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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Clinton News Record, 1938-06-02, Page 6'PXOE 6 CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, 1: • THURS., JUNK 2, 11381, Timelg Information for the Busy Farmer (Furnished by the Department of Agriculture) LIVESTOCK BEDDING water supply is handy, is a ready Straw is the bedding material for livestock almost universally used on • the farm in Canada. It will absorb two or three times its weight of liquid:, Peat moss used as bedding will absorb about ten times its weight of liquid. Other suitable kinds of bedding for livestock are sawdust and air-dried muck and peat. • FARM LAND VALUES For the third year in succession, average value of occupied farm lands in Canada are estimated at $24 per acre. Farm land values have been declining since 1928 when they were reported at $38 per acre. A low point of $23 per acre was reached in 1934 and an increase of $24 occurred in • 1935 since when the values have re- mained at that figure. • 01.••••••••••• TENT CATERPILLAR Now is the time to control tent caterpillars. The whitish webs con- structed by the insects are only too commonly seen on neglected fruit trees, and on roadside trees, espec- ially -wild chenies. The caterpillars may be readily killed by spraying in- fested trees with lead arsenate 2 pounds in 40 gallons, or by destroy- ing the tents by hand when the cater- pillars are inside them, which is us- ually on cloudy days and early in the morning: Burning the nests with a torch is very effective, but care Must be taken not to burn the tree. e It is possible to destroy these tents early and thus save labor and loss of fruit later. precaution to nut out small fires be- fore they get beyond control. Where it is possible, however small the cOin- munity, a fire department should be organized and the work not left tin - organized to, the overzwilling efforts of neighbors. CULTURAL CONTROL OF WEEDS IN LAWNS (Experimental Farms Note) Unfortunately there is as yet no easy and simple method of eradicat- ing weeds in a lawn. A. considerable number of experhnents have been con- ducted with chemical weed -killers on turf, but so far most of the results obtained have been relatively unsiic- cessful. It is improbable that any one chemical treatment will kill all the weeds and leave the turf unln- jnred. If chemical weed -killers are to be applied, every epecies of weed must be Considered and such factors as the species of grass in the lawn, the type of soil, the rainfall, sunlight, etc., must be taken into account, as they all influence the action of the chem- ical. Improper or careless applications of weed -killers often result in serious damage to the turf and, until a great deal more is known about these chem- icals layman would do well to turn towards cultural methods of combat- ing weeds in lawns. For general purposes lawn weeds may be divided into two main classes: annuals, which live only one season and thus can only reappear if they produce seed; and perennial weeds which live through the winter and grow again the following season. The logical control of annual weeds is to prevent them from seeding them- selves. As soon as they show signs of flowering, the lawn should be raked so as to raise these flowering shoots off the ground, Then cut the grass SOYBEAN EXPERIMENT - 'After fourteen years of experinf- ental work with soybeans at the Har- row Experimental Station Kent county, Ontario, the list of suitable with a mower fitted with a good varieties recommended has been liar- grass -catching attachment, and de - rowed down to four. One of these, the stroy the cuttings. It is a good policy Mandarin, is suited to Eastern Ont- to rake and cut the lawn a second ario, since it matures in 110 days and time, the second raking to cross the is a good type. The variety O.A.O. I first at right angles so that all the 211 requires an extra week to mature potential seed -heads are raised up and and is adapted to southwestern dist- destroyed, ricts of Ontario. Manchu, a medium If perennial weeds such as dande- late sort requires about 123 days to lions are present in the lawn the sur - mature and the A. K. (Harrow est method is to hand weed the infest - strain) takes 127 days. Both may be 1 ed areas, cutting the plants as far grown in favorable seasons and the below the crown as possible. Just as A. K. Harrow is desirable on account' soon as this hand weeding is com- alength 0 *talk and high yield. Ipleted, a light. seeding of grass and Plantings of different varieties, white clover on the bare spots breated have been made at Harrow as early by the removal of weeds will help .to as April 23 and at weekly intervals keep other weeds from becoming until May 15. Under most conditiolis I established. This hand weeding may it has been found that the soil does1 have to be repeated several times throughout the first season to entirely rid the land of these pests. One of the best systems of control, - ling both annuals and perennial weeds is by doing everything possible to pro - so that for Southwestern Ontario mote a dense and vigorous growth of May 15 to May 20 may be recom- turf. A dressing of a good complete Mended for planting. fertilizer, applied at the rate recom- Birds Do More Good Than Harm Some of the birds that save mil- lionof dollars in • crops each year are still misjudged, Fruit raisers often look ,on robins as enemies be- causa of the rolairt'S appetite for cher- ries. Y(4 rabble consume insects harmful •to !fruit crops (throughout the year, and only during the flock- ing periods in June and July do they eat cultivated fruit to any extent. Wild berries, as soon as they are ripe, form the greater part