Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1894 — FARMS AND FARMERS. [ARTICLE]

FARMS AND FARMERS.

How ,to Provent the Formation of Potato Scab, Chicago Inter Ocean. The Michigan Agricultural College Experiment Station now issues poster bulletins, which are printed on cardboard and arranged to bang on the wall. They give information on subjects of practical interest to farmers. The first bulletin gives directions how to prevent potato scab, as follows: “The fact that the scab or roughness on potatoes can be prevented has been demonstrated by actual field trials. It is known that while these

spots may sometimes be caused by insects, they are generally of a fungus nature, and although the season, soil or variety has much to do with the amount ofinjury.cropsare seldom grown that are entirely free from injury. In some cases the effect is so serious that the market value is reduced one-half.— “Not only is an increase in the total yield secured by this treatment but reports have been received of gains of 100 bushels of marketable potatoes per acre. The expense should not exceed ten cents per acre, and in seasons when the disease is troublesome the volume -of the crop can often be doubled, as, with proper precautions, even when scabby seed is used, potatoes will be free from scab if the directions for treatment are followed.” The directions on the back of the card are as follows: “.Dissolve corrosive sublimate (bichloride of mercury) in water, at the rate of one ounce to eight gallons of water (1 to 1,000), and soak the seed potatoes from sixtv to ninety minutes. ‘ ‘One-half the above strength would answer did it not grow weaker with repeated use; if much stronger the sprouting would be delayed'and the yield decreased. A shorter period of immersion will be less effectual, while soaking longer will injure their vitality and decrease the yield. To prepare the solution, first moisten the corrosive sublimate and then dissolve it in two quarts of boiling water, after which it should be di-luted-as above. ‘ ~—-

“For soaking the seed a tub or half barrel could be used, which would allow the tubers in a basket or burlap sack to be readily immersed. While the treatment can be given after the seed is cut, it is better to soak the whole tubers. If treated much previous to the time of planting the tubers should be dried and stored where they will not be infected by the germs of the disease. “If placed in sacks or crates that have been treated with the corrosive sublimate there will be no danger. If a solution of two ounces in sixteen gallons of water is prepared it will suffice sot - the soaking of fifteen bushels of potatoes, and if more are to be used one-half ounce of corrosive should be added and the loss of water made good. This should be repeated for each fifteen bushels treated.

Wheat Crop of 181)3. Chicago Inter Ocean. The January report of the Department of Agriculture estimated the wheat crop of 1893 at 396,000,000 bushels. The Cincinnati Price Current, one of the most reliable trade journals published, regards 450,000,000 bushels as a moderate estimate of the crop; this is 54,000,000 bushels above the Government report. It characterizes the Government report as the most faulty one ever offered from the Government Bureau. The The question whether the department has underestimated the crop of 1893, as it did in 1891 and 1892, is to bo investigated. The Senate has adopted the following resolution: Whereas, A number of leading commercial newspapers, like Bradstreet’s Weekly, the Cincinnati Price Current, and many others, persistently dispute the reports of the Agricultural Department relative to the yearly wheat crops of this country and its estimates of the amount of wheat in this country at different periods, usually largely increasing the'' quantities beyond those published in the reports and estimates of said department; and Whereas, Such printed statements from unauthorized sources largely control the market of wheat, and thereby reduce its price to American wheat producers, to their great injury, if the reports and estimates of the Agricultural Department are correct; therefore, Resolved, That the Secretary of Agriculture be and is hereby directed to send to the Senate at earliest convenience:

1. A statement of all the wheat, Including the visible and the invisible, there was in this country March 1, 1893, together with the entire wheat crop harvested in this country during that year. 2. The amount of wheat that has been used for food and seed purposes between March 1, 1893, and Feb. 1, 1894; the amount of wheat that will be required for like purposes in this country between Feb. 1 and July 1, 1894, together with the amount of wheat and flour as wheat that has been exported out of this country since March 1, 1893, with the surplus available for export between Feb. 1 and July 1, 1894, after deducting the above from the estimated surplus March 1, 1893, and the entire wheat crop of that year, according to the latest information and most reliable experience found In his department. The resolution courteously assumes that the Department's figures

