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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1915)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION United States Department of Agriculture Special Page Bulletins and Special Articles Issued by the Government, of Interest to the Northwest; Suggestions Covering a Wide Range of Activities; Result of Federal Investigations, Etc. 8 Government Finds No Fooa Shortage Likely THE Department of Agriculture lias issued the following state ment: The 1914 wheat crop of the United States was estimated to be 891,000, 000 bushels. The estimated surplus carried over from the 1913 crop was about 76,000,000 bushels. There was, therefore, a total available sup ply of 967,000,000 bushels.- As the normal annual per capita consump tion of wheat in the United States is about 5.3 bushels, 520,000,000 bushels should meet our normal do mestic requirements for food; in ad dition, 90,000,000 bushels are re quired annually for seeding. Six hun dred and ten million bushels, there fore, should supply the normal do mestic demand. This would leave a surplus of 357, 000,000 bushels. Of this surplus about 210,000,000 bushels were ex ported by January 30. This left 147, 000,000, or 40,000,000 bushels more than our average annual export for the past five years, for export be tween February 1 and the appear ance of the new crop, or for carry ing over into the next crop year. The amount is sufficient to permit the export of nearly 1,000,000 bushels a day until July 1, before which time the new crop will begin to be avail able. This is about the average re cent exportation. The large demand for our wheat arises from the fact that there was an estimated world's shortage of over 400,000,000 bushels outside of the United States; from the fact that the Russian exportable surplus of 100,000,000 bushels is not available generally, and from the fact that the belligerent nations are eager to se cure food supplies. If it were not for these things we should be discussing ways and means of disposing of our tremendous surplus of food products. As has been stated, the new Amer ican crop will begin to appear before July. The Argentine crop is now coming on the market. It is estimated that from that source there will be available 100,000,000 bushels. A surplus of 75,000,000 bushels or more from India will be available in May and June. The increase in the Fall-sown wheat acreage of the United States in 1914 was 11.1 per cent, or over 4,000,000 acres; in the Northern hemisphere generally the acreage of Winter wheat shows an increase of from 3 to 33 per cent, as follows: Denmark 3 Per Cent Italy 6 Per Cent Switzerland 10 Per Cent United Kingdom 10 Per Cent United States 11 Per Cent India 22 Per Cent Canada 33 Per Cent But suppose a shortage in wheat should develop in the next three months, what would be the situation? There is a great surplus in other food crops in the United States, a number of which can be used as sub stitutes. Wheat does not constitute more than 12 per cent of the normal diet, about the same as poultry and eggs. Meat and dairy products con stitute 4 8 per cent, vegetables 11 per per cent, fruits, nuts, sugar, fish and other items the remaining 19 per cent. There are larger supplies of corn and other grains, meat animals, dairy products, potatoes and fruit at the opening of 1915 than for many years. The most important compet ing products are corn and potatoes. This Is shown by the fact that while the normal consumption of wheat is 5.3 bushels in Maine it is only 4.7 bushels, and in Michigan five. In the wheat-growing Btates where wheat is abundant, such as Minne sota, the average is 7.2, whereas in the South, where corn is much used, the average is four bushels. Nor mally about 3 per cent of the corn crop is consumed as food. Of our total crop about 80,000,000 bushels would be used for food, the remain der could be used for foods and sub stitutes used for animals. The potato production in the United States averages 3.8 bushels per capita. This year the available supply is 4.1 bushels. The average price of meat animals was 7 per cent cheaper in January than a year ago, butter 2 per cent lower, the price of chickens slightly lower, of potatoes 35 per cent lower, and of apples it was 37 per cent lower. It would seem that the United States Is not likely to be threatened with a shortage of foodstuffs. Mixed Flour Bread Experiments BAKING experiments to test the value of making bread of potato meal mixed with wheat flour are now being undertaken by the U. S. Department ot Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry. This is to test the possibilities of the potato in the same manner as Germany and Aus tria are now advising their people to do. The increased cost ot living throughout the world has emphasized the fact that flour made of other substances than wheat, or of these substances mixed with wheat, might provide people with healthful food quite as nutritious as the pure wheat flour and at the same time cheaper. Austrian bakers are now compelled by law to use at least 80 per cent potato-meal In making their bread. The Bureau of Chemistry's potato meal bread has been baked with from 25 to 50 per cent potato-meal and the remaining percentage wheat. The most satisfactory loaves In com bining economy and appearance were those made with the minimum per centage allowed in