SUPPLEMENT TO
ESTACADA
PROGRESS
T H U R S D A V , OCTOBER 7 , 1915
Published weekly hv the extension
division o f the Oregon Agricultural
College. R. I). Hetzel. director.
Exchange copies and communica
tions should be addressed to Editor of
Press Bulletins. 116 Agricultural Hall,
0. 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 o f 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.
EX TEN SIO N
JUDGE C H ILD R E N ’S PRODUCTS
The girls’ and boys' industrial club
exhibits at the State Fair were judged
by O. A. C. Extension specialist as
follows: corn and potatoes, J. E. Lar
sen; vegetables, M. O. Evans, Jr.;
poultry, C. C. Lamb; domestic science
and art, Helen Cowgill, Anna M. Tur
ley and Sarah Lewis. Winners from
each county will be awarded free trips
to the O. A. C. Girls’ and Boys’ Sum
mer School.
C O O PE R A TIV E HOG M A R K E TIN G
Finding that the local demand was
not sufficient to take up their surplus
products the growers o f Stanfield have
organized a livestock shipping asso
ciation and are now marketing their
pigs direct. Committees were appoint
ed to ascertain the best market time
and all members agreed to finish a
certain number of pigs by the date
agreed upon. ITie pigs thus secured
are quite uniform in weight and finish,
so that uniform carload lots can be
made up and sent to the stockyards in
charge o f a lo :tl agent. The animals
are reweighed at the yards, each shin-
per standing his share o f the shrink
age and contributing his pro rata of
the agent’s expenses and other ship
ping charges. The plan has proved
very acceptable, says G. L. Gard, one
o f the cooperators and until recently
editor o f the Stanfield Standard.
E X P E R IM E N T
S T A T IO N
S T A R T IN G IR R IG A T E D FARM
That to begin reclamation of land
in sandy, irrigated districts by grow
ing orchards is contrary to the best
immediate interests of the farmer, is
pointed out by Raloh W. Allen, super
intendent o f the Umatilla Branch E x
periment Station. The decided need
of fertilizers and the desirability of
receiving profitable returns from the
land soon after operations are begun,
have turned attention to the produc
tion of forage crops and the raising of
livestock. The station is now engaged
in a series o f experiments to deter
mine for the benefit o f irrigation
farmers just what processes and crops
are most helpful and profitable in this
newer work.
POULTRY
P O U LT R Y GREEN FOOD
Plenty o f green food for the poul-
try,all they will eat, is an important
item in poultry rations during the
winter egg-laying season as well as
at other times of the year. This can
he supplied by growing kale and other
winter greens outside the pen and g iv
ing the birds daily quantities, or by
sowing a fall pasture o f vetch, rape,
mustard, rye, wheat, oats, or other
crop that will make consistent winter
growth. In the latter case the fowls
will have to be kept off the sowed
area until the young plants get well
established, when they will afford the
hens all they need with no trouble to
the owner. Provided in either way
the greens will have a beneficial effect
upon the health o f the flock as well
as exert a valuable influence on the
\ ield and quality o f the eggs.
ing, mixed Jerseys and non-descrepit
stuff, resulting in animals that are un
dersized, without any meat on their
backs, and exceedingly rough.”
D A IR Y
Six students o f forestry at O. A. C.
are registered from states outside of
Oregon. In addition to the recognized
strength o f the forestry school the ad
vantages in Oregon for practical lield
work in forest propagation, protection
and reforestration, and in logging en
gineering, offer unequalled opportuni
ties for instruction and training in
this branch of industrial education.
D A IR Y COW NEEDS G R A IN
‘‘The heavy producing cow, even on
good pasture, should receive some
grain, since it is impossible for her
to secure sufficient nutrients on grass
ne,” says Professor R. R. Graves,
o f the O. A. C. Dairy department.
‘ A Jersey or Guernsey cow producing
more than 20 pounds of milk a day, or
a Holstein or Ayrshire producing
more than 25 pounds, should receive
approximately one pound o f grain for
each pound o f milk produced by a
Jersey or Guernsey, and one pound to
each seven produced by a Holstein or
Ayrshire. When pastures are poor,
the grain ration should be heavier.”
H O R T IC U L T U R E
LO G AN B E R R Y F A M E SPR E AD S
A recent issue of the National Pack
er, representing every fruit-growing
district of the United States, carries
a column and a half review of the lo
ganberry and its by-products, mostly
quotations from the Loganberry By-
Products bulletin issued by the Horti
cultural department o f the Oregon
Agricultural College. Since the Na
tional Packer goes into every part of
the country, reliable information as to
the qualities and uses o f the berry
will have a universal distribution
throughout the United States, influ
encing very materially the demand
anu i larket for this important Oregon
fruit.
P IC K IN G F R U IT P R O PE R LY
‘‘ Picking is one o f the most import
ant factors of getting the apple upon
the market,” says the O. A. C. bulletin
on Handling the Fruit Crop, “ it has
< maiked influence upon the keeping
qualities, size, color and flavor o f the
fruit. loo much attention is frequent
ly given to getting depth o f color so
that over-ripeness, caused by the fruit
hanging too long on the tree, very o f
ten results.
Some apples, such as
the Gravenstein, drop before they are
ripe. Others, such as Grimes Golden,
drop when they become ripe. And
still others, as the Jonathan, may
hang on the tree after they are ripe
and develop core rot.” Fuller infor
mation may he had from the bulletin,
copies of which will be sent on request
o f any citizen o f Oregon.
