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About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1904)
- . ! - ( . . " ' , , , . , } . t . . . . Adapting Corn Varieties. . \Ve arc always learning something ' . : ' . . , now about the corn plant. One thing , ' . ; . . ' ; . : new at least to a good many students . of the corn plant , Is that corn varieties . - tics differ so greatly In their characteristics . terlstlcs that , success or failure with corn depends on the selection of the right varieties for certain fields. It Is not unusual to hear of a man de- J daring that the variety of com he grows Is one of the most profitable In the world and will give most aston- ishing yields. The fact Is that he Is growing It on a location that Is admirably - ably suited to It. Wo arc now coming to have varieties of corn adapted to uplands and to lowlands. The lowland variety may do very well on the up- land In a wet year , but In a dry year . , proves almost a failure , while the var- : " 1 . " , . let , . adapted to the upland yields well even In bad seasons. At the present ' " time this differentiation Is only : beginning - ginning to be made. During this sum- 1 . mer corn growers would do well to I . . watch the behavior of corn on lowlAnds . ; - , . " lands and uplands. At the present ' \ . . - . time we have only very meager data "f" by which to figure out what kind 8l corn a man should select for the bot- tom lands and what kind for the up- lands. Some of our experimenters lire only now just beginning to studY the corn plant from this standpoint. We have however , much to hope for tram our agricultural colleges In this matter. The students are taking great Interest In such matters and are _ n. . - Ing up every phase of corn growing. . This ' study of varieties Is one that , \ may well engross the attention of . : some of the brightest minds. . . . " ' . ' . . Green Manure. Green manure Is the name applied to a crop that Is grown for the purpose - . . . pose of being turned undor. Some of . . the lands that are exhausted to such , . an extent that they will not bear good ' 1 < > " crops of grain yet will be found grow- Ing up to some kind of weeds. Sometimes . times this weed crop Is the best thing that can be grown on the land , If the farmer Is smart enough to turn It under. It adds humus to the soil. Wo have heard of fields that were prac- Ucal1y good for J wining , yet were reclaimed - claimed by having he weeds plowed under for three or more years. The , . ' . . . . . ' . - : tact was that the fields were deficient in humus and nitrogen and needed an application of both of these , which they got in the green manures given I In the form of the turned under weeds. ' ' \ . f The best green manure In most , pauti 'of the North Is the clover plant. But cow peas and soy beans are excellent - . . cellent where they can be grown. All " , , " j kinds of legumes are very good for - . , .i : turning under , as they always add nitrogen - trogen to the soli. Rye and such things are sometimes used , but they I . odd little or nothing to the soil ex- : cept fiber , which is not taken up by the roots of the growing plants. It ) may , however , do some good to the soil mechanlcal1y. Question of Speed. The general farmer has little or no Interest In the trotting horse except In so tar as he may be used to cross on slower horses to give their prog- eny enough speed to make them useful . - . tul as carriage horses. The farmer ' -Cannot afford to waste his time trying to develop trotters. The trotting horse Is not n farm horse , as his great speed can be of no use except as a means of gambling. Who wants to drive a carriage horse at the rate of a mile in two minutes ? What we do want in horses for the farm Is the . J. . . . speed that appears In the walking " " . . " . . . . 'f- ; gait. If our fair managers wanted ' . \ . to really Improve the speed of farm " , . ' horses they could establish contests " " In walking. , See that the waste : land LE cleared . ' 'i. up and put ; nto service. , .1 j. . ( . r Seeds of Forest Trees. It Is probably always best to purchase - chase forest trees from nursery men that make a business of producing them from seed. But sometimes this Is not convenient or advisable , both by reason of the number required and of the distance of the nursery tram which the same might be obtalnnble. For Instance there are Borne farmers that have bare hill tops that they wish to cover with trees for the protection of the land. They know that the tree that Is to be good for lumber must be without one that grows largely branches and that therefore a large number or trees must be started per acre , most of which will be killed art by the shade of their nehhbors. No man likes to pay for trees and go to the work of planting them and then have most of them die natural deaths. Ro the only way when a large plantation ' tion Is to be put In 18 to buy the seeds by the pound if they can bo obtained - tained or gather the seeds from ob-1 woods. In thousands of instances the latter will be the plan that will ap peal most to the farmer. Such seeds should be gathered as soon 