Austria or less. The loaves made with more than 30 per cent potato-meal were not so satisfactory, as they were heavier and less attractive in form. The bread has a rather coarse texture and dark appearance, but possesses a distinc tive and agreeable flavor. It also re tains moisture for a much longer period than ordinary wheat bread. Potato Flake. The Bureau of Chemistry used the imported "potato flake" In some of Its experiments and In others meal made by slicing, milling and drying potatoes on a small scale In its labor atories. It should be added that such ordinary "potato flour" as is on our American markets is not the same as the German "potato flake" or Walz mehl which has given such satisfac tory results in the experiments. The question has been raised as to whether the ordinary cooked potato might not be satisfactorily substitut ed for the prepared potato-meal. The experimenters believe that it might serve the same purpose It used in just the right proportion, but this would be difficult for the average housewife to determine, as there is great danger of using too much and producing a very Boggy loaf. How ever, the custom of adding a very little potato is already used by many housekeepers to keep their bread moist and this practice can very well be recommended for more general use. Banana and Chestnut Bread. Dried bananas, ripe and unripe, and chestnuts are other substitutes for wheat flour with which experi ments are being made by the bu reau of chemistry. Still other prod ucts which offer promise of furnish ing the public with a cheap and nu tritious bread are the following: Bran, soy bean, white bean, millet, kaflr, milo, dasheen, cottonseed flour, oatmeal, cassava, buckwheat, rye, corn gluten, kaoliang, rice (polished and natural), peas, potato (Irish and sweet), corn meal (white and yel low). The breads made from these vari ous ingredients have already been photographed and analyzed. The flours from which the breads were made are being analyzed that It may be known exactly how nutritious they are in comparison with the pure wheat flour. The soy bean and cot tonseed flours, when mixed with wheat flours in proper proportions (about 25 per cent), give a bread with about twice the amount of pro tein (muscle-building element) that ordinary wheat bread contains. Law Makes Mixed Flour Unpopular. The bureau of chemistry is making these experiments in spite ot the fact that there is a law which makes it difficult for manufacturers to make mixed flour satisfactorily. This law surrounds the manufacture of mixed flour with so many restrictions that the business has not become a popular one. The result is there is very little mixed flour at present manufactured and offered for sale. The mixed flour act was passed in 1898 before thero was a food and drugs act, and was passed for the the purpose of raising a war revenue at a time when many of the common articles of food did not command so high a price as now. The tax of 4 cents which Is now Imposed on every barrel of mixed flour is not In Itself a heavy one; it is the collection of it with the attend ant regulations and restrictions that hamper any manufacturer who would like to make such flours. It should be stated in connection with the mixing of other materials with wheat flour in making bread that this cannot always be done eco nomically. There must be taken into consideration the prevailing market prices ot the commodities to be used. This article Is written primarily for the purpose of bringing to the attention of the public the fact that In order to obtain good, nutritious and wholesome bread it is not nec essary to use an entirely wheat flour. A mixture will in many cases produce a bread which is quite as satisfactory. With this a matter of common knowledge, It is believed in times of over-production and the consequent favorable market prices of substances suitable for mixing with wheat flour that bakers may wish to experiment with certain mixtures. Care should be taken, however, in marketing or selling of bread to which has been added In appreciable amount any ingredient other than wheat, that no deception is practiced and that the consumers are aware of the kind of biead being furnished them. Use Cactus Solution in Arsenical Sprays AN ENTOMOLOGIST of the De partment of Agriculture, who had seen Mexicans add cactus to whitewash in order to make it stick to boards, derived from this the idea that cactus solution would make ar senical sprays for killing insects ad here to plants and thus protect the plants against insect ravages for a longer period. As the result of a series of experiments with the ordi nary "prickly pear" or (Opuntla Iindhelmeri) Engelm, which is plen tiful In the Southwest, it has been found that if sliced prickly pears, or indeed any other cactus of sufficient size, are added to the water before the zinc arsenite or Paris green and the lime are put in, the mixture will stick to the plants much better than be effective for a much longer period. The experiments were made with the cucumber and similar plants, which are attacked by the belted cucumber beetle, (Diabrotlca baltca ta,) and it was found that In regions where prickly pears are obtainable the method Is excellent to prevent damage by Inserts with habits simi lar to those of the belted cucumber beetle, such as the 12-spotted cucum ber beetle, etc. The method used was as follows: