Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 116, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1920 — JASPER COUNTY AGRICULTURE NEWS [ARTICLE]

JASPER COUNTY AGRICULTURE NEWS

Community Club Meeting. The community club meeting and banquet held in Tefft last Friday evening was a decided success. Mr. Martin Hohner was re-elected chairman. The county agent attended the commencement exercises at De Motte that evening and was not able to be with them as was desired. Mr. Hohner reports that they had an excellent time and the crowd was the largest that they ever had. They will hold one or two special meetings this sunftner. The programs for these meetings will be made out later on. Alfalfa Stands. The alfalfa that was sown this spring with oats is growing nicely. County Agent Mawhorter has visited several young alfalfa fields over the county and find that the stands are good. In all cases the ground was well prepared and limed. With a good season there is no reason why the alfalfa will not mature into a large crop. Alfalfa is rather a new crop here in Jasper county and it will take time and experience to learn how to grow it successfully. The main drawback here is that it is easily smothered out and when once that is overcome Alfalfa will have a permanent place in agriculture in Jasper county. Poultry Association Mooting. The poultry association will hold a meeting in the county agent’s office Thursday evening. They are a wide awake association and are going to back up the poultry club this year in the effort of making it excel last year’s club. Many of the members are poultry specialists and fanciers and are making good. Their flocks are well bred up and show that there has been a great deal of care and attention taken with them. Roaring Chickens With Hens. Sitting hens should be confined to slightly darkened nests at hatching time and not disturbed unless they step on or pick -their chickens when hatching, in which case the chickens should be removed as soon as dry, in a basket lined with flannel or some other warm material, and kept near a fire until all the eggs are hatched; or the eggs may be removed and placed under a quieter hen whose eggs are hatching at the same time. Feeding Young Chickens. Young chickens Should be fed from three to five times daily, deJ tending upon one’s experience in eeding, says the United States Department of Agriculture. Undoubtedly chickens can be grown faster by feeding five times daily than by feeding three times daily, but it should be borne in mind that more harm can be done to the young chickens by overfeeding than by underfeeding, and at no time should they be fed more than barely to satisfy their appetites and to keep them exercising, except at the evening meal, when they should be given all they will eat. Great care must be exercised not to overfeed young chicks that are confined, as leg weakness is apt to result. Clean Up Stable Fly. Have you ever tried to sleep on a hot summer night when just one mosquito had crept through the window screen? Imagine your state of mind if that single mosquito were multiplied by 100 and you had your hands tied! That sensation, according to the Bureau of Entomology, United State Department of Agriculture, is something comparable with what a horse, mule, or cow endures when the stable fly is present in great numbers. The stable fly greatly resembles the ordinary house fly but for the lance with which he is armed. It is known that he carries disease from infected animals to healthy ones, and there is some ground for belief that the insect aids the spread of spinal meningitis among human beings. _ , .. . The eggs of the fly are laid in loose, warm straw heaps and piles of stable refuse. A plague of flies always starts from these sources, and the control of the pest is best managed by scattering the straw early in the spring before the beginning of warm weather and plowing it under, or by burning it when the former method can not be applied. , • Stable refuse should be scattered at regular intervals of one week ot’less throughout the season, starting with early spring. In this way the first generation of the pest is desroyed and a plague averted. A recent publication of the department, Farmer’s Bulletin 1097, gives in detail the life history of the stable fly, methods for its control, and some facts concerning the amount of damage done by the insect. Sin* It (Tune of “Old Black Joe.”) * Gone are the days when my farm returned no pay, Gone are the folks that used to call me Jay; , . Gone are my debts for the better crops to grow, . I hear my neighbors’ voices calling, “Farm Bureau.” . I’m coming, I’m coming, for my bank is full of dough. . I hear my Neighbors telephoning, “Farm Bureau.” -----

Why do I reap where once no grain would grow? Why do I ride where once no foot did go? . Tooting my horn with pleasure here below, .... ... I hear my neighbors voices calhng, "Form Bureau.”