SUPPLEMENT TO
ESTACADA
PROGRESS
THURSDAY, JUINE 3, 1915
Published weekly by the extension
division of the Oregon Agricultural
College. R. D. Hetzel, director.
Exchange copies arid communica
tions should be addressed to Editor of
Press Bulletins, 116 Agricultural Hall,
O. A. C.. Corvallis. Ore.
The Press Bulletin aims to keep
the state press informed in all mat
ters o f interest and value related
to the work of the Oregon Agricul
tural College. Editors are respect
fully requested to publish for the
benefit of their readers such items as
they think seasonable and suited to
local use.
E X T E N SIO N
OREGON R O A l) O FFICERS
M A Y G ET H E L P OF E X PE R T
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, .May 31.— Road supervisors and
other officers interested in building
and maintaining public highways of
Oregon may now secure the services
o f a specialist in road construction
and maintenance in solving their pro
blems o f best types o f roads for their
district and the best methods of con
struction. The Agricultural College
Extension department has arranged
to have Professor G. V. Skelton, high
way engineer, consult with those who
wish to secure advice and assistance
in solving their problems in the best
interests o f their constituency.
Professor Skelton’s work is strictly
advisory and is limited to questions of
grades, types o f road for given dis
trict, best means o f construction, and
similar matters, and is without charge
to the people o f Oregon. Those wish
ing to take advantage o f this service
should write the Extension division,
R. D. Hetzel, director, so that arrange
ments may be made to have Professor
Skelton’s visit made when he is sched
uled fo r work in their part of the
state. In case assistance is desired
before September 1 the requests
should come in at the earliest possible
date.
W H E N TO C U T H A Y FOR
M A K IN G BEST PRODUCT
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, May 31.— “ Cutting the crop at
the proper stage for hay is imnortant.
I f cut too soon, a light washy hay will
result and i f delayed past the proper
stage, a coarse unnalatable and indi
gestible product. Cut clover when in
full bloom and with one-tenth to one-
third o f the blossoms turning brown.
For cows it mav be cut slightly earli
er. Cut alfalfa when coming into
blossom, but better still watch the_
basal shoots at the crown o f plant and
cut when one to one and one-half
inches long. This is your second crop
coming on. Don’t wait to cut until
these are long enough to be clipped
off.
Vetch should be cut for hav
when first sells appear in pods. I f
growing with grain, the grain should
be in milk or soft dough stage.”
These are the views o f ,T. E. Lar
son, Agronomy Extension specialist
o f the Oregon Agricultural College,
on the best time to cut hay. Mr. Lar
son continues as follows:
“ Grasses are cut usually at, or just
before blooming time: the rye grasses
should be cut before blooming as they
become woody; timothy for market
hay at blooming time. It does not de
teriorate so rapidly and may be al
lowed to pass bloom before cutting;
red top also can stand slightly longer
in field than rye or oat grasses.
“ Grain
hay
(oats, wheat, etc.)
should be cut just between milk and
soft dough stage fo r best quality.
Many try to get grain and hay both.
What is gained in grain is more than
off-set by what is lost in the hay or
forage. The nutriment is in the stalk
and forming grains at the soft dough
stage and passes rapidly into the
grain as it nears ripening. It will
pay to cut the grain hay at the pro
per stage.”
H E R M ISTO N D A IR Y M E N
O R G A N IZ E
Hermiston has a growing associ
ation o f dairymen according to F. W.
Kehrli, field dairy man o f the district,
representing the Agricultural College.
The Hermiston Breeders’ Association
o f three blocks has been organized and
now contains 40 members. It is or
ganized in three blocks and has pur
chased three young pure-bred Jer
sey Bulls from the noted herd o f E.
Carey. Interest and results are good
and the association is growing. It is
expected that a Pure-Bred Jersey As
sociation will soon be formed among
the Hermiston dairymen, and the
breeding o f pure-bred Jerseys made
an important industry. Several dairy
men o f the district are planning to
build silos, using corn as the silage
crop.
