TTOMK AND FARM MA0 AZTNK SECTION
a
Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Suggeitionj From Our Associate Editors, Allowing for an Interchange of Views, W ritten by Men of Experience on Topics W ith
Which They Are Fully Acquainted—Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
OU MAY H A V E to beg or b o r­
row —do an y th in g b u t steal
— th e money, b u t rem em ber
, th e tim e o f y e a r is fa s t ap p ro ach ­
ing when farm ers m ust begin p u t­
t i n g up silage. A nd you c a n ’t put
up silugo w ithout a silo.
I f you have a silo, ju s t pass this
up.
I t ’s m eant fo r th e man who
h a s n 't.
Some farm ers havo silos, b u t
d o n 't know the value of silage.
T hey are few.
Some realizo th e value of silage
b u t h a v e n 't silos.
S till o th ers n eith er understand
th e w orth of silage nor have silos.
I t 's tim e to consider th is silage
question seriously.
T here is scarcely any system of
farm feeding which w ill add to the
p ro fits o f th e farm like the use of
silage.
1 I f you carry on d airying, you
■imply c a n 't a ffo rd to be w ithout
one. You lose money every day
you h a v e n 't one.
Silos provide succulent feed.
T hey also reduce th e am ount of
co n cen trated feed required by the
stock.
One most strik in g ad v an tag e
silage has is th a t rain or bad
w eather need not in terfe re with the
h arv estin g of th e crop.
W ith all these good points, w hy
n o t m ake up your m ind to have a
silo today?
I n the w ords of th e a d v ertise­
m en t: Do it now!
Some farm ers w ill p refer to buy
th e ir own silos.
Some will p re fe r to buy th e lum ­
b er to con stru ct them.
O thers will choose concrete for
th e sam e purpose.
The question of type Is a tro u b le­
some one. The answ er depends on
local conditions— and finances.
I f you w ant assistance, why drop
a line to your ag ricu ltu ral college.
I t w ants to be of help.
Look over the ad v ertisin g col­
u m n s . W rite a line to the silo
m anufactu rers. Discuss th e m a tte r
w ith them . They will give you good
advice.
I f you doubt th is, rem em ber
th a t silos are not th e only things
you will w an t to buy. The m anu­
fa c tu re r or ag en t knows he has to
s a tis fy th e farm er. One farm er
pleased is in effe c t m any poten tial
custom ers.
The farm er never h esitates to
g ive a word of advice to his friends.
Ä nd advice o ften m akes sales.
The m an u factu rers know this.
T h a t is w hy th e ir advice will ba
h onest; why it will help you in
buying a silo.
A cheap silo, th a t is ono not
overly expensive, is b e tte r th an
none a t all.
I t m ay be th e most expensive in
th e long run, however.
A silo constructed of durable m a­
te ria ls is th e one to be preferred.
The p it silo, w hile b e tte r th an
none, is th e least to be p referred.
The v a rie ty of crops which can
be used fo r silage is composed of
ju s t w hat a farm er raises. The
v a rie ty is so large th a t no farm er
is w ithout such a crop.
Corn is th e crop m ost commonly
used. P eas and oats, vetch and
oats, peas’ and b arley or vetch and
barley are popular com binations for
silage. C lover and corn m ake a
good com bination; so do w heat and
clover. In fa ct, m any dairym en pin
th e ir fa ith on th is la s t com bination.
B ye can be used to advantage.
In a last resort, use weeds, b u t n o t
u n til o th er crops have been ex ­
hausted.
B ut you c a n 't use silage till yon
have a silo.
T hink over th a t silage question.
Then buy or build.
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UNCLE SAM NAPPING.
'E FANCY every fa rm e r—or
even th e common, ord in ary
v a rie ty o f c ity m an—who
gets a copy of th e G o v ern m en t's
latest b u lletin will snicker.
W
«
n o w to n g n t D andelions
is
th e title.
I t ’s 10-ycar old T e d d y ’s job to
keep th e law n in shape. When
T eddy read th a t book he laughed
loud.
I t suggests th a t first you thicken
th e grass and crowd out th e dande­
lions.
We wonder if those ex p erts ever
saw th a t work.
We d id n ’t.
Then, ap p aren tly considering th a t
plan will be a failure, th e work says
airily and flip p an tly , w hy ju st cut
o ff tho tops and sprinkle salt on the
roots.
D o n 't laugh too much. T h ere's
more.
H ere is the real remedy. I f the
crow ding out does not crowd out
th e dandelions, and if the pesky
th in g s seem to th riv e on salt, why
then, says th e G overnm ent bulletin,
the only sure w ay is to spade them
out.