of their Woodpeckers are often suspected of damaging trees by their drillings, Each hole drilled means that the bird , . has located the larvae of a destruct- ive wood -boring insect. Woodpeckers are among the most valuable forest conservationists. With their heavy bffis they capture insects that other birds cannot get. When swallows' nests are torn from the eaves of barns, some of the best friends of the farm have been turned away. Swallows, catching their food on the wing, consume vast numbers of harmful flying insects, especially during the nesting and moulting per- iods when they, like most other birds, eat little beside animal food. Young birds inside the nest often eat more insects than their parents. Swallows should be encouraged to build on barn eaves by providing mud for nest mortar and a shelf to support nests. Even small entrance holes might be cut in barn gables. In the fruit districts, the oriole has been accused of damaging grapes and garden pear, but the oriole's food con- sists principally of caterpillars. It also eats quantities of plant and bark lice, ants, wasps, grasshoppers, spid- ers, and weevils. PREPARING FOR SOY ,BEANS The growing of soy beans it increasing in popularity in, the dis- tricts surrounding Clinton, and the acreage sown, each year is gradually getting large)...• EffectiveWay For Cockroach Control The common cockroach is the po- tential carrier of disease organisms, including certain kinds of pathogenic bacteria and protozoa, and it may also serve as the secondary or intermediate host of parasitic nematodes or round- worms. In view of the menace of cockroaches as potential disease car- riers, and because they contaminate human food with fetid glandular secretions, their control ie of wide- spread public. interest. These insects have flattened, horny bodiee, and large spiny legs, which enable them to move quickly and take refuge in cracks and other small crevices, where they usually remain hidden during the day and emerge at night in search of food. The eggs of cockroaches de- velop within a small horny capsule carried about by the female within the end of the abdomen until shortly before the young or symphs batch. The most widespread species is the small, so-called, German cockroach Blatella germanica L, which is very prevalent in apartment and dwelling houses, hotels, restaurants, stores, etc., where warm moist conditions and a plentiful food supply are to be found. Sometimes, during the sum- mer months, this species lives and multiplies in garbage dumps. According to the Division of En- tomology, Science Service, Dominion Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, cockroaches may be controlled with sodium fluoride. The powder should be dusted lightly where the insects occur, or blown by means of a dust gun or insecticide puffer into cracks and crevices which shelter them. Ow- ing to the somewhat poisonous char- acter of this insecticide reasonable precautions should be taken to pre- vent accidental poisoning. Two other materials often used are pyrethrum and borax. Pyrethrum insect powder is non-poisonius to humans, but less satisfactory than sodium fluoride, as it loses its effectiveness quickly on exposure to air and has to be used in larger quantities. Borax, too, is less effective than sodium fluoride. If used it should be mixed with equal parts of powdered sweet chocolate. Fly sprays containing pyrethrum ex- tract are also commonly used, but these kill only by direct contact. A pamphlet dealing with cockroaches may be secured by writing to the Publicity and Extension Division, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, not warm up sufficiently until the middle of May. A. severe frost will :ruin the young plants. With- late maturing varieties there is need to plant in good time to obtain, ripe seed PREVENTING FARM FIRES It is well known that in Canada every year losses due to farm fires amount to an enormous sum, yet j2jl good Watering a week will give much many cases the damage to a certain more satisfactory results than several extent might have been prevented by light sprinklings. A lawn should be simple measures, cut frequently but not too severely. One precaution is not to put wet Kentucky blue grass, which is the or uncured hay in barns, nor to put principal lawn grass in eastern Can - dry hay in barns that have leaky roofs. It is also risky to smoke in or around these buildings. With regard to electric equipment, it is inches. dangerous to use fuses of too great Top soil often contains as many as amperage and no article should be ten thousand weed seeds per cubic yd. used in place of a fuse. Care should be taken to seethat lightning rods remain properly grounded, and de- fective electrical wiring should be re- atively free front weeds. For the same paired promptly. reason farmyard manure should only The use of kerosene or gasolene to kindle fires or quicken a slow fire has been responsible not only for many fires but also for many deaths • on farms and just because there has never been a fire on the farm, it is dangerous to neglect precautions un- der the belief that the buildings will never take fire. Insurance gives an unwarranted sense of security but in- surance cannot give compensation for all the financial losses and it cannot replace loss of life. Extreme care shoula always be taken in hand- ling and using gasolene. The gas- olene containers should be tightly using it another step is taken towards closed, painted a bright red, and la- obtaining a turf free from weeds, Above is Roy Keys breaking up a field of alfalfa sod on the farm • of Nelson. Reid-, Varna, which will be prepared for the sowing of soy beans. The Composition and Uses • of Soy Beans The world