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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1921-05-19, Page 7• address eommunications o Agronomist, 73 -Adelaide St. West 7oronta Tho White Grub in Eastern Canada-- Methods of Control, The D•omira,ion Entomologist reports that from imformAtion gathered, pas- tieularly by Mr. H. P. Hudson of the Entomological Laboratory, Strathroy, Ont., it is expected that injury by the white grub will be .effected this year in Eastern Canada. This important imxseet has been receiving much atten- tion during recent years. The com- plete life ,cycle of the insect requires from three to four yearns. In asso- dation with studies on the life -history •of the common kinds of white grubs, ,close observations have been made ori the crop rotations followed on farms where the grubs have been decidedly injurious, and also en farms where little or 110 injury has occurred. As the insect spends the greater part of its life in the soil, where it is not pas- sible to treat the pest, it has been -found that almost -complete control roan he obtained by following a •short crop rotation in whichgrasss. or .clover or a mixture of the same shall not occupy the land for enore than two years, and preferably not mare than •one. In infested fields where grubs are present measuring from one-half to one inch in length the following ,stop rotation has been found to give almost complete control:— First year: plant the infested field to oats and seed to clover. Second year: clover hay crop. Plow. under the clover sod in the sfpring of the third year, and plant the land to 'corn or potatoes. Fourth year: plant the land to oats orad re-sxeehd to clover. From the above rotation it is seen that the hay crop only occupies the land one year, and that with every four years two crops of clover are grown. This plan, besides giving prac- tical control, will maintain the land in a high state of fertility. Similar procedure should be followed in break- ing up an old pasture, except that the sod should be fall plowed and worked. as frequently as possible. If pigs are allowed a free run of badly infested pasture 'land, they will rot out many of the grubs and ma- ternally help to control the pest. Domestic poultry feed readily on white grubs, and should be encouraged to follow - the plow as much- as pos- sible. Blaek birds, erows and ..other • birds, as well as skundes, also • feed on the grubs. Best Feeding Rations for Young Chicks. As a preliminary step in the study of the nutrition of poultry the Centrad Experimental Farm at Ottawa made a test with twelve pens of forty-two young chicks last year. These birds were fed for a five-week period, dur- ing which time the weekly gain in weight was 'carefully noted. The an- nual report of the Farms for that year states that the • basal ration in this texperinient consisted of finely ground yearn, wheat and oats and finely ground lbran, *harts and cornmeal. Pen No. 1 received the basal radion only, the orations in the other pens being sup- plememted by one or more feeds, e.g., greens, eggs, meat, and milk. Pen No. 1, the poorest, lost 31 birds and the survivors made an average gain of only 1.67 au.ncee. Pen No..9, fed meat, eggs and greens in addition to the basal ration, suffered the lowest mortality, namely, 4 birds, or 10 per cent., and gained 5.26 ounces per ;bird; while in Pen No. 11, which had a ration similar to No., 9 but had milk to drink, the mortality was 7 birds., but the gain of 5.87 per cent. was the highest pen average. The relative value of these four feeds can be well shown by a comparison of the resulbs when they were fed singly in addition bo the basal ration. Pens 2, 3, 4, and. 15 received meat, eggs•, milk, and al- greens respectively, and the port. ities were 26, 18, 28 and 24, while the Average gain per bird was 8,32, 3.44, 2.79, and 2.81 ounces. These figures clearly ,demonstrate the value of eggs as one of the first ingredients of food for young chicks,' Topics in Season. To exterminate thistles;" simply snow them when in !bloom. ' A. barrel which bashed kraut ni it can be cleaned with salts, Rub dry salt on the inside of the barrel, leave it a while and then wash it off. Or you can fill the barrel with salt brine and leave it in a day or two. To treat binder tw-xine so that grass- hoppers and crickets will not cut it, dip the twine in a mixture off three parts of kerosene and one part of ma- chine oil. Kerosene- alone will do, but twine thus treated will be likely to oateh and break when rimming through the binder. There is no 'best silo, for any silo rightly made is good. But the moot expensive silo, poorly constructed, is worse than none. - I made a toy windmill,placed it on a pole, set it in the garden with the pole about a foot deep. The vibrations and noise keep, the moles out. Never set young plants immediately after a heavy rain. The sun will scald and wilt them. Wait a few hours. For every dollar's worth of honey which bees bring to their owners, it is safe to say that they. bring $15 in increased apple crops to the owners of orchards. When tips of shoots on pear trees turn black and leaves wither, blight as the cease. The disease is carried down the .branches` to the tree by the eap. Hence, the way to check trouble is to cut out the tips as soon as pos- sible. To prevent spreading the dis- ease, disinfect the tools after each cut with corrosive sublimate. This should be kept in a bottle out of the reach of children,. and • should be labeled "poison" in large letters. In cutbting. out, cut a little distance below the diseased part, and burn all portions removed., Ashes or roadedust will kill pear slugs. The minute dry dust • gets en them, they will start to dry up. The largest grapes in the world are grown under glass in England. Grapes of the Giant Gros varietyoften mea- sure between four and . five inches around, and •clusters weigh twenty or thirty. pounds each. I had a 'neighbor who put a little salt in every hole where she ,set a •cab- bage plant, to keep away the cut- worms. I reasoned, "Why not salt the whole garden?" The next spring, before breaking up the garden soil, I soared salt about as thick as I would broadcast turnip seed. I have prac- ticed this for fifteen years, and have not been troubled with cutworms since. Scattering boric acid on the green- house walks the last thing at night kills many cockroaches that are out to destroy plants growing in the house. Fighting the cutworm: The growers around here always use paper bands to protect newly set plants from cut- worms. It would be quite a lot of work and useless expense