The spines were first burned from the prickly pears, then sliced at right angles to the spine, or In cases of large pears, cut both ways. The sliced cactus was then put In water and allowed to soak over night. It was found that 1 5 pomids of spiny cactus to 50 gallons of water is about the proper proportion. Where too much cactus Is used it interferes with the spray. The water over-night draws out the muci laginous substance from the cactus, which makes the adhesive for the poisonous substances. Cactus grown on low, wet soil possesses less of this muctllaglnous substance and more water than cactus growing In high, dry regions. Another test was made with cactus solution as compared with whale-oil soap. Very careful notes were made and It was found that the soap equaled the cactus in spreading power, but the cactus spray adhered better than the soap spray. There fore the cactus was favored, since heavy dews will wash poison with slight adhesive qualities from the foliage in a short time. The water from the cactus waB drawn off, and with It In one set of experiments were mixed three pounds of zinc arsenite with 50 gal lons of water. This was used in sprays on sugar beet plants Infested with the striped cucumber beetle. Check experiments showed that in about six days after spraying all the beetles were dead. In another experiment one-half pound of Paris green and two pounds of .lime were used with 50 gallons of the water of the cactus solution. Again the spray, within a few days, killed all the beetles. European Starling Is Found Pest in Orchard IN ITS annual report for the last fiscal year, the bureau of biologi cal survey of the United States De partment of Agriculture reports as follows on the European starling: . Introduced into the United States nearly 25 years ago, the European starling has gradually extended its range from New York City, and now it it found in the neighboring states of Conoctlcut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachu setts. During its migrations in search of food It ranges much farther from the original center and occurs in con siderable numbers as far south even as the District of Columbia. The starling is markedly insectiv orous, especially in Summer, and preys upon many noxious varieties. In this respect it is to be classed among our most useful birds. So far as is known, it has not proved de structive to grain crops, but it is knowu to be very fond of small fruits, and as it associates in large (locks It is likely to become a pest to the orchordlst. In addition, It prefers tree cavi ties, boxes, or recesses In buildings for nesting sites and thus Is brought into direct competition with certain of the useful native birds, more par ticularly the bluebird, purple martin, whitc-bollied swallow, house wren and flicker. The bird Is steadily extending its territory, and it will be wise to with draw all protection from it, as has already been done in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsyl vania, Including the center of its abundance, with a view of checking its increase and spread. The ship ment of these birds from one state to another has been prohibited under heavy penalty by act of Congress. Under ordinary cirsumstanccs, even after all protection is with drawn, the bird will probably prove to be capable of taking care of Itself. That ultimately it will spread over a large part of the United States is highly probable. Hog-Cholera Remedy Makers Misuse Facts THE attention of the bureau of an imal industry of the United States Department of Agriculture has been railed to the fact that the mak ers of a medicine sold as a hog-cholera remedy are misusing Government figures of the results obtained by Federal agents by the use ot anti-hog-cholera serum, as evidence of the efficacy of their medicine. In several magazines there have appeared read ing notices In which there are state ments that, this medicine has resulted in saving many hogs from hog chol era In Pettis County, Missouri, Mont gomery County, Indiana, and Dallas County, Iowa. The figures given to Indicate the results are exactly those reported to the department by Its agents as show ing the use and effect of antl-hog-cholera serum In sick herds. For example, the Government fig ures on the use of serum, which are misused In this way by the medicine concern, are as follows: Tenia County, Missouri lings In In fected lieids treated, 5901; hogs lost. 1038. Montgomery County, Indiana Num ber of eiek hogs In Infected herds treated, 4562; hogs lost, 894. Dalian County, Iowa Number of nick hogs In Infected herd treated, 5686; hogs lost, 1998. It Is scarcely possible that any remedy could havo been used on Identically the same number ot hogs and with exactly the same results as the antl-hog-cholera serum. On this point the Inspector in charge in Pet tis County, Missouri, says: "As far as we are able to acertaln, none of this remedy has been used in Pettis County." Farmers and others, therefore, are warned not to confuse this "remedy" with the antl-hog-cholera serum which Is the one method of treatment used by the Federal Department of Agriculture. Progress, "And you actually went to ask old Billlnger for his daughter's hand?" "Yes, I did." "How'd you get along?" "Fine. Not the least bit of trou ble. He talked war talk all the time I was there and never gave me a chance to say a word." Cleveland Plain Dealer.