AGRONOM Y
USE OF L A N D P L A S T E R
Legume crops are benefitted by ap
plication o f land plaster when growing
on soils rich in potash and phosphoric
acid, such as the heavier silt loams of
Western Oregon. Land plaster can in
no way be regarded as a fertilizer,
aside from the possibilities of sulphur
from the calcium sulphate, but is a
soil stimulant instead, according to
the Agronomy department o f the Ore
gon Agricultural College. Its use is
justified only with legume crops,
clover, vetch, alfalfa, etc., which in
return for the loss o f potash and phos
phoric acid returns increased amounts
o f nitrogen, a more expensive fe rti
lizer and a more valuable plant food.
It is thus a legitimate practice to en
rich the soils with nitrogen at the ex
pense o f the potash and phosphoric
acid on all soils rich in the two latter
plant foods. With crops other than
legumes it can hardly be considered a
desirable practice to use land plaster
as a stimulant, since it causes a rapid
loss o f soil fertility without making
any return to balance the fertility con
dition. Neither does land plaster
usually have a sufficiently marked e f
fect to make its use on cereals and
grasses profitable.
ENTOM OLOGY
P R O TE C TIN G C LO TH IN G
FROM D AM AG E BY MOTH
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, May 31.— “ Clothes moths can
be controlled only by constant v ig i
lance in frequently inspecting the
clothes and giving thorough treatment,
says Professor A. L. Lovett, assist
ant entomologist o f the Oregon A g
ricultural College. “ Articles in fre
quent use are seldom injured by moths
while those put away and left unused
fo r some time are likely to suffer.
C arpets and rugs in rooms where
there is plenty o f light and where
they are frequently swept are seldom
atacked.
“ Thorough beating, shaking and
brushing and then hanging in the sun
light are old and reliable treatments.
Thorough brushing is especially neces
sary to remove the eggs.
“ I f garments are to be hung in a
closet, clean the room thoroughly and
spray the floor and all cracks and
crevices with benzine. The garments
should then be examined and brushed
once a month. A better method is to
obtain pasteboard boxes, such as
»tailors use, and place the carefully
brushed and folded garments in them.
The boxes may then be sealed with
strips o f gummed paper leaving no
cracks fo r moth or larvae to enter.
The use o f tobacco, naphthaline, cam
phor, etc., are o f some value in re
pelling adult moths but do not pre
vent the development o f eggs and
larvae already present.
“ Infested
garments
should
be
thoroughly sprayed with benzine or
gasoline and hung in the bright sun
shine. Care should be observed re
garding light or fire since both oils
are very inflammable.
“ Cold storage is very good protection
fo r woolens and furs. Where it can
be afforded the practice o f turning
over valuable articled o f this kind to
cold storage companies fo r the sum
mer is strongly recommended.”
Professor Lovett calls attention to
the fact that much o f the damage as
cribed to moths is not the work o f a
moth at all but o f the so-called Buffa
lo moth, which is in reality a small
beetle o f mottled black, gray and red
dish brown color. A description of the
two types o f insects, together with
control measures for the beetle will
appear in the next issue o f the Press
Bulletin.
K E E P IN G C H IC K EN S FREE
FROM TROUBLESOM E PESTS
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, May 31.— In keeping chickens
free from pests both the care o f the
chickens and o f the chicken houses
must be considered. The houses
should be cleaned
frequently and
painted with white-wash containing
either carbolic acid or kerosene.
Roosts, nest boxes, or even floors and
walls may be sprayed with a mixture
o f three parts kerosene and one part
crude carbolic acid o f 90 to 95 per cent
strength. The mixture should be well
stirred and applied with a hand snray
or with a brush, says Professor H. F.
Wilson, Entomologist o f the Oregon
Station. This will destroy or drive
away the young mites that get into
the chickens at night.
The birds are most successfully
treated with some good lice powder.
