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HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Oregon Agricultural College is the Friend of the Farmer
A Page of Bulletins and News Notes Concerning the Staff at Corvallia.
A GOOD POULTRY RATION.
PFERFECT ration for laying hens
contains the required food elements
in approximately the right pproportion,
and in the forms most economical in the
locality where the feeding is done. Pro
fessor James Dryden, head of the poul
try department, Oregon Agricultural Col
lege, has prepared a list of five more or
less exact rations for one laying hen
for one year. The following is ration
No. 4, considered to be one of the best
for most places in Oregon:
Material No. of Pounds Cost
Wheat : 30 ' .45
Oats 10 " .15
Bran 10 .12
Corn 5 .10
Beef scrap 5 .20
Corn meal 5 .10
Linseed meal 5 .12
Middlings 5 .071
Shell 3 .03
Charcoal 2 .05
Green food .05
Total 1.48
While the cost of the above ration will
ary in different seasons and at differ
ent places, it is thought to be very close
to the average cost. Moit of the mate
rial, such as wheat', oats and eorn, can
be produced more cheaply on the farm,
and is marketed more economically when
converted into poultry products. Other
material such as green food, charcoal,
grit and shell or their substitutes, can
be furnished from natural sources with
but little cost. Often milk and other
farm products can be substituted for
Borne of the materials' that otherwise
would have to be bought. By a careful
study of the given rations the poultry
men will be able to supply the necessary
food elements by substituting a moTe
economical material. Of course the
amounts should vary slightly with the
difference in egg production and in size
of fowls.
If it is to be conceded that the cost
of maintaining a hen for one year is
$1.50, the necessity of securing better
than the average six dozen-egg hen is
at once apparent. The yearly product
of such a hen has an average value of
about $1.50. The yearly production of
a good layer Is worth twice that amount;
and most of the increase represents a
clear profit.
WEED PESTS OP OREGON.
llgHEEP sorrel is spreading rapidly
J over large areas and because of
the large number of seeds formed
on each plant bids fair to become a seri
ous weed pest in Oregon," writes B. P.
"Walls, of the Agricultural College
botany and plant pathology department,
in the Pacific Homestead. "Weeds
may be objectionable because of theit
; poisonous qualities and on account of
their crowding out more valuable plaits.
Borrell seed is said by some writers to
be poisonous when eatin in large quan
tities by horses, but the plant can hardly
be called poisonous."
"In addition to spreading by seed the
plant has large rootstocks that live in
the ground from year to year, which
Send up shoots every few inches. The
Itaves are stalked, have ear like ap
pendages at the base, and are shaped
tomewhat like an Indian arrow head.
Flowers are of two kinds, pollen bear
ing and seed bearing, and seeds very
mall. They are found in clover and
many kinds of grass seed, which they
lesemble so closely that their presence
is hard to discover until after seeding.
The chief injury of the plant is in
crowding out crop plants.
"Clean cultivation and liming the
toil will eradicate the plant. The cul
tivation should include plowing the stub
ble to throw the root stocks to the sur
face, keeping the surface free from the
pest during the summer, and growing a
cultivated crop the next year. Liming
the soil will stimulate the crop plants
making them outgrow the sour sorrel,
and thus curtail the number of weed
eed matured."
DETAILED TO FIELD WORK.
jHILE acting as the local represen
tative of the Agricultural College
department of entomology at Hood
Siver, Professor V. I. Safro, assistant
entomologist, will conduct some experi
sents in the control of codling moth
and apple leaf hopper. Professor Safro
will carry on this work during the sum
mer and remain in charge of the local
department until next fall.
STUDYING PEACH-TWIG MINER.
EXPERIMENTAL work is being done
in the Hermiston district by the
Agricultural College entomological
department with the peach-twig miner.
Professor Wilson, entomologist of the
college, spent last week that terri
tory looking after tho work. .
SUMMER SCHOOL COURSE.
NNOUNCEMENTS of the summer
sehbol at the Oregon Agricultural
College have been made by Profes
sor E. D. Re'ssler. June 15 and July 24
are named as the dates Of beginning
and ending the summer sessions. Special
railway rates cf one and a third fare
have been granted by all railroads op
eratiag in Oregon, good between the
dates of June 5 and July 28. The two
college dormitories, Waldo for women
and Cauthorn for men, will be opened
to the students and will accommodate
more than 200 students with board and
lodging. The use of the rooms with
beds, mattresses, tables and chairs, will
be free to those who make their hoqies
i.i the halls. Two dollars will be charged
for light, heat and use of laundry. Table
board will be $3.50 per week at Waldo.
