President and Family
President Pascual Ortiz Rubio, his wife and their
three children. The newly inaugurated presi
dent and his wife, in company with their niece,
were wounded in an attempt upon their lives
" February 6th. They were leaving the national
palace shortly after the president'* inaugural
ceremonies. Their injuries are not regarded as
serious.
(International Newereel*
Crowned Queen of Florida
Florida's beauty crop this year seemed as abundant as the yield
of grapefruit and avacados. When the Miami judges got through
casting ballots on pulchritudinous princesses, Margaret Edahi was
chosen to wear the crown.
CutwaatlaiuU Nt«t Mil
Preached Christianity,
Soviets Execute Him
Rev. John Toews, brother of W. X
Toews of Mountain Lake, Minn^
wa.? recently executed in Mo*
cow under orders of the Soviej
Government. The missionery, wit|
three other elders of the Mpnnonittf
churches, were shot to death foil
lowing a trial in which they wor*
found guilty of teaching the Chris
tion religion in violation of the
law.
Demands New Parly
to End Religious Rule
Samuel Harden Church, pred
dent of the Carnegie Institute anc
a prominent Republican, who
in a speech, demanded that s
new party, the Liberal Party, b*
formed to combat prohibition and
“every form of religious dicta
tion.” The speech was given at •
dinner of the Association Againsl
the Prohibition Amendment. Al
though for many years a staunch
Republican, Mr. Church said that
to expect reform from either the
Republicans or the Democrats was
aseless.
__(International Newsreel)
Mail Must Go Through
■ "1
'"narrcsscr
Shattered mail plane as it crashed in woods three miles west «f
Silver Creek. N. Y. The pilot, E. E. Bosh am, of Cleveland, 0., pro
ceeded to deliver the mail he was carrying to the postoffice at Silver
Creek before reporting to headquarters and then permitting a
physician to sew up three cuts in his face. In addition to minor
injuries sustained, Bosham also suffered from exposure.
(international Neiraraalj
How It Feels to Be a “Corpse”
L
Everett
Routlcdgc, 16,
will testify at
Seattle, Wash.,
how it feels
to be buried
alive. Everett
ran away from
home last Sum
mer and joined
a carnival.
His act was to\
be buried in a '•
hole, where Ae:
remained for
from four to
ten hours daily.
(International
Mewarool)
Win* Legal Battle
to Retain $105,000
Mra. Alic* P. Crockett, of Chicago,
who has waged a legal battle over
the estate of the late George H.
Pulalfer, Chicago Board of Trade
member. She has been permitted
to retain $105,000 of the $500,000
left bjr Pulsjfer.
11 111 II11—w»~ i NttmiW