Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1920 — Count Agricultural News [ARTICLE]

Count Agricultural News

Department of Farm Welfare Conducted by County A tent

Purchase Christmas Seals * At this time of the year the citizens of Jasper county cannot carry out any greater mission than that of buying the Christmas seals. Don’t let the season pass without having your share of seals. The proceeds go for a great cause and we should help and do everything we can to prevent and eliminate this most dreaded disease, the white plague. Please give this your most careful consideration. * Farmers’ Federation Meetings. The townships that are holding evening meetings this week are as

follows: Milroy on Tuesday, Glllam on Wednesday, Wheatfleld on Thursday, Union on Friday, and Carpenter on Saturday. The townships which will hold evening meetings next week are: Newton on December 14, Walker on December 16, Kankakee on December 17, and Barkley on December 14. Corn Worth More 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 $0,56 per bushel, silage is worth $7.12 per ton. If corn sells for $0.90 per bushel, silage is worth $8.64 per ton. If corn sells for SI.OO per bushel, silage is worth $9.22 per ton. If corn sells for $1.26 per bushel, silage is worths 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 eight-year average determined by the Indiana experiment station, baaed on the value of allage used as a substitue for grain in feeding steers. 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 having a social meeting some time In January which will be held at the Center school house. Their next business meeting night will be on February 1, and the meeting will be held at the same school house. Barium Poisonous to Rats Makes Satisfactory Balt. A study of barium carbonate as a rat poison, made by the United States department of agriculture, Indicates that a 20 per cent mixture with food makes a very satisfactory bait. With this percentage a rat ordinarily needs to eat only one-third or threefourths of a meal of average size to ges a fatal dose. It was found that with this dose many of the rata 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 experiments conducted by various persons with a view to determining the deadllness 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 the presence of mites on the fowls, and particularly in the poultry house. These Insect pests not only lower the vitality of the birds, and thus renders them liable to disease, but their presence has a decidedly bad effect on egg production. Frequent spraying of all cracks and crevices of the house and the undersides of the roosts with kerosene or 6 per cent carbolic acid will greatly help to eradicate mites, and thus add to the comfort and general health of the birds, r