"The college realizes its responsibility
in fitting the teachers for teaching ele
meutary agriculture, manual training,
domestic science and art, and other
branches of industrial learning in the
schools of Oregon," declares tho an
nouncement. Experienced teachers who
devote their whole time to training for
these duties will be able to secure suf
ficient training to introduce some
branch of industrial work in their
schools. Definite courses Will be "pro
vided, lesson plans worked out, and de
tailed instruction given. These teachers
will be further helped by correspondence
courses throughout the entire year and
by personal visitation arid supervision."
Prospective students and all teaehers
who are interested in the O. A. C. sum
mer school will receive a copy of the
Bulletin upon request mailed to H. M.
Teunant, Registrar O. A. C, Corvallis,
Oregon.
STUDENT APPOINTED,
BANK M. Harrington, of Cresswell,
Oregon, who was graduated from
thi horticultural department of O
A. C. last year and has since filled a
position in the Iovra experiment station
at Ames, has been appointed an assist
ant horticulturist in the United States
department of agriculture. Mr. Har
rington 'b appointment is based on a com
petitive examination which he wrote up
while attending 0. A. C. and is to be
made effective at once, provided it is
accepted. Whether the position will be
accepted or not has not been decided by
Mr. Harrington. His position at Ames
is exceptionally good, and he is receiving
rapid promotion. Hence, he may decide
to remain with the state work, accord
ing to Professor C. I. Lewis, head of the
horticultural department.
SECURING GOOD LIBRARIES.
61 gECURING good libraries for
towns too small to purchase and
manage a public library and too
large to depend upon the small traveling
libraries is one of the greatest library
problems the people have to solve," said
Mrs. Ida A. Kidder, librarian of the
Agricultural College. The need of good
books and tho influence of good litera
ture are quite generally admitted, while
the disastrous Tesults of sensational
reading are quite as well understood.
The great question in the small town is
to supply the right kind of reading in
attractive form.
"Perhaps one of tho best ways to se
cure the advantage of a good library is
by "co-operation between a number of
small towns of the same county. A
goed general library ean be purchased
by all the towns cooperating and lo
cated in the most accessible place. In
this way all the patrons of the library
who contribute to its support may have
all the advantages of a good library
without undue cost to any one.
"This community library idea has
been used to good advantage in many
parts of California for several years,
and no doubt the benefit of the ex
perience gained in conducting it could
be had by writing to any of the libra
rians in charge. Also much useful help
may be had by writing to Miss Marvin
of Salem, who is in charge of the Btate
library. "
PROFITABLE POTATO CROP.
terjARMER8 in different parts of
Oregon who are Snaking a spe
cialty of potato growing, get al
most uniformly profitable results, net
ting from $40 to $30 per acre," says
Professor Scudder in his Agricultural
College Bulletin ou growing potatoes.
"It is for this reason that in all diversi
fied farming in this state the potato
might profitably be given more atten
tion. The use of a little extra care in
growing potatoes added to the natural
advantages of soil and climate would in
sure steady Diaximum yields and profit
Tho market for Oregon potatoes is us
ually excellent.
"Potatoes are an intensive crop
that is, they will give an increasingly
higher yield per acre with every bit
of extra care addded. At this time
much of tho crop is grown by the gen
eral farmer, for whom the potato crop
often gives an excellent .cash return
with very little caro. Rather than giv
ing (he potato crop tho additional care
required to get the best results in un
favorable seasons, tho farmer depends
upon other crops,for his cash income.
"The potato permits tho farming of
high-priced lands close to shipping poiutB
and is of great value in a well-planned,
intensive crop-rotation system, helping
to maintain fertility because of the ex
cellent condition of tilth and the de
struction -of weeds that its cultivation
brings about. This improvement is
needed in many parts of Oregon where
poor farming methods have left the land
fould With weeds and in poor tilth, so
flat each succeeding Crop becomes
poorer."
RAISING SPRING LAMBS.
RAISING spring lambs is well adapted
to the climatle conditions of West
ern Oregon and does not requite
great capital or spenial skill, according
to Professor E. L. Potter, head of the
Oregon Agricultural College animal hus
bandry department. The industry so
fits in with approved crop rotations
and is valuable in building up depleted
soils. Neither is it in immediate' dan
ger of being overdone.
The industry may be made profit
able on farms where grain, hay, clover,
vetch and rape are grown. Much the
same conditions are required for this
industry as for dairying, except that it"
need-not have the same accessibility to
market and that some range land may
be nsed. It is just as profitable as or
dinary" dairying, although it may not
pay so large a pTofit as dairying con
ducted in the most approved manner.