There are a number o f more or less
successful brands on the market but
a very satisfactory powder is made as
follows: Mix three parts o f gasoline
with one part crude carbolic acid as
above, and add, slowly, stirring all the
time, enough plaster o f paris to take
up the moisture, but no more. This
makes a dry, pinkinsh brown powder
with a fairly strong carbolic odor and
rather less pronounced gasoline odor.
The powder is worked into the
feathers of th birds infested with ver
min.
A G R IC U L T U R E
STU D E N TS SEEK SUMMER
E M P L O Y M E N T ON FARM S
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, May 31.— Farmers and agricul
tural college students should be able
to cooperate with great advantage to
both.
During the rush season far
more laborers are needed on the farm
than are required fo r the remainder
o f the season, and it is often impos
sible for farmers to get the kind and
amount o f help they need to make
their work a success. Since this is
also the students' vacation season, and
the students need money and exper
ience as badly as the farmers need
help, it only remains to bring the
demand and the supply together.
That is just what the office o f the
Dean o f Agriculture o f the Oregon
Agricultural College has been setting
out to do. A list o f about 100 students
who want summer work on a farm has
been made out and as far as possible
students assigned for the summer.
Unfortunately the College has no cer
tain means o f reaching all the farmers
that might wish to take advantage
o f its assistance in this aq^i other
matters, and the students have now
mostly gone home fo r the summer,
and it is too late to get student help
through its offices. By another year
it is believed that farmers and stu
dents will be informed of the situation
in plenty o f time for both to take ad
vantage o f it. The school o f agricul
ture numbers several hundred stu
dents who are greatly interested in
practical farming and hope to secure
places on farms, where their services
will be a great help to farmers over
crowded with harvest and other sum
mer work.
H O R T IC U L T U R E
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—
O. A. C. D E P A R T M E N T H E LPS
T R A IN B ERRIES TO T R A V E L
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, May 31.— Under the unique
title o f “ Training a Berry to Travel”
a clever writer in The Fruit Grower
and Farmer, o f St. Joseph, Missouri,
has this to say o f the O. A. C. de
partment o f Horticulture, which “ has
wielded a lot o f good influence in re
juvenating the loganberry.”
“ When the days were dark fo r the
industry the department did much to
quiet the hysteria. Its investigations
in evaporating, marketing, standard
izing and lately in the manufacture
o f commercial juice, not to mention
the tests that have been made in the
culture o f this berry, have been the
guide post to the development of a
loganberry industry. A late bulletin
has been o f very great, value in mak
ing known the first available informa
tion on the possibilities and opportu
nities fo r a manufactured loganberry
juice. The promise in this new form
o f by-product, about which so much
is now heard in that region, may per
haps be best described conservatively
from this report o f the experts.”
Here the writer makes liberal quo
tations and concludes his article by
calling atention to the organization of
the Oregon Loganberry Growers’ As
sociation.
It is thus seen that the loganberry
is making its way eastward and that
the journey o f the fruit arid its pro
ducts to eastern markets is already
being prepared.
B A C T E R IO L O G Y
RED UCING CHICK M O R A L IT Y
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, May 31.— The science o f bac
teriology has come to the aid o f the
chicken
raiser.
The
destructive
diseases, white diarrhoea, is caused
by bacteria and some valuable work
has been done on this disease by Mr.
G. D. Horton o f the Bacteriological
Department o f the College. Mr. Hor
ton identified this disease last year
in the flock at the State Hospital,
Salem. Serious losses had previously
occured there in the raising o f chicks.
The source o f the disease was found
to be in the breeding hens, the infec
tion being transmitted through the
egg to the chicks. That the disease
came from the breeding stock has
been corroborated in a striking man
ner. The Poultry Department o f the
College is doing
some cooperative
breeding work at the State Hospital
and furnished the Institution 200
pullets last fall from which stock
there has been produced over 3000
chicks. The losses from all causes
has not exceeded 2 per cent, while if
the chicks hatched from eggs laid by
the old stock in which the white
diarrhoea germ had been found, the
loss was over 50 per cent.