r ■" ss. TS'.'.aaar, | OF INTEREST TO FA RMKRS | j ~ MM—— | __ TRAP NESTS PROFITABLE Trap-nesting was never more profitable than It Is today. With moderately high feed, costs and low egg prices, It is essential that the cull hens be eliminated and that tire heavier producers be selected for reproduction purposes. It is not necessary to operate trap-nests throughout the year unless we wish to make an official record. For all practical purposes, there are two factors which determine in large measure the production value of a hen. These are the intensity of pro duction and the rhythm or Cycle of production. Intensity might well be described as the number of eggs which a hen lays on continuous days. For instance, some hens will lay two eggs and skip a day, two more eggs and skipp a day. Some hens will lay (five or six eggs and skip a day, and maintain that rhy thm for some time, while the medi ocre hen lays only every other day or three times a week. Obviousy the hen which lays for the longest pe riod without skipping a day is the heaviest producer, not only for a fiven period but in most cases for he entire year. Rhythm or cycle is the persistency with which she re peats her given Intensity, week aft er week. Some hens show a broken rhythm with no pronounced regu larity in production. Trap-nests, if operated for two or three months during the winter and early spring, ■will determine the intensity and rhythm of the individual birds. The operation of trap-nests during the next four or five months will also enable the poultryman to leg-band and weed out those birds which are persistently broody. Intelligent use of trap-nest records by the breeder means a lot in increased efficiency and production. If trap-nests are not already in use they can well be started before tne first of the year and operated through to June. They make possible pedigree hatching and breeding, and to rearing of chicks of known parentage. -- * -- DUCK FOOT CULTIVATOR. An occasional fallow, as one year of fahow followed by two or uiree years of wneat, has been recom menuea by tne agricultural experi ment stations lor many years for Uie western part ol tne nara reel winter wheat region. Tne experi ment stat-ons ana larmefs who nave usea the nietnoa nave found it to De a practical means ol stabilizing tneir wneat production and ol reuucing costs. One of tile cniel factors tnat has prevented a more general adop tion of the method nas been uie tendency of the soil to erode by . Wind or water during the penou "when the land is' not Covered lay a crop. This tendency has been fairly great in the past because disk-type implements have been used to culti vate the fallow'. With the ^introduc tion of the duck-foot-type cultivator into this region the soil may be managed in such a manner as to greatly reduce the tendency to ero sion. The duck-foot cultivator is used to keep the land free of weeds during the summer months. It may be set to cultivate shallow and will form a ridged condition on the sur face of the field and will leave the clods on the surface. Both of these conditions are very desirable, be cause they will aid in checking soil blowing and will permit of more rapid penetration of rainfall into the soil and thus check surface run off. In the preparation of the fal low the land may be disked in the spring as soon as the first growth of weeds appears and should then be plowed or listed during May or the first of June. The cultivation from June until seeding time may then be done to best advantage with tire duck-foot, but on listed land the ridges must first be worked down. DOES THIS HIT YOU? It seems that if the farmer is to continue in business, he will have to adopt modern business methods, says a farmer who is looking for the real light. How many farmers know how much it has cost them to produce whatfrthey have for sale? Not one in a 1,000, and probably not one in 10,000. How long would a manufacturer of shoes or automo biles, or anything else, be able to stay in business if he did not know the exact cost of the article which he offers fi^sale? Then there is the probleniBf the surplus. I be lieve that tne surplus will be re duced as soon as the farmers start accurate cost accounting. If I am selling milk that I know costs me $3 per hundred to make, and getting $1.50 per hundred for it, I will not be anxious to increase my business. One way to control the surplus is to reduce the hours of labor. That is the way that the manufacturers do It. The average dairy farmer works 12 hours a day. Why not go on the popular 8-hours-per-day sched ule of our city cousins, at least un til this surplus disappears? The farmer needs to learn two things: First, an adequate system of cost accounting: second, to play golf. When he learns and does these things he will become a self-sup porting, self-respecting member of society. Until then, he will be the symbol of hard luck, and the chron ic whiner for relief that he is to day. ■---- ■ — SILAGE OR FODDER Silage or fodder—which will it be for wintering beef calves? There’s an answer in the calf wintering ex periment conducted last winter. Seven lots of calves were fed the following rations: Lot 1, shelled corn and slfalfa (both full fed); Lot 2, shelled corn t.3 pounds) and alfalfa (full fed); Lot 3, silage full fed) and alfalfa (3 pounds); Lot 4, silage (full fed) and cottonseed cake (1 pound); Lot 5, ground corn fod der (full fed' and alfalfa (3 pounds); Lot 8, ground corn fodder (lull fed) and cottonseed cake (1 pound); Lot 7, ground corn fodder CUTTING HAY BILLS So far as feeder cattle are con cerned it is possible to cut their hay bill in half by grinding all their hay, if we are to take the word of any number of Western farmers who follow this practice. And this ground hay is fed in mixture with the grain, which amounts to another saving in the form of time and labor. One farmer who reduces the roughage by the feed mill process uses an electrically driven mill. "I mix the ground hay right in with the grain while I grind. ’ he aays, ’ and’ find this plan no extra trouble Besides, mixing the ground hav and grain prevents the alfalfa (full fed). alfalfa (3 pounds), and cottonseed cake (1 poundl). At the end of the 135-day period (November 30 to April 14; the fig ures showed that the feed costs per 100 pounds of gain were consider ably lower in lots 5 and 6 than in any of the other lots—$3.89 and $8 57 respectively in these two lots. In lot 7 the cost was $7.22; in lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 the costs were $8.17. $8 13, $8.16 and $7.33 respectively. Feed cost per head in lots 1 to 7 ran as follows: $23.84, $14.43, $15.