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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-01-27, Page 20,I IPsos 20 Ix is pel!•wavecare, aanuary SI, 110• -'u a 0 f� 1 Save at least s3°° Nume 'Addre s s (present subscribers please attach your mailing label) ) Telephone ostal P Code Canadian Subscribers Only ❑ I already have a subscription. Please add ---- years to my present subscription. ❑ I wish to start my subscription for ---- years. 1 have enclosed a cheque or money order for $17 per year. I have enclosed a cheque or money order for $17 Per year, nimlI}u1miI!iummePlinno Cut the cost of Subscribing to the Times -Advocate we hate to do it, but rapidly rising costs of virtually all the materials necessary to produce a qualit newspaper have forced us to raise our subscription price. Since our last increase we have, been able to. absorb, the extra charges from our suppliers, but now we must charge you less than the price of a chocolate bar to send you the hometown news each week. However, .we're not going to spring the increase on our readers suddenly. Everybody . will have a chance to subscribe for as many years as they want at our old price of only $17.00 per year...BUT YOU MUST DO IT BEFORE JANUARY 31, 1982. A one year subscription will be $20 after January 31i 1982 You can buy for as many years as you want at a Savings of at least '3.00 per year. When you take advantage of our special offer you'll actually be paying only 32 cents per long copy....and you can have this price frozen for as as you want. Our News Stand price will be 50c per single copy after Jan. 31, 1982 f %1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 mew 4 4 4 Imes Serving South Huron, North Middleseit A 1 vocat North Lambton Since 1873 BLOOD DONOR - Monique Vander Ploeg one of the donors at Thursday's blood clinic at Huron Park is being assisted by volunteer. Joe Vink. T -A photo. Huron farm and home news Check saw, soil structure The chain saw is a very im- portant piece of equipment on many farms. It is also a very dangerous tool! The majority of chain saw injuries are caused by kickbacks. To avoid kickbacks, make cer- tain that the nose of the cut- ting bar is clear of all obstacles. Operators should hold their saw securely and position their feet properly to counteract any kickbacks. These simple precautions will help you avoid a chain saw injury: J. Heard, Assistant Agricultural Representative Confused by soil texture and soil structure? This past fall I sat on a com- mittee to hire a staff member for Centralia College of Agricultural Technology. As each candidate was inter- viewed, I had a chance to ask questions. I quizzed them on the difference between soil structure and soil texture. I also asked them how farmers in the Centraliaareawere af- fecting _either texture or structure in 1981. The timing of this interview was Ideal for this type of ques- tion. It was during some of that ,wet weather last fall. Some of the corn was harvested and some of you were pulling plows through the fields with tractors. (It was really too wet to plough in the conventional sense, so - I will just refer to it as pulling plows through fields]. When asked this question, one candidate said` soil tex- ture refers to the relative amount of organic matter, sand, silt and clay particles in a certain soil. For instance, a typical loam soil might have 22 percent clay particles 44 percent silt particle' and 30 percent sand particles. The rest of the soil is organic mat- ter. A typical clay soil would have more clay particles and less silt and sand particles." This was a text book answer. Generally it is im- possible to change soil tex- • lure. The percent of clay, silt and sand particle that you had when you bought the farm is the same as it is now. He continued - "soil struc- ture is different. Soil struc- ture refers to the way these sand, silt and clay particles fit together to form aggregates. Generally, you want the soil aggregates to fit together loosely. You need lots of spaces- tween the ag- gregatesf there are lots of spaces in topsoil, the roots can penetrate through the soil easily. These spaces also allow rain water to move down through the soil freely. • Lots of spaces also allow the soil to hold more moisture and air. Sometimes we forget about it, but we have to have air in the soil. To the candidates who satisfactorily answered the first question I asked "How can farmers affect structure and texture?" One candidate mentioned that the more of- ten you work a seed bed, the smaller these soil aggregates became. This means fewer spaces between the soil aggregates. The amount of organic mat- ter ina soil affects these soil aggregates. Organic matter acts like a gluing substance. It helps to hold soil particles Vtieelogoteat - For a second time Rev. Wittich was prevented from preaching at t1Je Sunday ser- vice due to weather con- ditions. Mrs. Scratch acted in his place with Mr. Bissett assisting at the organ. The Thursday afternoon chapel service was held at Huronview. Mrs. Protjty1ed in the hymns and scripture. and sang a solo. ' Huronview would like to welcome Mrs. Arabelle Tuckey from Exeter and who is now living- on Women's Bed Care. Mrs. Mabel McClymont from Clinton is also living on Women's Bed Care. Earl Lawson is also a new resi- dent this past week and Earl is from Clinton and living on Men's Bed Care. together as aggregates. I asked one candidate if soil structure was affected by soil texture. He said, "Definitely. Some soils have good soil structure, no matter what you do. That is becauseof their soil texture". [Remember, soil texture is the amount of sand, silt and.clay in a soil). "Sand particles can be 20 times larger than silt par-. ticles and 500 times larger than clay particles. If you cultivated a sand soil several times you cannot change the soil structure significantly. Sand particles are extremely large particles." When they fit together as a topsoil there are lots of air spaces between the individual