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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1928)
The Silo Takes TJie Element Jr1 THE SILO SAVES THE CROP AND IT SAVES THE SOIL AND IT MAKES SPRING LAST THE WHOLE YEAR SEVENTY-EIGHTH YEAR THE STRlBEiY Si" POISON BAITS Continued experiments on con trol of strawberry weevils has re vealed that a number of borne mixed and at least one commer cial poison are effective in clean ins up a patch whether small or large, pays Don C. Mote, entomolo gist at the Oregon Agricultural College. Strawberry weevil Inves tigations were undertaken as a Purnell project two years ago. Re sults to date are summed up by Professor Mote as follows: Five species of weevils have been found feeding on and de stroying the roots and crown of strawberry plants in Oregon. The life history of these varies some what afed is complicated by the fact that in some districts some adults overwinter and lay eggs very early in the spring. A homemade bade made of 95 pounds apple mixed with 5 pounds powdered calcium arsenate will kill the adults of the root weevils. A commercial baiU " Go-West." is equally effective. The bait is best applied at the rate of a teaspoonful to a table spoonful to a hill directly in the crown of the plant. With some practice a man can apply it as fast as he can walk. With a "bait gun" from three to five acres a day can be covered. A patch can be practically freed of the weevils if application is made at the proper time, which is at blossoming time for those dis tricts where adults overwinter. A second application is made when about 75 per cent of the weevils that issue in the spring have changed to the adult stage. The blossom time application is un necessary in districts where adults do not overwinter. More information is needed con cerning usage of bait during the life of the strawberry patch, but results indicate need for at least one application in the second sea son. For subsequent years infor mation is still lacking! Bran baits, using sugar or a good grade of molasses, compare favorably with apple baits, as also do pear and prune baits. When horses are troubled with heaves it usually is because of di gestive troubles due to wrong or careless feeding. The disease is incurable because it leads to the rupture of small air sacs in the longs. It usually is caused by feeding damaged hay or straw, roughages that are too bulky and lacking in nutritive value, Jand keeping the horse in a dusty at mosphere or a badly ventilated stable. mm WEEVIL CONQU ( If bnttonholes are made with '4 ott mercemed cotton tney win oe I j mure durable and will be easier to I make. THE SILO 10 SrJ o sinnnims - annua M agazke WAY THE CREATOR OF IMPOSING WEALTH. THE COLORADO RIVER BECOMES A MENACE TO THE FARMING PEOPLE The Lands of the Imperial Valley Are Rendered of Little Value for Some Crops. Excepting Through the Expensive Control of the Silt Deposits That Are Brought Down in the Irri gation Water from the Canyons and the Plains 1 By FRANK I. WEM.EIl (Associated Press Farm Editor') WASHINGTON. April 7 (AP) Roaring down the steep bed of the mighty chasm its current has chis eled during centuries, the Colo rado river has become a menace to the agricultural wealth it created. In a report on silt in the Colo rado and its relation to irrigation Samuel Fortier and Harry F. Bla ney, federal engineers, declare the situation to be a serious question among farmers of the Imperial valley. Rock and sand, collected by soil erosion at its headquarters, sweeps through nature's titanic "grind ing machine" and by the time it reaches the lower levels has been pulverized to the fineness of powder. It is silt. In the irrigated districts silt settles in the canals or is spread over the fields. Where the land is sandy the first application of IV i ' J fit ? "4 i i i ' ti &tffi2iffr4t,jj'r iwjk. , mm w mimii Tr' i ; .; i iiiMMniintra iw-. "' nj imnn - z;r"m-" -'. 1 iliaaau-uu, V..ii.u. :z7;,-r; :.. h? 4vt?X Rarimr tUroutrh the narrow srorsres of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado rirpp rnnn if mnnnrn tur- tons of silt which menaces irrigation in tne imperial valley. Noil erosion like that at the upper right supplies sand and rock swept into the chasm by tributary waters.' The alfalfa field below, in the Colorado biii. Is scalded by water that-hard sheets of silt will not let penetrate into ilie land' A VERITABLE WATCH TOWER OF PROSPERITY of Luck Out of Dairying and Lice Stock Breeding VI mm BETTER THAN LAST YEAR SALEM, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 8. 