*6. $18.44, $11.14, $12 19. $13.76. Lots 5 and 6 had considerable advantage. ■ Estimated profit per head for lots 1 to 7 were as follows: $2.68, $- io, $3.67, $6.47, $5.84. $7.68. $8 02. The margins per hundredweight for tne seven lots, 1 to 7, were: 25 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, 25 cents, 75 cents, 75 cents and $1. It cost per ton to grind the fodder (run through knife and burrs and ground fine enough to crack the kernels) $1.33 per ton with electric motor and $1.34 with tractor. — -♦ ♦- --- FARM INCOME The dollars that come to the farm do not represent the farms entire income. In the attempt to make farming more profitable, as mea sured by bookkeeping, we rather lose sight of remuneration winch be longs to the farm that can not be measured in dollars and cents. It is well enough for the United States Department of Agriculture to study land utilization and the farm prob lem, to advise the production of crops in keeping with market de mands, to urge a certain amount of land be planted to forestry, and the i like, but it should also point out the I compensation that is peculiar to the farm. The farm can never be placed upon the same basis as industry if i the individual farmer is main i tained. Through corporation farm ing this mght be accomplshed, but we find no one who has given se rious thought to farm life who de sires to see the farm industrialized. Every thinking man recognizes that the contributions the farm'makes to the development of men and wom en, the opportunity it gives for do ing things that bring satisfaction, and its independent life are atl com pensating factors. All are in full sympathy with doing everything humanly possible to bring sufficient returns to the farm that there may be enjoyed In the farm home the same luxuries as are provided in the city. The farm, however, is more i than an institution for making I money. It provides for a mode of life which no other industry per ! by handling his soil so that it leaves it richer than he found it, for he is but a custodian of the soil. He gains the deepest kind of satisfaction in | the breeding of his farm animals. He has opportunity to increase their beauty and production and adapta tion to his requirements. The exer cise of our ingenuity, the consumma tion of a job well done, brings tin greatest compensation to individuals , The accumulation of money for money's sake has never brought happiness, but on the contrary much discontent. If a boy can become interested in the breeding of a good herd of dairy cows, his enjoyment is secured for all time for he never . will arrive at the state of perfection or the time when he can not do i more. The rich man who has ac ] cumulated his millions can not have I this enjoyment because there is nothing that he can purchase that brings him enjoyment; nothing that I he can do with his money that will : give him the satisfaction that comes to the man who is developing better live stock, better crops, and more i productive fields. SOW’S NEED liAtKllSti Winter weather—frozen grouno and snow—enforces a restriction of | exercise among swine. It has been demonstrated that the results from I one class of swine may be unsatis factory because of lack of exercise, j We refer to the pregnant sow. This does not mean that she should be chased about daily throughout the winter. It does mean, however, that she should not be kept continuously in a small pen with scarcely enough room in which to turn around. Pregnant sows should not be forced to wade through deep snow, nor to slip and slide around on a glare of i ice, yet they should not be served their meals* in bed like some lazy people are said to do. Reasonable and j regular exercise is best for pregnant sows. It will make their pigs strong i er and better. LESS PROTEIN FOR SIIOATS Late spring or early summer pigs need considerable finishing be fore they will reach desirable mar ket weights. With an eye to economy in making pork it is worth while to suggest here that the pro tein content of the ration may be somewhat reduced during the fin ishing period provided the ration has carried enough of this nutrient up to the beginning of the finishing period. As proof of this we cite the fact that where pigs are carried through from weanlings to market hogs self-fed on a ration of corn and tankage, they will eat consider ably less of the tankage in propor tion to corn during the 150 to 200 pound period than for the same amount of gain previous to that time. -++ USES FOR WAGON HOIST Farm machinery can ae made to return more per dollar expended if it is put to more uses than those intended. For instance, the wagon hoist of a portable elevator can be used to lift the motor out of a car and hold it in a handy position while repairs are being made. Again, the hoist comes in handy in rais ing machinery so that it may be loaded on a truck bed. It can be used in changing wagon boxes for a convenience at butchering times. from blowing about the feedlot and insures that the cattle will get the right proportions, since they cannot pick and choose between hay and grain.” Last winter he fed out 350 head of cattle and used not more than 20 tons of alfalfa. More and more the hay for the cattle is being ground, as any survey of the West will reveal, for in that way it takes less and rations that must in clude hay can be accurately bal anced. -« « LEST YOU FORGET Do not take chances of letting your tractor freeze—if in doubt, drain it. Several dollars and constt erable time may be caved. * Men Vole Her Best In the United States «r> . .. . Jt — — ■-r Miss Jean Jamison has been voted “the most beautiful and the most Intelligent co-ed in the United States’' by men students of StaD ford University. Lila Grey Lhaplin Kidnaped at Stage Door Lita Grey Chaplin (above) and Georges Carpentier, fighter, were kidnaped by four bandits outside a theatre in the Bronx, New York City, taken for a short ride, robbed of $16,000 worth of jewelry and set free. ; Broadway Star Shares In Father’s Estate / ii '~*'i *. Miss Helen Gahagan, young dra matic star, will share in the $1,315,000 estate of her father, Walter Gahagan, head of a con tracting company, who died a few weeks ago. Just a Friend of Accused Banker Mary Curran, "Just a friend” of John Malloy, “playboy” cashier of the Chicago bank where she worked—and where Federal offi cials charge be embezzled. Twister Strikes North Carolina Home -——————^————■ ■■■■'■ 11 ■ i . ..... ■ ■■ ■" ■ I_E■ = This unusual picture of tornado wreckage shows a tree that had Tbecn torn up Ijy the roots and " driven into the side of a house .. ■ . ► at Wise, N. C., when twist® strack, killing six. Ends Her Long Exile [ ' ■ ’* .—