FORESTRY
N O N -R E SID E N TS IN FORESTRY
FARM
D E M O N S T R A T IO N S
O R G A N IZ A T IO N BEST
“ Our demonstration work, club or
ders for farm seed, our work with
infectious diseases and practically all
other forms of county agricultural
service can be discussed and handled
more effectively through community
organizations than through any other
me*tv>." says A . E. Lovett, county a g
riculturist: o f Crook County. ‘‘Where
fgvtfters’ organizations
are already
working, effective work may be start
ed at once. Where there are no or
ganized farmer bodies, one of the
most important problems on projects
undertaken is the organization of
farm communities.”
CO LLEGE NEW S
O. A. C. G A IN S T W E L V E PER C E N T
Registration at the end of the first
week o f the College year at O. A. C.
showed a gain o f about 12 per cent
over that of the corresponding date
last year, which was the heaviest up
to that time. The exact figures are,
1255 entrants this year to 1112 last,
a gain of 143. There are 391 study
ing agriculture, 275 home economics,
178 engineering and industrial arts,
>110 commerce, 61 mining, 58 pharma
cy, 48 forestry, 34 optional subjects,
and 23 music only. Five of the forest
ry students are from states other
than Oregon. Twenty-three are from
foreign countries, representing En
gland, Germany, Japan, Scotland, Au
stralia and India, among the belliger
ent nations.
A G R IC U L T U R E
N E W FARM M ECH AN ICS
IN S TR U C TO R A T O. A. C.
Oregon Agricultural College, Cor
vallis, Oct. 4.— Students of farming
at the Oregon Agricultural College
are to have the assistance o f a very
able instructor in the use and care of
farm machinery. W. J. Gilmore, of
BEEF IN W E STERN OREGON
the Manitoba
Agricultural College,
has been appointed assistant professor
o f Farm Mechanics.
" I have often heard it said that
Mr. Gilmore is a graduate of civil
Rood beef cannot be produced any
and agricultural engineering of Ames,
where in Western Oregon,” says Pro
fessor E. L. Potter, of the 0. A. C.
’• wa. He has had practical exper
Animal Husbandry department, “ and
ience in surveying and drainage and
that feeds are not suitable for making . has worked for the International Har
¡rood smooth cattle. A fte r careful in-1 * vester* Co. He has had four years’
vestigations I am convinced that this
experience in instructional work at
is not true. Just as good beef can
Manitoba as teacher o f farm me
be produced in Western Oregon as in
chanics.
any other part o f the state. Inferior
The College is well equipped with
quality is not due to poor natural con
farm tools and machines, which afford
ditions or to poor feed and grazing.
a broad opportunity for use of his
It is due almost entirely to inferior
qualifications in teaching his students
cattle. A very large portion of the
’ h*» construction and proper handling
steers are of a most miserable breed o f modern farm machinery.
A N IM A L
HUSBANDRY
F A L L -S O W N GRASS
SUCCEEDS BEST
Seeds Germinate in Low
Temperature and Grow
in Winter
STRONG
G I{ O W T H
FOLLOW S
By G. R. Hyslop, Crop Specialist
o f Oregon Agricultural College
Under Western Oregon conditions,
usually our best results follow the
seeding o f grass in the fall. Grass
seed usually germinates at a low tem
perature and i f seeded fairly early in
the fall, it gets a prompt start. It
grows at considerably lower temper
atures than most o f our weeds so
that with an early start in the fall
it develops considerably during the
winter and early spring so that it
has the advantage of weeds germinat
ing later. It also has a good rooting
system established to keep it grow
ing during the dry weather of sum
mer.
It is therefore an/ excellent
lan to sow the permanent grass land
as early as possible in the fall after
the danger o f dry weather is over.
In the case of burned-over land, it is
desirable to get the grass seed sown
on the dry ashes as promptly as pos
sible after they have cooled so that
the first rains will beat' the seed
down into the ashes and cover it. On
! \nds that are cultivated and where a
seed bed is prepared, it is better to
delay the seeding until after the sur
face soil has become well moistened
<o that there can be no opportunity
for a drying out o f the soil and the
killing of the small plants. In the
case of those hill lands where the
grass is not up to standard or where
conditions are such that lands may
not be plowed, the seeding should be
delayed until after the rains have set
in and the ground is somewhat moist.
Subsequent rains will cover the grass
seed in part and Ihe moist condition
of the surface soil, even without cov-
e ing is, in many cases, sufficient to
germinate the seed and get the root
lets started in the soil.
Where sheep and other live stock
are available, it is often a good plan
to run them over the newly seeded
land in order that their tramping may
press the seed into the soil and give
it a better opportunity for germina
tion.
However, there is one vital thing
in connection with the successful seed
ing o f grass, either in fall or spring
and that one thing is to secure good
seed. As many people are not fa
miliar with grass seed and its im
purities, it is always a good plan to
secure, before purchasing the seed, a
sample for testing.
This
sample
should be representative o f the lot
and should also bear the lot number
so that after the test is secured, if
satisfactory, the seed from which the
sample was taken may he bought. AM
samples for testing should be sent
to the- Co-operative Seed Testing Lab
oratory, Oregon Agricultural College,
Corvallis, and requests should accom
pany them for a purity or germination
test, or both, as desired. The purity
test tells the kind and the amount of
we- ds and other impurities present
and the germination test tells how
much o f the pure seed will grow. This
valuable test, made free o f charge,
gives an idea o f the real value o f the
seed, tells definitely whether or not
the seeds are objectionable, and the
germination test tells how much of
the seed will grow and thus help
in determining the amount to sow
per acre. Purity tests usually reach
the sender in three to six days and
germination tests usually follow in
about six days more; although, with
some grasses, two to four weeks are
required for the completion of the test.