'as ripe. If they are left till they fall to the ground it will be difficult to get the desired quantities , and often , too , the over-ripo seeds will not grow at al1. The seeds that fall are also eaten to a great extent by various small animals . mals , such as mice and squirrels. The seeds are also moro easily gathered from the trees than from the ground , IC they are left on the latter place 10r some weeks , and the difficulty of piclc . ing ! them up as soon at' ' ! they fall nat- t.urally Is that they do not fall at one time , hut frequently take a period at weeks to mature fully enough to de- tach themselves from the woody atems. The seeds that mature In the early part of the Bummer should be sown as soon as gathered , as that is the way that nature does it. If such seeds are left till the next spring they will not grow at all. The keeping of such seeds is one of the mistakes frequently . quently made by amateurs. For the late-maturing seeds the keeping till spring before planting la the natural and proper thing to do. Seeds with soft shells should he carefully stored , but those with hard shells may be planted at once or put In a box burled In the ground , so they may be affected - fected by the frosts of winter , which are necessary to break the shel1s. When seeds are planted they should be covered with at least three Inches of soil , especially If they are planted In the fall. - Horticulture In New Brunswick The New Brunswick government Is encouraging the fruit industry of that country in a very practical way. It has undertaken to furnish the trees I for the planting of four or five model orchards , mostly winter apples , and a man will be sent to direct the plant- Ing and laying out of the orchard. After the trees are Bet the owner Is required to sign an agreement to care for the orchard for ten years In accordance - cordance with the instructions of the Departmeat of Agriculture , he to have the product of same. These model orchards will not exceed two acres and it is planned to eventually have one In every county. Japanese Plums. According to a report at the On- tario station the Japanese plums are proving successful as far north as Georgian bay. Experts declare that the northern line of the successful growing of Japanese plums runs from northeast to southwest. West of Lake Michigan It begins at about the vicin Ity of Chicago , slanting In the direction . tion named. This will show why Japanese plums have been so seldom profitable in Northern Illinois. _ . .9. " . " . . . . . . . , . . _ " ' - < . . . . - " , . . . . , . - . , . . . . " . . . , . . . . . _ . . _ _ . LIVE STOCK Fattening Cattle In the South. Any man that travels through the South , especially If hQ Is acquainted with the great stock raising lIstrlcts of the West and Northwest , will bo struck by the fewness of the beef cattle he seeR on southern meadows. Hero and there a family cow Is to be Been , but , for the most part , the beer animal Is wanting. Yet the South needs live stock , and , on account of the mildness of the climate , live stock should be easily and cheaply raised. This Is the view taken of the matter by soma of the lending agriculturists of the South. As a demonstration of the ability of the southern states to fatten and market cattle of high quality - Ity the I.ouistana station undertook the growing of 16 Angus calves which they purchased In November , 1901 , in Illinois and Immunized against the Texas fever. The calves wore thet' taken to Louisiana and Cell largely on byproducts from the three great staples . pIes of that state , cotton seen oil , rice bran and molasses. This last winter the H steers were sold 'In the Chicago . cage market at the top price for the wcelt. The journey to Chicago 1'C' qulred six days from Baton Rouge , and some severe weather was encoun' tcred during the trip. An the animnlo took the highest price for the week , the natural inference Is that an good beeves can be made on the by-prod. nets of Louisiana crops as on the corn of the corn belt ; and the byproducts - products of Louisiana are cheap In price , and lnbcr is I also cheap there. - . - At Baton Rouge the beeves were grazed on the pastures during the spring and fall , but received all the time an extra feed of the materials wo have mentioned. This test was of calves born above the quarantine Une. The station Is now about to enter on another test of feeding calves born below the quarantine line , to demonstrate that It pays to raise beeves In Louisiana as well as to feed them there. A few ' tests of this kind will doubtless . loss start the southern farmers to the growing and feeding of cattle. The great bugbear has been Texas fever , and it was supposed that no live stock Industry' could thrive below a certain badly defined Une. If the South goes ! Into stock raising , a new day will have dawned there , and agrlculturo In the South will receive a new 1m. petus. There are northern stockmen who have been for ten years predicting - Ins that the farms of the Gulf States would yet carry great herds of well. bred cattle. Wheat and Corn. The wheat and corn crops of the United States for the past 25 years have been us tallows. YearWheat. . Corn. 1878. . . . . . . . 