production. of this val- an enamel, the base of which is a synthetic resin produced from the soy bean. The resin also finds application in the manufacture of electrical equip- ment. Because of its drying propert- ies, the linoleum and oilcloth indust- ries use large amounts of soy bean oil. Much of the oil finds its way to the soap vats. Here it is especially suitable for automobile soaps. Glycer- ine is produced as a by-product. Some other uses for the oil are, as rubber substitutes, celluloid, printers inks, explosives, salad oil, lighting and lubricating oils, as core binders for foundry- work. The partly hydrog- enated crude oil has been found use- ful as a stabilizer for shortening com- pounds. ficient in this respect. Soy bean oil contains lecithin, a For human use, the beans provide phosphorised fat, and is displacing many forms of foodstuffs. The green egg yolk to some extent as a source beans may be served as a vegetable of this material used in medicine. or in salads. Flour made from pro - Of interest too, along medical lines, ceased beans, high in fat content, is is the disappearanre of food allergies, now found in the products of many particularly those caused by protein, bakeries. Since starch is absent, soy following theingestion of specially beanflour is marketed in diabetic foods. The dried beans have been used as a coffee substitute, in soups, as a source of casein, as a milk substitute sheep, beef and dairy cattle and brood and cheese. sows. It should, however be used with As the composition of both the fat caution in the rations of market hogs, and the proteins of soy beans more since it produces soft pork. nearly approach the composition of As a protein supplement, the oil these constituents found in animals, meal is of value in the rations of beef soy beans could be used to replace cattle, dairy cows, sheep and poultx-y. meat in the diet. A simple mineral mixture is advent- The uses of this interesting plant are finding inereasMg application. uable legume is probably in excess of 7 million: tons annually. Manchuria the largest producer, is followed by Japan and the United States. Stat- istics relative to the Russian crop are not available. Canadian production is, as yet, too small to exert much influence on the world market, but there is an increas- ing interest in the soy bean crop. Varieties suitable for domestic pro- duction are gradually replacing the imported beans. Chemical analysis have been cone ducted for some years by the Division of Chemistry, Central Experimental Farm. The protein content, it has been found, fops from approximat- ely 31 per cent to 39 per cent, while the oil constitutes fygm 14 per cent to 18.5 per cent of the beam Of two varieties, having charaeterietice spit, able for Canadian cultivation, the un- saturated acids in the oil range from 82,2 per cent to 84.3 per cent. The iodine numbers show a variation from 125.0 to 134.2. These data indicate the value of the oil for industrial ap- refined oil. • plications where readily oxidisable oils The beans furnish a homegrown are demanded. The inorganic salts, nitrogenous concentrate for animal containing valuable mineral matter, feeding, being a source of protein for approximate 5 per cent of the weight of the bean. The uses of soy beans are many and varied. Considerable amounts of the oil are used in paint mixture in conjunction with linseed and tune oils. A prominent automobile manufactur- er, who maintains a staff of chemists now finishes his product by utilizing ageously added, since the meal is,de- mended by the manufacturer, in the spring or early summer will help con- siderably in this regard. Generally it is not necessary to water a lawn every night, and in most cases one ada, should not be cut shorter than one inch, but on the other hand should not be allowed over two and a half Notes for the Apiarist•theb • very ,young ees, brood in all!. • '• stages 4ncl young qneens still hi 1".eir Primary Mut Secondary Swarms' , • Gene. .Aliout eight days after , the, Swarming is the bees method of PrimerY strarmleaves the hive, the first of :the young queens will hava emerged feorn her cell and,, 'provide the weather is 'euitable, is 'ready to: lead out a secondary swarm: , A colony, may send out several of these swarms at intervals of two days,. until' finally it is either too weak to, swarm or 'is queenless. If the weath- er is unsuitable for, swarming at the. time the first 'young queen emerges, from her cell, she will immediately • destroy the other cells or fight to, death any virgin that may have em- erged. When a swarm emerges it usually clusters on some nearby ob- ject, such as a tree. or shrub from, which it may be easily taken and re -- Mg. At first eggs are laid in worker hived. cells only, and these in due course produce worker bees. As the spring advances and new. nectar and pollen are being gathered from the early flowers, a greater number of eggs are laid daily. Consequently. as new bees emerge, the colony becomes stronger and stronger. As it increases in vation and reforestation committees: strength, drones or male bees are pro- that sanction from some authority duced. Finally the brood nest•becomes be obtained before immature , wood congested with bees, brood and stores, growth could be cut, brings up the,. their new queen cells are started in question .of property rights, personal which the queen will ultimately de- freedom rights, personal freedom and the principles of democracy. These are grand old British traditions, but what are we going to do about drought, floods, soil erosion and a. shortage of water for domestic use, if we go on heedlessly draining the • swamps and denuding the country- side. There must be some way of - preserving