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About Estacada progress. (Estacada, Or.) 1908-1916 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1915)
SUPPLEMENT TO ESTACADA PROGRESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1915 Published weekly by the extension division of the Oregon Agricultural College. R. D. Hetzel, director. Exchange copies and 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 of interest and value related to the work of the Oregon Agricultural College. Editors are respectfully re quested to publish for the benefit of their readers such items as they think seasonable and suited to local use. AGRONOM Y BIG VALUE IN STRAW Thirteen burned or burning straw- stacks were seen by the O. A. C. Press bulletin editor a little less than a year ago, in traveling 60 miles along a Willamette Valley railway. Former ly much of the straw now wasted in smoke was hauled to mills and made into paper. The loss to the land is the same in both practices, not only carrying away fertility elements but leaving the soil in easily puddled con dition. The value of the former is about $2.84 in each ton of wheat straw, $4.05 in each ton of oat straw, and $7.48 in clover straw. Draining the soils o f these elements for plant making year by year causes losses that lead to depletion, and at the same time renders less available the por tions remaining by taking out the sup ply of humus— the soil ingredient that makes the soil work readily and gives it the dark, rich look, so much sought after in general farm lands. Since the season of the year is now ap proaching when large quantities of straw are burned, the Press Bulletin has secured for its next issue an illus trated article by Professor G. R. Hyslop on methods of returning straw to the soil. E X T E N S IO N MOTHERS AND TEACHERS WANT LESS INFRINGEMENT The Oregon Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations be lieve it to be their duty to do every thing in their power to create a public sentiment in favor of the following proposition: Parent-Teachers Associations, so that the school and the home may be brought to have a sympathetic appre ciation o f the work of the teacher and in every way may help in the betterment of the school and of the whole community. Industrial and vocational instruc tion in the public schools o f the state. Such industries are the basis of the life of all times. Too long has there been a separation between living and learning to live— between participa tion in constructive activity and mere book knowledge. The elimination o f politics in the election of members of school boards and superintendents and teachers. Public sentiment should demand that members of school boards should be business men and women of education, interested in and informed concern ing modern educational methods, and capable of managing large business interests, and of selecting capable men and women, who shall be given unlimited power to handle the educa tional matters o f the school district. Public sentiment should create a school spirit in each community which would maintain good teachers and school officers in their positions more securely than any law that could be drafted in their behalf. The extension o f suffrage on school questions to the registered voters of the district. Women are vitally interested in all matters pertaining t o education. Women in Oregon, who today vote on all other questions should not be de prived of the privilege of voting on school questions. The school tax is only about one-fourth or one-fifth of the total taxes. If registered voters can vote to elect representatives who apportion four-fifths of the taxes, why are they not qualified to vote for men who apportion one-fifth of the taxes? a proficient plant pathologist but has the added advantage o f being well ac quainted with diseases that attack Oregon field and orchard plants and with the best measures for their con trol. His appointment gives great satisfaction to the College men and will no doubt be highly acceptable to farmers and orchardists of Oregon. club houses will be opened this fall for students’ associations. Plan ning the future under the new con ditions is now the pleasurable occu pations that calls the early assem blages of College students. C OW TESTING GROWS BOTANY The graveled roads and drive-ways about the O. A. C. campus are being treated to a coat of oil. Most of these roads were constructed a couple of years ago and have stood up well un der the heavy strain of campus use and scores o f automobiles that daily pass over them on business or sight seeing. Clay and the dust o f wearing gravel have been the only binding matter used up to the present. Preliminary work is now under way for the organization of three more cow-testing associations in Oregon. Twelve of these associations are now conducting scientific tests on the pro duction of their herds and the addi tion of those now in charge of the O. A. C. dairy specialists for organiza tion will place this state at or near the head o f progressive dairy states of the Union. Oregon now leads in the number of pure-bred Jerseys uh der official test. Some wonderful rec ords are being made and the fame of the state as a source of high-produc ing Jerseys is spreading throughout the country. ALUM NI SALEM O. A. C. ALUMNI ELECTS NEW OFFICERS Oregon Agricultural College, Cor vallis, Sept. 6.