1928 1 ' silt improves the soil, but further applications make it hard and dif ficult to cultivate. Tests at Yuma have shown the silt content of the Colorado to run as high as 3.75 per cent. Used for irrigation, the water leaves a layer of silt as much as a quarter of an inch thick in some places. When damp, silt has the consistency of soil. Drying, it cracks and rolls, and frequently has to be removed. Silt damage is particularly no ticeable in the uncultivated fields. Acres of alfalfa have been ruined because of an impervious crust that kept the water standing in the field, to heat in the summer sun and scald the gTowitfg plants. Delta or silt bars that form at the opening of irrigation ditches offer one of the most serious prob- J lems. Sometimes they so inter fere with Irrigation that the deltas must be removed, a process which is estimated to average an annual cost of $2 an acre. Industrial Section Under normal conditions the Colorado carries two per cent of its weight in rock and sand. Dur ing a flood the load is sometimes nine per cent. In a year's time, engineers say, enough silt is crea ted and washed to the mouth of the Grand Canyon to cover a tract of 137,000 acres to a depth of one foot. In snch manner was the Colorado basin built in the years before history, an era that in its varied physical features is nearly as large as all of Texas. Careful measurements reveal Jhat an acre-foot of irrigation wa ter in the Imperial valley carries an average of about 3.4 tons of dry silt, adding approximately' 10 tons a year to each acre. With 8 5 per cent of the silt that enters the canals finally depositing itself on irrigated fields, the cost of dis posal and control in its various forms is estimated at about 000,000 a year. 5.. j -. -9 THROUGH FOR THE AND TT k ORE FN PASTURE :oTKR PATS roK 'TAFXP TEAK PRICE FIVE CENTS E ABERDEEN. S. D., April 7 (AP Planned as the first large scale attempt to fight wheat rust with airplanes, a heavy, sulphur ous barrage will be laid down 'on an experimental tract in Brown county about July 1. Arrangements were completed at a conference here between Dr. C. Ii. Ball, senior agronomist of the federal bureau of plant in- ' dustry; farm leaders and repre sentatives from the chamber of commerce. While the mixture to be used has revealed a marked proclivity for checking the growth of both red and black stem rust, nemesis of grain growers m the northwest, the impending application is con sidered purely experimental. It is planned to use abont 20 pounds to the acre over an area four miles long and half a mile wide. A similar experiment in Canada, in whieh the dnst was sprayed over a 40-aere tract, has been de clared a success, although eradi cation of barberry, host plant of rust spores, heretofore has been considered the only effective mea sure of control. CHEAP LANDS IN MEXICO ATTRACT DEL RIO, Tex.. Apr. 7. -(ATM More'cattle, sheep and goats from Texas ranches are crossing th Rio Grande, to augment the live stock industry in Mexico. Two reasons are given for the movement of. the animals, which ride ferris,' walk over bridges or swim the river into the I A tin re public. The first is th trend la Mexico to restock ranches with purebred or high grade herds and fjocks. The other reason Is tha cheapness of land attracting Am erican ranchmen. Despite strict Mexican laws Tltn iting ' the exportation of heifers and ewe Iambs. Americans are en tering the livestock business la the country because cheap land makes low production costs pos sible. They lease grazing lan4 there' for 10 cents an acre, whfl in Texas they must pay 65 cents, or more. Taxes on livestock als are lower than- in the United States. Pigs should 1 not be weaned be fore they are ten weeks old un less there Is some urgent reasoa for earlier weaning. Some breed ers wean at an earlier age to get two litters a year. Ordinarily a better practice is to raise thre litters In two years. A ptg that is stunted from early weaning will never make as profitable a hog a it would if such a setback had" not occurred. SOUTH DAKOTA TO 1 AN nlRPLANE WAR ON TH RUST