Oregon Agricultural College is the Friend of the Farmer
Page of News Notes and Interesting Articles Written by College Experts.
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TREATMENT FOR SMUT,
OREGON farmerg annually lose
many thousands of dollars from
smut in their grain crops. This
smut, according to Professor H. D.
Scudder of the Agricultural Collegd.
gTeatly lowers the market value of
wheat and also rapidly increases in
amount from a very small begin
ning. Thus it becomes of the great
est importance that the farmer in
sure his crop against the ravages of
smut by some effective treatment.
Fortunately these treatments are
simple and relatively inexpensive.
For the stinking or covered smut
the seed wheat is fanned and a day
or so prior to seeding time is given
either the formaldehyde or copper
Bulphate ("bluestone") treatment.
The first is decidedly the better. One
of the simplest methods of treatment
Is dipping the sacked wheat by
means of a home-made derrick Into
a trough containing formaldehyde.
The proper mixture contains one
pound or pint of formalin to every
forty gallons of water. The sack of
wheat should remain immersed in
the solution until thoroughly wet to
the center, which generally requires
from five to ten minutes. It should
then be taken out and the excess
solution permitted to drain off. The
grain should be allowed to dry out
fairly well before It is sown.
A method rather more effective is
to pour the seed into the solution
jtirring It and skimming off any
smut balls that may appear, then
taking it from the solution and par
tially drying it before seeding.
The drill itself, of course, should
be disinfected with the same solu
tion and the treated grain should
be put back only into sacks that
have been disinfected or new and
unused. Where the seed is not sown
immediately after treatment, it is
better to dry it out by shoveling It
over and spreading it thinly on a
clean tapaulin or floor, since the
vitality of the seed is considerably
affected by lack of care in drying it
out thoroughly after dipping. It la
of the greatest importance that
farmers get formalin of guaranteed
strength and purity. The commer
cial form of 40 per cent formalde
hyde is the kind to be used in the
ratio of one pint to forty gallons of
water.
HORTICULTURAL EXHIBIT
AT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE
A FRUIT, vegetable and flower
show will be held by the Hor
ticultural division of the Agri
cultural College on November 7. The
following list of exhibits has been
prepared for the occasion:
, A collection of apples from vari
ous parts of the United States;
Competitive three plate exhibits
by students, apples to be grown in
any section of the country;
A collection of 75 jars of nuts by
The Oregon Nursery Co.;
Collection of sub-tropical fruits by
graduates of the college in Califor
Bia; Collection of sub-tropical fruits
from Southern Florida;
A by-product exhibit including
canned fruits, vegetables and fruit
Juices;
A chrysanthemum show;
A demonstration of the proper
methods of pruning roses;
A demonstration of the potting
and re-potting of house plants;
A collection of plants suitable for
student rooms and for homes;
A collection of flowers from flor
tots;
A collection of vegetable garden
HOME AND FATTM
Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon, the
ing seeds from various parts of the
country.
A collection of vegetable by-products;
A collection of vegetable type3
from various truck farms of the
state;"
A collection of greenhouse vege
tables; A collection of vegetable packages
and methods of packing;
A collection of implements used
in vegetable gardening;
A demonstration showing best
types of plants and methods of
transplanting the same;
A contest among the women of the
college on floral table decorations;
A contest by the women of the
college on the best cooked apples.
All horticulturists are invited to
attend this educational exhibit
CHEMICALS USUALLY BAD
AS CIDER PRESERVATIVES
THE use of chemicals in preserv
ing sweet cider, as quite fre
quently recommended in some
parts of the state, should not be
undertaken by those unacquainted
with the action and effect of chemi
cals. The three chemicals that are
most frequently recommended are
salicylic acid, calcium sulfite and
benzoate of soda, and there are
many reasons to believe that they
exert a bad influence on the health
of those who use them in preserved
food products. Their use in food
products offered on the market Is
either prohibited by law or greatly
restricted. Our dairy and food com
missioner has brought a number of
prosecutions based on the use of
sulfite, whose use is prohibited In
Oregon. Benzoate of soda may not
he used in excess of one tenth of
one per cent, and in less strength
would not control fermentation.
"There are three principal ways of
checking fermentation," says Pro
fessor Tarter, chemist of the Oregon
Agricultural College. Low temper
ature mere holds the ferment bac
teria in check, the cider gradually
becomes sour. A very high tempera
ture will kill the bacteria, and If the
product is then bottled and sealed It
will keep sweet indefinitely. Unfor
tunately this temperature injures the
quality and flavor of the cider. Chem
icals strong enough to destroy the
fermentative organisms are very apt
to injure the health of those who
use the products preserved by tXem.
Digestion itself is largely a matter of
fermentation that is brought about
by the action of the so-called soluble
ferments. The action is stopped or
largely inhibited by these chemicals,
so that their use involves a risk too
great to be taken by the layman."
INCREASING THE PROFIT
OX GRAIN FED TO HOGS
,7 PUTTING protein into grain fed
to hogs the feeder nearly dou
bles on every eent invested eco
nomically in protein material. Skim
milk or butted milk in the propor
tion of one and a half pounds of
milk to one pound of grain will pro
duce a much more efficient use of
the grain, parts of which are not
utilized when grain is fed alone.