Said Teddy:
“ Why, I knew th a t all the
tim e .' ’
B ut those governm ent officials
seem to have a few wee doubts ns
to w hether even spading out will
work, fo r they console us w ith the
comm ent th a t “ dandelions are a
v aluable tru ck c ro p ’ ’ in some
countries.
We wish wo had th a t ex p ert here.
W e ’d let him try h :s plans in
order som e warm day on our stretch
of grass.
A nd then we d laugh.
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OPTIMISTIC CROP REPORTS.
1 ROM all over the country crop
reports in d icate a bum per
w heat crop th is year.
This sounds fine.
B ut will it have the e ffe c t most
to be desired b y the farm er?
We have some doubts.
Those in a position to judge who
have trav eled over a num ber of
sta te s say th e crop will be a good
one; but th a t it is grossly exagger­
ated.
These exaggerated stories will
h u rt the farm er when it comes tim e
to sell his crop.
I t is even hinted b y unkind p er­
sons th a t many of the stories have
been p u t in circulation by g rain
m anipulators.
There is tin s to be said about
optim istic crop prophecies.
T hey can be so optim istic as to
force down prices to th e g re a t in ­
ju ry of th e grow er.
I t is never to th e in te re st of a
w heat grow ing country to over-esti­
m ate its yield in advance.
F _
THE COUNTRY BANKER.
H E A M ERICA N country b an k er
lias been im m ortalized. H e will
livo fo rev er in the m inds of
all people in all countries.
O f course, all country bankers
aro not like D avid Ila ru m —would
th ey were.
T here would not be m any money
troubles.
B ut it is in terestin g to know th a t
th e country b an k er form s th e m ain ­
stay o f th e banks of this country.
Wo learned on good au th o rity the
o th sr day th a t the “ big b a n k e r”
can no longer order the sm all b a n k ­
er around.
In a recen t editorial, the F in an ­
cier, a paper concerning money and
moneyed in terests, com m ented on
tho com pilation of percentages o f
m em bership of th e American B an k ­
er» ’ A ssociation b y W. D. V incent,
of th e Old N atio n al B ank o f Spo­
kane.
Pino name that—Old National
Bank.
M r V incent said th a t “ over 'JO
per cent of th e A m erican B a n k e rs’
A ssociation banks are to be known
aa country banks. ’ ’
T h at means, he m ight have add­
ed, th a t 75 per cent o f the m em ber­
ship is composed of b anker-farm ers
— the D avid H arem s o f real life.
Tbs Financier says ths average
country banker, like the av erag s
newspaper, politician, demagogue,
has not realized how scarce, reis-
tiv ely speaking, are th e “ big bank
era. ”
I t is the av erag e fa rm e r,th e av e r­
age m erchant, b an k er and citizen
of the country town who have made
th is country great.
They are tho folk who, m ainly,
make up th is country.
As a rule they are unassertive.
We hear little of them.
We do not stop to realize how
m inorities—som etimes m ighty sm all
ones— freq u en tly control, direct and
make tho rep u tatio n , good or bad,
for th e inactiv e, inoffensive m a­
jo rity .
And all th is is a roundabout way
of advising you to get to know
your co u n try banker.
Y ou’ll find he is a p re tty decent
fellow a fte r all.
Then tell him so.
mer m akes fo r health. Black, blue
or any dark cloth is a heat absorb­
ent and injurious.
“ Our sum mer tem peratures are
as high, and som etimes higher, th an
in the tropics. Tho fa c t th a t th e
a ir is d ry er is all th a t saves us.
W hite clothes in tho tropics are
not a whim of fashion—they are a
trib u te to necessity and health.
“ The man in (lark, heavy cloth­
ing alw ays is rushing to the ice
w a te r,” continued Dr. »Crumbine.
“ Anil ten to one he will have a
grouch on, while tho cool man in
w hite clothing is serene and cvcn-
tem pered.
Tho ice w ater, dark
clothing and tho grouch are d e tri­
m ental to public aud p riv ate
h e a lth .”
O f course, it is not as hot out
here as it is in Kansas.
J u s t th e same it is hot enough
to make w hito clothes pleasant.
M aybe they would look odd on
the farm fo r a day or two.
But w hat does th a t compare w ith
com fort.
We serve notice rig h t here we
are going to try out y o u r advice,
Dr. I'rum binc.
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WHEAT RECORDS.
'E read th a t the largest w inter
w heat crop in the history of
the U nited S tates is p re d ic t­
ed for th is y ear by th e crop re p o rt­
ing board of th e d ep artm en t of a g ­
riculture.
“ A com bination of the larg est
acreage ever recorded, witli a
prom ise of the largest yield per
acre ever recorded, m ake th e pres­
en t condition of w heat notew or­
th y ,” says a late report.
There is not a single s ta te w ith
un fav o rab le reports.