sand particles. Generally soil structure is not important with sands, sandy loams or silt loams. But. structure is very impor- tant with heavier soils such as clay loams and clays. How is your soil structure? How do you know if you have good soil structure? Quite simple. Check it after a rain. If your soil all runs together, you have a structure problem. If you have areas in a field that used to drain, but now water ponds there, this is an indication of poor soil structuring: What happens with a soil with poor structure is simple. You work a nice seed bed. You have lots of good sized soil aggregates. Lots of room for air and water movement. However, as soon as it rains these aggregates break down = melt, as it were, and all flow together - the 'common term is crusting. A field with good soil structure maintains good aggregate size even after a rain. When I asked one of the 'candidates what farmers. were doing to affect soil struc- ture that day, he replied "I noticed one farmer ploughing with one tractor pulling the tralctor with the plough. If he works the soil when it is too wet, he will smear these small soil aggregates. This smearing is done by the trac- tor tires as they slip and rut. A combine can do the same. Some of this damage may be overcome by frost action. As the soil thaws and freezes the water particles locked in a soil aggregate tries to frac- ture a soil particle. But in some fields we will need lots of thawing and freezing." How to improve soil structure At this point in the inter- view, some of the candidates had already faied my ques- tions. Now -I tried to sort the remainder on how they could improve soil structure. Of course, the answer I was look- ing for was forages in the rotations, especially . an alfalfa grass mixture. This mixture is especially helpful since the two species will rework the soil in dif- ferent ways. The grass roots penetrate the soil particles that have been smeared together in the top 6 to 8 in- ches. The alfalfa works the. soil deeper. Both add organic matter"to the soil. This allows the topsoil to return to good sized aggregates. One candidate mentioned this rotation, but 1' replied.. "that's good, but most of the farmers that own -land with poor soil structure cannot • utilize forages." "What can they do?" Bob looked at me and smiled and said - "Red clover plowed down." We. both knew that red clover has a branching type of root system. This branching type of root system allows for lots of roots in the top 6 in- ches. It's abit different from alfalfa. Alfalfa has a deep gene_ trating ,tap -root with on- ly a small part of the roots in the top 6 inches. As well red clover as a ploughdown is in- expensive - $4.00 to $10.O0,per acre. It can return this value of nitrogen to the succeeding, crop. The extra benefit of im- proving soil structure could last for 1 to 2 years. After a long day the inter- views were over. The position was eventually offered to Bob Forrest. He accepted and is now employed al Centralia College of . Agricultural Technology in a teaching and research capacity. After Bob accepted the job, the two of us had another op-, portunity to talk in a more relaxed situation about red •lover. We agreed on a ',umber of things. For in- stance, we think that most of the wheat acreage in Ontario should be seeded to red clover in the spring. Also. that red clover should be seeded on a . lot of early seeded pure stands of barley where soil structure is a problem. There are some points that we do not agree on. For in- stance; seeding rate and the value of double cut versus single cut. These are two areas that Bob hopes to research while at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology. Pat Lynch. Soils and Crops Specialist John Heard. Assistant Agricultural Representative Lucan bowling .Monday ladies - Beulah Storey 279-763, Lorraine Mosurinjohn 242-670, May Murphy 244-651, Audrey It 243-625, Pat MacDonald 24' Joyce Van Geel 232, Dian Williams 219, ` Helen Roger- 218, Vicki Horbanuik 216, Pa 1 Carter 214, Hazel Eaton 21 , Coreen Davis 208, Tracey t annom 207, Louise Sutherla d 200. Junior - Michael Cannon 228, Kirk ,+avis 215, Lauralee McDonal . 180, Peter Bates 180, Tonya : utchart 173, Jeff Bond 170, ichael Goos 169, Donni Hui : '1 169, Janice Atkinson 109, Rod Johnston 163, Todd Froats 160. Colleen's Nancy Den- smore 252-664, Agnes O'Sullivan 242-655, Brenda Hickson 230-636, Nadine • Hickson 209-620, Norah Cowie 244, Fran Sandison 229, Val Neil 226, Pat Bloxam 213, Ann Straatman 220, Sherrie Lightfoot 212. Medway-- Ai Kish 282-740, Cal.. Carmichael 238-648, Carol. Kish 224-610, Doris Loft 228, Doug Hills 236, Cathy Moir 217, Myrtle Hastings 218, Daisy Hills 203, Paula Weir 2nt Senior citizens - Alf Riley 235-636, Jean Miller 206, Helen McDonald 200, Harry Hardy 191, Murray Hodgins 199, Wllhemina DenOtter 186, Verna Dowdall 186, Ed Armstrong 177, Gard Higgs 175, Frank DeBlock 172. Bantams - Mike Miller 136, Shelly Johnston 129, Wendy Gwalchmai 126, Michelle Cannon 124, Steven Yule 122, Ken Cowie 120, Matthew Dillabough 116, Tim Miller 107, Tabatha Perry 103, Chris Sleaford 102. Wednesday mixed - Jan. 17 - Rick Appleman 278-639, Jim Low 283-630, Eve Smith 228, Len Anderson 221, Rose Maxwell 237, Buddy Appleman 221, Tom Dobinson 217, Sue Manders 213, Harold Smith 211, Russ Smith 211. Jan. 20 - Marlyn Smith 271- 719, Len Anderson 342-682, Russ Smith 258-648, Paul Smith 259-631, Pat Ryan 218- 630, Bob Pipe 238-644, Pete Smith 227-601, Chris Geetsen 224, Rick Evans 230, Karen Cornelisen 212. Thursday men - Don Watt 299-814, Ray Hands 315-847, Larry DeCaluwe 303-748, Don Ruddy- 289.733, Art Hodgins 268-686, Doug Johnston 240-669, Brad Taylor 250-667, Bob Moore 289, Bin Neil 284, Brian Ankers 279, Keith Dickson 271, Rick Rollings 282. Friday mixed - Don Watt 249-718, Audrey Watt 239-682, Heather Smith 297-616, Vicki Horbanuik 224611, Mike Nell 239-609, Dave Mawdsley 278- 604, Wayne Smith 235-601, Patti Carter 236, Len Smith 228, Marilyn Carter 223.