No expensive equipment is needed in
the way of buildings. The sheds neces
sary to shelter the flock may be con
structed at a very small cost. A shed
18 feet wide and 60 feet long was re
cently constructed at the college at a
total cost of $25. It accommodates
about 50 sheep but does not provide
storage room for hay.
The most profitable time for growing
a good, cheap lamb in Western Oregon
is March, April, May and June. The
best results aro generally obtained by
pasturing the lambs on sown pasturage.
It is necessary to have several fields in
order that each kind may be utilized in
its proper season. It is also nccessnry
to have a special pasture to be used for
finishing.
Ordinarily no grain need bo used but
it may occasionally be fed with profit
when it is very cheap or when mutton
is high. The grain should be fed in a
creep so that the lambs may get the
grain while the ewes are kept from it.
The gnin should be about one half
a pound a day which by extra feeding
and care may be increased to nearly
one pound.
GOOD ROADS MEETING.
S AERIES of good road meetings
were held at various points in Coos
county during May 11-10. These
meetings were presided over by County
Judge John F. Hall and addresses were
made by Professor G. E. Skelton, of
the highway engineering department at
the Oregon Agricultural College. The
lutes for the good roads meetings in
Coos county were: Myrtlo Point, May
11; Coquille, May 12; Bandon, May 13 j
Marshfield, May 16.
Profosesor Skelton has recently re
turned from a good roads tour of tho
middle and eastern parts of the United
States which was niado primarily to in
vestigate the most approved methods of
highway construction in other states. Ha
comes prepared to consult with farmers
and officers of the Oregon counties in
regard to the construction of highwayc
throughout the state. Professor Skel
ton advocates primarily the use of local
material for the coustruction of Oregon
highways.
During his work in Coos county Prof
essor Skelton desires to meet road su
per visors aud with them take up the
problem of highway construction and
maintenance. '
GUMM0SI3 CANKERS.
dHpHE cherry guminosis fight is now
I on," says Professor II. P. Barss,
of the Oregon Agricultural Col
lege department of plant pathology,
"and many new infections can be pre
vented by cutting out the old cankers.
The canker diseaso that causes most of
the guiumosis west of the Cascades, is
due to au organism that lives over win
ter in the edges of the old cankers, es
pecially in the larger ones that were
formed the' previous season. From these
hold-over cankers the disease begins to
spread in late winter, enlarging the old
injuries and infecting many trees grow
ing neT by."
These old cankers should be cleaned
up at once and new infections should
bo watched for and treated upon their
first appearance. With a draw-knife
or similar tool cut aVay all -bark that
is affected, being careful to remove all
discolored tissue. If the disease
shows signs of spreading up or down
the tree, the bark should be cut away
considerably beyond the discolored
area. All infected substance should
be removed. The wonnd should then
be washed, with a 1 to 100 solution of
corrosive sublimate, which can be
bought from the' druggist, Who will
give directions for preparing and us
ing tho wash. It is a deadly poison,
and should be labeled Poison, and kept
in glass, not metal, containers.
After washing out the wound, which
is absolutely essential to. success, it
should be allowed to dry, and then
covered with a good tree or pruning
paint to protect it from fungi and
heart rots.
Do not depend upon exuding gura to
indicate cankers. Bud ones sometime
form with very little external gum.
Watch should be kept all spring for
the faintest signs of canker and for
blighted fruit spurs and buds. No
other successful treatment for this
disease has come to the attention of
the experiment station here. But if
extreme watchfulness is maintained
and the above treatment thoroughly, ap
plied, the damage done annually by
the disease will he materially reduced.
9
HARMFUL EXTERNAL PARASITES.
EXTERNAL parasites frequently
canso heavy poultry losses, and
poultry men should quarantine their
flocks against them. Special methods
are required fir the control of the vari
ous kinds of pests, but certain general
measures aro often advisable
One of the best general methods is
fumigation. While not very effective
against any of the external parasites,
it should bo omployed for its great sani
tary value. It is conveniently applied
by slipping a tent that lias been treated
with linseed oil or carbolincum over the
colony chicken house and weighting
down the sides with a little dirt. Ths
fumes are then applied, after which the
tent is removed to tho next house, and
so on.
An account of the special methods
for most of the common poultry para
sites is given in College Bulletin "Some
External Parasites of Poultry," written
by Dr. IT. E. Ewing, research assistant
at the Oregon Agricultural College.
Free copies may be had by sending for
them to R. X. ITetzel, Extension director
Corvallis, Oregon. ., ,