The forecast is for 630,000,000
bushels.
We hope the farm ers of this
country h arv est every bushel of it.
Then we hope they got a good
price.
L astly , we hope th ey share th a t
good fo rtu n e witli th eir wives.
OFF FOR THE HOLIDAY.
HE city man is talk in g o f hard
T He _ times.
d o e sn 't
mean it. He likes
to talk.
H ave you heard the farm er talk
hard tim es w ith his hum|>er crops?
O r the wool man witli wool higher
th a n it has been fo r ev er so long?
H ardly.
Tho c ity man says he c a n 't a f ­
ford to ta k e a holiday th is year.
H e 'll go ju s t tlie same.
And so will th e farm er.
And his fam ily.
H e 'll get the tan g o f the fresh
salt a ir in his nostrils, tak e a few
d a y ’s rest, get a new lease on life.
M aybe it will be th e m ountains
th a t will lure him w ith th eir b rac­
ing air.
P erhaps the springs will tonic
him.
B ut w h atev er th e place, it will
mean a holiday, vacation, change.
We need change and rest. Wo
w ant to rem em ber we are not mice
in treadm ills.
New ideas for b e tte r farm ing in­
v ariab ly follow a holiday. You
come back a new man.
You w o n ’t be alone, either.
S ta tistic s show th a t 75 per cent
of the holiday m akers a t our
beaches and o th er resorts are com­
posed of farm ers and th eir fam i­
lies.
Jo in them th is year.
You'll like it.
And y o u ’ll w onder w hy y o s nev­
er did it before.
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M
V
CABBAGE SEED.
- LL kinds o f records have been
made in tho N orthw est.
H e re ’s a new one.
Wc read it in Colonel B le th e n 's
paper, the Times.
Which is as much as to say it ’■
tree.
“ More th a n 25 per cen t of all
the cabbage seed annually planted
in the U nited S tates is raised ia
La Conner d istric t of W ashington,”
says Colonel B letb cn 's new spaper.
“ This is a conservative estim ate.
“ Some say the L a C onner dis­
trict raises lialf the natiou s cab ­
bage seed. ’ ’
A lthough it tak es tw o y ears for
a crop, y e t the retu rn s are large
enough to bo w orth while.
It is estim ated th a t 1,500 pounds
of seed an acre, w orth nearly $450,
is the output.
C u lt iv a t io n a n d care run aw ay
w ith money, yet the p ro fits are e s ­
tim ated a t $200 an acre each year.
By plan tin g a tr a c t of seed in
cabbage on a lte rn a te years, a year­
ly harvest may be realized.
And the seed is said to lie th s
best to be found in the whole coun­
try .
T h a t's th e w ay of the i.o rtb w c st
—raising the best th ere is.
And w o 'h a v c got t> th an k th s
ag ricu ltu ral colleges.
A
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IT H good steak re ta ilin g nt all
the w ay from 20 to 30 cents a
pound there ought to be little ques­
tion th a t th ere w ill be good money
in the c a ttle business for any farm ­
er who will follow it consistently.
W
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T IIE largest stra w b e rry beds ia
■
the world are in H am pshire!
E ngland. From th is one district
1,300 tons of berries were shipped
la s t year.
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U T in D akota if a th ie f steals
one chicken it ia called p e tit larceny,
b a t if he g ets aw ay w ith m ore it is
called g ran d larceny. T his is cer­
ta in ly a d ifferen ce w ith a .«»•
gcancc.
,
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WHITE CLOTHES.
R. J. C. CRUM BINE, secre­
ta ry of the K an sas S ta ts
B oard of H ealth , has a fin s
and novel idea.
The b est p a rt of his idea is th a t
it is based on common sense.
He has addressed a circular to
th e men o f K an sas ask in g them to
discard th e ir blue and black sum ­
m er clothing fo r w hite.
He wears w hits during the hot
season and says it [ays.
Also, be would discard ice water
as a menace to health.
“ Women have learned th s rains
of w hits dresses ia the summer
tim e,” said Dr. Crumbins. “ 1 ca n ’t
understand why ths men h a v en ’t
learned ‘.ha lesson long ago. Any­
thing that resists heat is ths sum­
Z
T IB a truth that all o f ns ongH
to realize more fully than we de
that both good and evil thoughts and
impulses grow weaker if not pad
into action.
I
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[J I G S may be ’’ ornery” on oee*.
■
sion, but a hen that gets
into her noddle that she doesn ’I
want to Mt where the owner wants
her to set, takes the modal from thg
Pig.
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HE FfRBT man to make and us*
an inrnbator was ridiculed and
considered a sort of lnnatie. Now
the fellow who trice to ran a plant
without one is called an old foot*
and thought to be tasking practiwd
gray matter.
4