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The Rural Voice, 1978-04, Page 17Mitchell crop day draws large crowd A large audience took in the sixth annual bean and corn clinic sponsored by W.G. Thompson and Sons Ltd. at the Mitchell and District Community Centre March 15. About 275 attended the event this year, up from about 135 in other years, according to Tony Bouw, Thompson manager. The event began with a full -course dinner and was followed by talks on corn and bean growing and weed control. Pat Lynch, soil and crops specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food led off the afternoon dealing with three serious diseases threatening the bean crops: anthracnose, bacterial blight, a and white mould. He said a new strain of anthracnose has developed a resistence to new bean varieties and will likely be around for a few years yet before it can be eradicated. The disease has reduced yields by 25-30 per cent in infected crops but recently better control has been achieved. Seeds need to be treated with a chemical to sterilize their surface. Mr. Lynch said. The process is expensive. about 75 cents per hundred weight and even then may not be effective if the disease has already gotten into the inside of the seed. The disease is spread through physical means, he said and said that scuffling of wet fields and walking through fields should be avoided as much as possible. The wet conditions of the past two years have promoted blight growth, he said and it has resulted in a 15-20 per cent reduction in yield. White mould can affect part of the plant under the right weather conditions but today three chemicals have been developed to combat the problem. Another speaker was Peter Smith of Chemagro who discussed the northern root worm and western root worm problems. He stressed that when using chemicals to control the worms. chemicals should be rotated because the worms can develop a resistence to a spray if used too often. He warned against carelessness in the use of farm chemicals. Another speaker dealt with cultivation practices. He said that farmers can damage their solids by too much cultivation, causing compaction. Land doesn't have to be worked more than two or three times, he said and excess cultivation can also waste money through fuel and wage costs. He suggested that farmers may have been putting on too much fertilizer and said that they should do soil tests to see just what is needed and a review of past cropping patterns would give an indication of the amount of fertilizer required. He suggested crop rotation as a method of combating rootworm and called for more care in applying sprays. He said that only pedigreed seed should be used and care should be taken about the proper rate of applying the seed. He said that good crops can be damaged by improper combining and suggested that the machine should be checked out before harvest to see it is working properly. He suggested too that farmers needing financing to put in their crops should prepare now by seeing their banker, not wait until a few days before they need the supplies and then find out that they can't get the approval for several days. These thoughts were echoed by Mr. Bouw. Don Little -johns of Thompsons said the company's corn breeding program which began in 1975 had resulted in the development of new and better hybrids and said that as of April 1, the company will also begin a cereal breeding program. He said that 1977 was a good year for soybeans with an average yield of about 40 bushels to the acre meaning a good profit but he warned that farmers should not expect that kind of yield, The year before he said, the crop had averaged only 25 bushels and said it was best to figure on 30 bushels as a good average. He said a good planting time is May 20-25 and said farmers new to the business might seek out antract. If beans are planted they should consider going without fertilizer, he said because fertilizer will burn the plants. He warned that good seed might be hard to get because last year's beans were damaged by weather and some that are mouldy and diseased are being sold as seed. Jim O'Toole. head of agronomy at Centralia College talked on controlling weeds such as milkweed, bindweed and Canadian thistle. He said these grew from root systems every year and so were hard to control. You can destroy the top but the weed will reappear. He suggested using chemicals that will work their way down in to the root system and kill the root. He said it is important to kill milkweed when it is in full flower, about mid-July, even though it may reduce crop yield by that time. Kincardine area men worried about warble control Two Kincardine township farmers appeared before the township council in March to seek higher subsidy for warble fly control. Loran Peters and Clarence Ackert told farmers they were looking for a higher subsidy than last year because they felt if the subsidy was higher more farmers would be interested in using control. The council made no committment, saying it would have to have more information on how much more the higher subsidy would cost the township. 'MI EXETER FARM EQUIPMENT LIMITED 242 MAIN ST. NORTH EXETER, ONTARIO [519] 235-1380 FARMERS check these prices on our used equipment USED MANURE SPREADERS •1-327 New Holland 130 bu. $1,100.00 •2-325 New Holland 130 bu. ... ea. 5975.00 • 1-155 I.H.C. 170 bu. $1,300. •1-175 M.F. 160 bu. $700. New NEW HOLLAND spreaders now interest free till July 1/78. USED GRINDER - MIXERS • 1-352 New Holland c/w drag feeder & 17' unloading auger ... $2,450. •1-357 New Holland c/w drag feeder 17' unloading auger ... $3,750. P.O. Box 729, Exeter, Ontario on Hwy. 4 just north of blinker light McKerlie Automotive All types of hydraulic hoses for hydraulic equipment Lincoln greasing equip- ment Quaker state oil and grease Fuel oil filters Hydraulic jacks Tools Batteries Car and implement paint. Main Street, EXETER, ONT. 235-1040 237-3519 (Dashwood) THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL1978. PG. 17.