Crain does not contain all the feed
elements in the right proportion to
suit (he pig's needs.
Where milk is not available, tank
age makes the cheapest protein sup
ply in Oregon. Ten pounds of tank
age at $50 a ton added to 90 pounds
of grain at present prices increases
the cost of 100 pounds of feed ten
cents, but it increases the pork yield
2.65 pound, which at 7 cents per
pound amounts to $18.65 per hun
MAGAZINE SECTION
Sole Aim of Which la to Aid Agriculturists.
dred. The cost of this increase yield
was but J 10.
"In terms of returns per hundred
pounds of gain on the hog, the feed
er secures 87.5 cents more by feed
ing tankage with grain than by feed
ing straight grain," says Professor
Samson, who conducted the feeding
tests. "In terms of the price that
the pigs return for 100 pounds of
grain the tankage causes them to
return 23.3 cents more, which is
J4-66 more per ton. If pigs wero
paying only market prices for grain
fed alone, this $4.66 may justly be
counted as the feeder's profit. This
profit is further increased in the
fertilizing value of the manure.
FOUND HEREFORD HERD.
FOUNDATION stock for an Agricul
tural College her dof pure-bred
Herefords has been purchased by
the Animal Husbandry department
It had been the intention of Profes
sor Potter, bead of the department,
to go east to get this stock, since
only the best types were desired, but
he found precisely what he was
looking for in the herd of George
Chandler, of Baker City, from whom
the following fine animals were se
cured: One cow and calf, four
yearling heifers, all breeding stock
of the projected Hereford herd tt
match the splendid herd of college
Shorthorns. At the same time four
head of Hereford steer calves and
four head of yearlings were pur
chased for use as elass and show
animals. In addition to these ani
mals 100 head of two-year old
Shorthorn steers were purchased for
experimental feeding at the Union
branch station, with which field
peas and barley hay will be tried
out and the value of grain with al
falfa hay ascertained.
MILKING CONTESTS AT FAIRS,
alLKINO contests at various
county fairs in Oregon are
unique and valuable features
reported by some of the Agricultural
College specialists that judged the
fairs. These contests are conducted
by weighing and testing the milk
of each cow entered, usually for a
period of two to five days. The
prises are awarded, as previously
announced, either on the whole
amount of milk produced by each
cow during the contest, on the total
butterfat content of each cow or
upon a combination of both points.
These contests invariably arouse a
great deal of Interest among the
visitors of the fairs, and undoubted
ly result in a great deal of good.
Not only do farmers learn the ex
act value of each cow as a milk pro
ducer, but they learn in a general
way the type of animal most profit
able in the dairy herd and the meth
ods of testing that can be applied
to their own herd.
A MAN TO BE
First Considers Quality, Then
Buys at Lowest Prices.
SEE ME FOR
WATER SYSTEMS
of All Kinds.
LIGHTING PLANTS
Electric and Carbide.
PLUMBING SUPPLIES AT
WHOLESALE.
R. A. TWISS
Fourth and Jefferson Streets
Portland, Oregon.
THE COUNTRY STORE.
IJiiwiE in fluence of the country
store and its owner in Na
tional development has been
a factor of tremendous importance,"
writes Dr. Hector Macpherson of the
Oregon Agricultural College. "Ai
the frontier planted settlements in
its westward adbance the country
store became everywhere the first
nuclous of social and economic prog
ress. It was the clearing house of
ideals, and the medium through
which news from outside the new
settlement reached the inhabitants.
It became their first postofflce, and
it was to a large extent the forum
from which public opinion and
neighborhood policy were crystal
ized. It bridged the gap between
the pioneer communily aud the big
world outside. The storekeeper
brought In whatever goods the
neighborhood wanted and was ever
on the alert for markets for tho
community products. As the grow
ing population began to practic
division of labor the store was a
medium through which the surplus
products were exchanged. Families
having more potatoes, butter, eggs,
and other produce than they could
use traded out their surplus with
the grocer who resold them to fam
ilies producing none for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln was probably only
one among hundreds who sharpened
their wlta and won their spurs over
the counter of the country store."
MAKING UP MEAT SHORTAGE.
HOG cholera alone takes enough
meat from the visible supply to
make up the present deficiency,
is the surprising conclusion of Dr.
Virgil Knowles, Federal and O. A.
C. specialist now working on the
hog cholera problem in Oregon.
"The farmer bringing his drove of
hogs right up to the marketing
stage, putting his entire grain crop
into them with the expectation that
they will bring in a badly needed
money supply and then seeing them
die on his hands, has lost more than
his hogs he has lost confidence in
the swine industry. It takes mora
pluck and presidency than the aver
age man possesses to turn around
after such an experience and take
up the task of raising another drove
of hogs. He will probably lack
even the capital for producing a new
herd, and if not he will not be very
enthusiastic about doing so. But
most of the losses fro mhog cholera
are preventable, and there is no
more promising way of making up
the meat shortage than by banishing
the disease from the slate and the
county. We hope with the aid oi
farmers and newspaper men to ban
ish it from Oregon and to keep It
out."
SUCCESSFUL
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