democracy and at the. same time guarding the welfare of the rural population. The thought back of the recom- mendation to prohibit the cutting of immature wood growth is to conserve our forest and woodlots and not allow thenr to be slaughtered by timber hunters, too many of whom think only of immediate gain. There are now men living out of buying standing timber who are ready to endorse the recommendation because merchant- able timber is becoming so scarce that their livelihood is threatened. Certainly the proppsed legislation would not go so far as to prohibit the property owner, taking out needed timber or trees for wood and repairs. The legislation ought even to permit a land owner to convert a bush into a cultivable field if under that treat- ment it would be more profitable to him. What it should prevent is thous- ands of acres of cut -over land, ravish- ed and useless. In the opinion of the Farmer's Ad- vocate the reeve or the clerk of the township should be one to decide when immature wood growth should or should not be cut. propogating the race, and at one time the greater the number of swarms that issued from an apiary the more successful was the owner considered as a beekeeper. Natural swarining and honey production, however, are not compatible, therefore, the modern beekeeper seeks to suppress the form- er, and thus increase the latter. In spite of the suppression, however, natural swarming, occurs far too fre- quently, especially in poorly kept apiaries. The events leading up to swarm- ing are briefly as follows:- Upon the approach of spring the queen of the colony resumes her work of egg lay - Folly Of Cutting Immature Wood (From the Farmer's Advocate) The suggestion made by the censer., posit eggs. The eggs hatch in three days and the young larvae emerging from them are fed a special food for aproximately five and a half days. On the sixth day, from the hatch- ing of the egg, the larvae are full grown and the cells containing them are then sealed over, this is the time usually chosen by the bees to swarm. This swarm will consist of the old queen and a large percentage of the field bees of the colony, and because of this, is usually called the Primary Swarm. Left in the parent hive are and should only be used as top -dres- sing on a lewn when it is known to have come from an area which is rel - be applied to turf if it has been well rotted in such a manner that all weed seeds have been killed. If weeds in close proximity to the lawn are er- adicated, or at least kept from seed- ing another source of infestation will have been removed. One of the most common methods of introducing weeds to a lawn is to actually sow them along with grass seed. The Department af Agriculture officially' grades all lawn grass seed sold in, Canada, and if only Grade No. 1 seed is puchased the buyer may feel assured that this is clean and thus by belled "gasolene". Chimneys are one of the most com- mon causes of farm house fires, so that periodiadly the chimneys should be examined, tested for cracks, and cleaned regularly. A good chemical fire extinguisher, or a pail kept in readiness for the purpose where the PICOBAC --- PIPE -- TOBACCO FOR.A MILE), COOL SMOKE Jonee was sitting with his wife be- hind a palm on a veranda late one night when a young man and a girl came and sat down on a bench near them. The yonng man beg -an to tell the girl how pretty and lovable he thought she was. Hidden behind the palm, lVfrs. Jones whispered to her husband. "Oh, John he doesn't know we're here, and he's going to propose. Whistle to warn him." "What for?" said Jones. "Nobody whistled to warn me." Plant A Tree This Tear Throughout the province, trees are being planted by the thousands this year, and the undertaking- is one that deserves the support of every resid- ent, for almost too late, we have be- gun to realize that too many trees were removed—without another being planted in its place. The education of planting trees should begin in our schools, for in the school can really be taught the true value of a tree. The children of the present generation will never see the forests as did their grand parents, but nevertheless in years to come the chil- dren of today- will be able to point with pride and remark "I planted that tree in 1938.' If the young folks are trained to see the necessity of pre- serving our forest wealth, when they reach maturity, they will be all the better prepared' to co-operate in every project to restore the forest assets of the rite:mince. Lately' a free has come to be recog- nized as a valuable asset, not as seine - thing to be wilfully and carelessly de- stroyed: Plan to plant a tree this year. • The Open Road SUPPOSE you came suddenly upon two roads. One straight, well - trodden . . . the other thin and twisting off into undergrowth. If you didn't want to arrive at any place in particular, you might choose the latter. But not otherwise. Before you, as buyer, run two roads. One is the road of know- ledge, of an advertised product. Thousands use it. There's no mystery about it, no doubting, nothing hidden. It leads the way definitely to a fountain pen, a floor wax, a tooth -paste that will give you satisfaction. When you use an advertisement, you use an open road. When you don't use advertisements, you go the doubtful road. You have only hazy knowledge of the product ahead. No trade- mark or name to depend upon guides you. The result may or may not be worth the effort. You don't know. Read the advertisements.' Anything widely advertised—break- fast food, hammer, hair tonic—has proved itself good by advertising. Advertisements put you on the open road to satisfaction The Clinton News-Kecord Gives the News of Clinton and Community—Read It