Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 295, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1920 — AGRICULTURAL NEWS. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

Purchase' Christmas Seels. At this time of the year the citizens of Jasper county cannot carry out any greater tniasion than that of buying the Christmas seals. Don’t let the season pass by without having your chare of seals. The proceeds go for a great cause and we J.ould help and do everything we can to prevent and eliminate this most dreaded disease, the White Plague. Please give this your mosj careful consideration. Farmers’ Federation Meetings. The townships that are holding evening meetings this week are as follows: Milroy on Tuesday, Gillam on Wednesday, Wheatfield on Thursday, Union on Friday, and Carpenter on Saturday. The townships which will hold evening meeting next week are: Newton on Dec. 14, Walker on Dec. 16, Kankakee on Dec. 17 and Barkley on Dec. 14. Corn Worth Mora in Silo Than In the Crib. Aside from the fact that thousands of farmers have been able, through the silo, to convert soft, immature corn into valuable feed, the following figures illustrate why corn in the silo is worth more than in the crib: If corn sells for 56c per bushel, silage is worth 37.12 per ton. If corn sells for 90c per bushel, silage is worth $8.64 per ton. If com sells for SI.OO per bushel, srlage is worth $9.22 per ton. If corn sells for $125 per bushel, silage is worth $10.21 per ton. If corn sells for $1.50 per bushel, silage is worth $11.30 per ton. The above figures are taken from an 8-year average determined by the ‘lndiana Experiment Station, based on the value of silage used as a substitute for grain in feeding Milroy Federation Meeting. The Milroy farmers’ meeting Tuesday evening was well attended. Their regular form of business was carried out very well. The program committee is planning on haying a social meeting some time in January which will be held at Center school house. Their next business meeting night will be on February 1, at the same school house. Barium Poisonous To Rats_Makos Satisfactory Bait. A study of barium carbonate as a rat poison t made by the United States Department of Agriculture, indicates that a 20 per cent mixture with food makes a satisfactory bait. With this percentage a rat ordinarily needs to eat only one-third or three-eighths of a meal of average size to get a fatal dose. It was found that with this, dose many of the rats poisoned died within 24 hours, though an occasional rat was found which survived an even larger amount, thus indicating that 100 per cent mortality is not to be expected in any case. A summary of results of expertments conducted by various persons with a view to determining the deadliness “of barium to different animals shows the fallacy of the assumption that barium is poisonous only to rats. It is pointed out that the" fatal dose of barium per pound tends to decrease relatively as the size of the animal increases, and that a bait calculated to-be fatal to rats may be assumed to be more or less dangerous to small domestic animals also. Time To Look For Mites. This is the time of the year to be on the constant lookout for thepresence of mites on the fowls, and particularly in the poultry house. These insect pests not only the vitality of the birds, and thus render them liable to disease, but their presence has a decidedly bad effect on egg production. spraying of all cracks and crevices of the house and the undersides of the roosts with kerosene or 5 per cent carbolic acid will greatly help to eradicate mites, and thus add to the comfort and general health ol the birds. ,