— One of the first 0 . A. C. alumni associations to renew its activities is the Salem Orange Club. Its annual picnic was held August 30, at which time officers were elected for the coming year and committees appointed to carry forward the club work. Joe McAllister was chosen president and Miss May Steusloff sec retary. The meeting was favored with an address by Governor James Withy- combe, who expressed pleasure that the graduates of the Agricultural Col lege are taking such a prominent part in the affairs o f state. Other ad dresses were made by leading citi zens o f the community, including J. H. Albert, who said that he had re ceived much benefit from the. four short courses he had taken at the Col lege, and Percy Cupper, an 0. A. C. graduate now in the State Engineer’s office. A spirit o f optimism and good cheer prevailed and the club looks forward with much confidence to the work of the College. COMMERCE TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP That every citizen of Oregon has business and social relations that jus tify a study of the fundamentals of political economy, is the declaration of the O. A. C. economists. The need of this study is particularly acute in a democracy wherein every man and woman is a voter and directly in fluences public policy. A knowledge of the origin, composition and oper ations of the government is so neces sary that if it was not secured in the course of school work it should he ac quired by a systematic course of read ing or in some other effective man ner. PLANT PA TH O L O G Y JACKSON’S SUCCESSOR NAMED H. P. Barss, whose research and field work in economical plant pa thology has made him known to many Oregon growers, has been appointed head of the department at O. A. C. to succeed Professor H. S. Jackson, who resigned to become chief of the Botany department of Perdue Uni versity. Professor Barss is not only SPRAYS FOR WEED CONTROL “ About the only sprays that I know o f used successfully in the control of weeds are those that are used pri marily to prevent seeding,” says H 3. Hammond, of the O. A. C. Botany de partment. “ Three of the most com mon are 12 pounds of copper sulphate, or 100 pounds iron sulphate or 116 of common salt, each dissolved in 50 gallons o f water. This will make enough weed spray to cover one acre. It will not destroy the plants but it will hinder and prevent seed forma tion.” This will control annuals and retard development o f some per ennials, but the best way to eradicate such plants as the Canada thistle is to keep them down for a few months by hoe cuttings, when the root portion will gradually die of starvation. A G R IC U L T U R E MUST DO FARM WORK The O. A. C. School of Agriculture announces that in order to receive degrees in agriculture all students will be required to have had exper ience in the work in which they are majoring. This experience may have been secured either before entering upon the course or during its progress by work during college vacations. In conformity with this ruling a large number of students o f agriculture have spent the present summer in working on farms, either in horticul ture, field crops, animal husbandry or dairying. AGRONOMY MAY SELL UNLABELED SEED Oregon farmers may sell seed of their own growing on their own premises to purchasers that buy for their own use. This notwithstanding the rigid law requiring that all seed offered for sale in quantities greater than one pound shall be labeled with the percentages of purity and viabil ity. It is pointed out by the Agricul tural College Press Bulletins that any possible inconvenience in buying seed under the new law may be overcome in this way and that not only seeds free o f bad weed seed and of strong germinating power may be secured by farmers and gardeners, but that the home-grown seed will also have a certain amount of acclimatization. All these factors enter largely into the problem of a good crop yield next season. COLLEGE NEW S STUDENTS ARRIVE AT O. A. C. Although opening o f College is still two weeks away groups of students are beginning to reach the Oregon Agricultural College in large numbers. This early arrival, more or less usual, is larger than usual this year, because of the changes brought about by rais ing the entrance requirements of de gree students to four years of high school work, or its equivalent. College home associations will be formed on a slightly modified basis, and many OIL GRAVELED ROADS WIDE LATITUDE IN FEEDING SILAGE Ensiled Products May lie Fed at Once or Kept For Many Years CHEMICAL CHANGES PRESERVE Acid - Forming Bacteria that Kill Putrefactive Sealed from Air. Developed Germs if One of the big advantages of silage is that feeding it may be begun as soon as it is put into the silo, and continued, with or without intervals of non-use, until it has all been fed. Of course the feed has not really be come ensilage until it has undergone the necessary chemical changes, but the ensiled product may be fed as a soiling crop until such changes do oc cur. On the other hand, not less than an inch and a half should be fed from the surface every day after feeding begins if no loss is to be encountered. But if conditions are such that it is advisable to stop the use of silage for a few days or longer, it may be done with the loss o f only a few inches on top. The decay of the upper layers will cause a mold that soon makes the surface impervious to air, and then spoilage stops. The silage may be kept for many months and even years without damage after it is scaled air tight. So said Professor R. It. Graves, head o f the Oregon Agricultural College Dairy department, in reply to inquir ies from many farmers and dairymen of Oregon, who are beginning to feed silage for the first time. These ad vantages make the use o f silage high ly desirable not merely in the winter but atso for summer feeding. By the use o f the silo the entire crop may be stored at one operation and fed out according to the demands controlled largely by the supply of other succu lent feeds. While it is recommended that feeding be continuous where fea sible it may be suspended with ad vantage when new sources of pasture, kale roots or other similar perishable feeds arise. During the time that this supply lasts the ensilage may be left unused. But a small amount will he spoiled at the worst, and even this loss may be avoided by covering the surface with wet soil, sacks slight ly covered with straw, or sprouting grain. The saving thus secured, how ever, is thought by Professor Graves hardly to be worth the trouble and expense of saving it in this way. The chemical changes which turn the green (Concluded on page 2, col. 4)