420,122,000 1,388,219,000 879. ] . . . . . . . 448 , 757,000 1,547,902,000 1880. . . . . . . . 498,550,000 1,71 7,435,000 1881. . . . . . . . :83,280OOO : 1,194,916,000 1882. . . . . . . . 504,185,000 1 ; 617,025,000 1883. . . . . . . . 421,186,000 1.51,067,000 : 1884. . . . . . . . 512,765,000 1.795,528OO 1885. . . . . . . . 357,112,000 1,936,176,000 1886. . . . . . . . 457,218,000 1.665,441,000 1887. . . . . . . . 456,329,000 1,456,161,000 1888. . . . . . . . 415,868,000 1.987,790,000 1889. . . . . . . . 490,510,000 2,112,892,000 1890. . . . . . . . 399,262,000 1.489,970,000 1891. . . . . . . . 611,780,000 2,060,154(100 1892. . . . . . . . 516,949,000 1,628,464,000 1893. . . . . . . . 396,131,000 1,619,496,000 1894. . . . . . . . 460,267,000 l,212 , 7 70OOO 1895. . . . . . . . 467,103,000 2,151,139,000 1896..427,684,000 2,283,875.000 1897 . . . . . . . 530,14 9,000 1,902,968,000 1898. . . . . . . . 675,149,000 1,924,185,000 1899. . . . . . . . 47',304OOO 2,078,144,000 1900. . . . . . . . 522,230,000 2,105,102,000 1901. . . . . . . . 748,460,000 22,520.000 1902. . . . . . . . 670,063,000 2,523,648,000 1903. . . . . . . . 637,822.000 2,244I77OO In land plants the branches of the roots depends very much upon the amount of free oxygen and available plant food the soil contains. . . ' xna , _ - _ . . , .M."f'.C" " . . , ' ' ' ' , ' ' ' ' ' ' : : , : ; -'l''t'U' ( = , , , - , - Don't Forget the GrIt. . It would scorn unnecessary to remind - mind poultry raisers of this very . essential element in the feeding 01 poultry , yet a very large number of people nnnually forget , and their fowls surfer in consequence. This IA more usually the case on the farm than In the poultry ] estubllshment of the poultry . try fancier. The reason for this Is plain. The poultry fancier has to keep this factor In mind the year round. Ills fowls are kept shut up nIl the time and have to be supplied with grit to make ready digestion of the food possible. But the fowls of the farmer run out during a considerable part of the year , especially In the fall , when the garden has passed Its bloom , the fruit Is ripe , and the grain Is har- vested. During this time at least the birds pick up all the grit they cnn use. When the snow comes the grit Is hur. led out of sight and Is frozen hard to the soil when It In not fiO coverCll. The farmer- seldom thinks of this matter. It would not he hard for some of our farmers to collect the proper Bub. stance from pits of cOllre : : ; gravel , hut most of them have no nearby supply of such material. Doubtless the reall. leEt way out of the difficulty Is the Il\1l'cllnso of Tome of the commcrdnl gl'lls. In any case \ grits must 1le'so' . . cured or the food : used hy the poultry will ho poorly ground or not ground at all , and before spring the digestions of the birds will he seriously Impaired. We believe the lack of Is of 1 I 'yo _ ! "e ! . ? grit .Is one ? the cillor causes or tile 'Inter Indls position ' : of our ro\\'ll1. Also in the summer time , lay In a store of grit for winter , If It Is obtainable from natural sOllrcos. - - - - Good Breeding Stocl Very few men can make money out of hogs If they have poor breeding Rtcl. It. many ho that hero IInd there a man can raise scrubs and make money out of them hut It has to he under conditions ( where the feed costs prdctically nothing. That 11'1 ' not the circumRtmce81IlIIer which mont of our renders : are raising swine. With thorn the competition with other breeders Is strong , and feed has to ho purchased often at a very llgh prtce ) . This high.priccd feed must hI put into an animal that can make the most possible out at It lu 1\ short time and this Is the Irelon : : : why good breeding stock only IJ ! safe : for the farmer on hlgh.prlcod Innd. Then the farmer must have good breeding swine because . cause he wants animals that will give him numerous pregeur. It Is safe to buy sows from men that make a business , ness of breeding and who consequent- Iy feed their animals In a way to give them both strong bone and muscie. Such animals have vitality and tend to produce a large number of pigs rather than the small litters that some are In the habit of bringing forth every year. It Is no easy mat- ter to secure the kind ot stock a man needs. A good many herds will need to be looked over before the purchas es are made. The good animals will cost considerably more than the poor ones , hilt , for the foundation of a herd , the expensive ones are likely to prove the cheapest In the long rUIl. , - - Whitewash for T..rees. In the New England states white- wash Is frequently applied to fruit trees , especially apple trees , and seems to have the effect at keeping oft fungus and fnsect pests. The whitewash as used there Is generally made by simply slaking the lime with cold water. But it would be better . to slake the lime with hot water. It may he made to stick better by adding some skimmed milk. Some even heat Rome slue and when It has become a thin liquid dilute It with hot water and add it to the wash. This still further . helps the sticking quality .