are correct, but it will lead to a searching investigation of its methods of crop reporting. If the department’s estimates are correct, the price of wheat has been depressed by the statements in the trade journals, greatly to the injury of the producers. If the journals are right, the department is responsible for the disappointment in prices which theproducers have suffered. The forthcoming report will be read with interest. Lark* Hop Crops. At a farmers’ meeting at Cobleskill, N. Y., Mr. James F. Clark, a successful hop grower, read a paper crops, from which we take the following suggestions: In starting hop yards, the speaker

recommended the setting out ol roots early in the spring, so that they would get a good start before the hot and dry weather comes on. The ground should be thoroughly cultivated and marked in squares ol six and a half or seven feet. The roots (from three to five in number] should be set in holes that are drilled at the intersection of the marks, deep enough and rimmed out so as to admit roots without crowding each other. The roots should be slightly covered, as they will rap idly sprout and come out of the ground. Each setting should be marked by a stick set on the north side, so that the line of settings may be readily seen and so that the roots may not be disturbed in cultivating, Mr. Clark urged that the soil be kept mellow and free from weeds by the free use of the cultivator, which should be run three times through each row once a week. Mr. Clark recommended the use ol rotted manure upon the hills in the fall, protecting the roots from the cold better than coarse manure. A shovelful for each hill is sufficient: too much manure was injurious tc the plant. He preferred one pole (22 to 32 feet) for each hill, with the free use of twine for tying, training and supporting the vines and arms] and that the, proper use of twine required object lessons and experience. He favored high hilling after cultivating and grubbing, as it gave greater nourishment and moisture to the plants. The yard should be hilled twice each season, first in June and second in July, and completed by August 1. He recommended the use of bone dust and potash mixture in the hills.

Mr. Clark said that unless his yards average 1,600 pounds to the acre he thought the yield was poor. Some of his yards averaged from 2,200 to 2,400 pounds to the acre, and he had produced 2,500 pounds per acre. Hie urged the importance of clean bops, and said he had nc doubt the bad picking this year had been a loss to the State of five cents per pound of hops grown, or $1,000,000.

Mr. Clark’s system of storing, mixing, and baling was new and important, as it insures a uniform quality to the whole crop. Instead ol placing each kiln as it comes along upon the pile, until the storehouse is full, as is usually done, and thee commencing to bale at the end of the pile, he spreads the first kiln ovei the whole surface of the floor of the storeroom, and spreads each successive kiln over the whole surface, placing the si cc issive kilns udoe each other like ihi leaves of a book. When he begins to bale, he removes the supports from one of the layers, and rakes down the ends of the layers or leaves, and by these means thesuccessive layers commingle and become a homogeneous mass, and each bale become almost absolutely the same in quality.

Fattening Lambs. The Michigan Experimental Station reports some very interesting experiments in fattening lambs. The animals used in the experiment were sired by a Shropshire ram on common grade Merino -ewes. Such lambs are excellent feeders, and they wen further prepared for feeding by be ing turned Sept. 25 on a fifteen-acre field of rape, where they remained thirty-five days and gained fifteen pounds each, and were thus in excellent condition when put up Nov. 30. The feed continued 119 days. In this time ten lots of lambs, mostly in lots of ten, made an average gain of a trifle more than two and a hall pounds per head per week. The largest gains were made by lambs having a ration of whole corn, one and one-half pounds with one pound of rutabagas, and what clover hay they would eat. The next larg. est and most profitable gain was made from a ration of four-fifths of ? pound of oats, with seven-tenths ol a pound of rutabagas and what clov er hay they would eat. As the fattening progressed more grain was eaten and less hay. One lot was f iven no grain ration except bran, ts grain was less and the profit on feeding was only 21 cents per lamb, while on the corn and clover ration it was 73 cents, and with corn and oats it was 51 cents per head. One lot of five lambs was allowed to feed itself with grain and hay. This “seif feed,’’ as it is called, gave a profit of only 6 cents per lamb, and if the lambs had not been in extra good condition from their feeding on rape the result would have been a loss, and probably the death of some of the iambs. For over sixty years the Rev. Wm. Mays, of Perryville, Ky., ha? been preaching the gospel and ha? never accepted a dollar for hip services. ' I -