to hold these bands together with cotton string. Here is a way to hold these bands together. Take tough paper, long enough to make the band, and about six or eight inches wide. Fold this together lengthwise in the middle, shove one end of this into the fold of the other end about an inch, and there you are. In using, make a little trench around the pliant with the finger, so to get the band about an inch in the ground. Draw a little loose ground around the outside to hold the band in place. Dairymen buy milking machines for orae of three reasons, or for all three treasons. First, because they realize a milker will save thein labor if they do" the milking themsxelves, or labor hire if they have many hands. Second, bite milking machine saves time. Third,. a firsteclass milking machine milks the same way every dray, and the treatment which the cows receive is not dependent upon the whim or humor of a hired man. The three motives, in short, are time saved, labor saved„ and the good effect on tows, or increased milk production!. In my particular case, all three of these items were duly considered, and I made up my mind that it would be economy for me to buy a milking ma- chine that would aoaonnplish for ine those .three things. At that time I was milking only.•ten cows, but with the intention of Pihereasing my herd, which I leave . since done. I 'emelt one of the best milkers and do not hesitate in spaying it is evez•ytbing the manufacturers said it would be, 'I hoe been using it twice a day 'rim 'for the past nine months, and it has always given me complete satisfaction. The cows really seem• to like it, and while 1 have not kept re- cords, said have added new cows to any herd from time to time, I:am fleet- ly eenvinec:I that the cows I had be- fore installing the milker are now giving more milk than they dad when I milked them by hand. It used to take an hour and a half to milk ten cows, whereas I now milk fourteen in about one hour. I have not had a case of teat or udder trouble since putting, in the milker. The milker is easy to clean and keep :sani- tary. Its upkeep has been nothing, with the exception of .a few rubber beat -cup liners, which expense is not worth, mentioning. I. follow the op- erating instructions to the letter and find that it pays. • Nine months'• experience wibh nide- ehamioal milking has made me such a salving 'that I believe I am safe in say- ing that a good milking machine will actually pay for itself in a year. And if I had to go back to the old method of hand milking, I feel pretty sure that dairying would soon lose its at- tractiveness to nee. To forget wrong its the .best revenge, Look out for squalls when the cioxtheeline breaks: The oalendar should contain a month of Will .as well as a eolith of May. There wail. once s man who had to dere down a stake to tel where he left off weeding the onion row. How- ever, after he got. •a farm of: his own, talent sort of thing: cable to an end. Here's Father's Chance to Do Mother a Mighty Good Turn By F. W. Ives It was raining, The mud was deep and the roads badly cut up, So, when the top of the ridge -was reached, th radiator of niy ear had boiled dry A dim light through the misty• duelt showed a farmhouse, I walked up to the door, where my knock was answer ed by a bent old woman who gave 'me two pails and said: "You will find the path to the hsppring around in back." Now, that path wound down into a ravine about 80 feet below the house The spring was fully 100 yards from th the back door. When ,e top was reached, I was in about the same con: dition as the ear—wet, madder aandhot. °•I was also filled with wonder as to why it was necessary to carry so:: much water up hill when so much was falling en the roofs of the .buildings The olid woman said she had liven they a fifty Years, that she had made at least three trips to the spring each clay, that she always took two buck- ets, and that on washdays more trips were made. The Spring offered opportunity for a hydraulic ram hand a plentiful sup ply of water.' Likewise, there was t] barn with a` driveway on a knoll. little higher than the ceiling of `tl house. What a fine place for a ci tern! Plenty off water from the roof to more than supply all the needs with no pumping. When I reached home that evening, some calculations showed the follow- ing facts: In carrying the water from the spring, this woman had walked a distance equal to that from Mont- real to Vancouver and return, or' one 'fourth the dis•bance around the world. In doing this, she had ascended and descended. a mountain 150 timea as high as the highest in the •world. She had carried 1,100 tons of water all this distance. Ali thisvastamount of work was useless. A .small expenditure of money would have put water in the house with no work on the part of the house- wife. With average rainfall, 93 tons of water could have been stored in a cistern from the roof of the barn in the course of a year, or four times as much as the woman had carried up' the hill. The spring was large enough for a water•�rn to force over 400 tons of water to the kitchen in one year. At the time this incident occurn'ed, a ram, complete with fit- tings, and a kitchen sink, might have been installed at.a cost of $61 for materials. A cistern might have Trees constructed, in the approach to the barn, and connected with asink, fee a total cost, including label;label;of less than $200, to the force of gravity and the frit - tion of the water passing through the e page. The test of installing a pitcher. . pinup complete should not exceed $15 in addition to the. cost of the sink. ' The Gravity 'Tank. Another successful scheme is to Meant a tank just above the sink, This tank, with a capacity of from 80 to 50 gallons, is pumped full by the men in the morning, and will hold enough • for ordinary household purposes for one day. A foree pump is usually necessary for this eort of woe. On one farm the pumping is done by windmill each morning as the stock tank is being filled, there being a 'inthree-way valves^ealled at the pump. When turned in one direction, the • water fills the house tank, and when turned in another direction the water goes to the stock tank. This is merely a modification of the gravity tank as sometimes placed in the attic. Its good feature is that of being inex- pensive. It has the disadvantage of taking up valuable space in a small • kitchen; also, if the water is used for ie drinking, it will get quite warm be - a fore the day is over. An insulating tie jacketwidl help to keep the water cool. ss The gravity tank has many appli- cations. It may be located on a tower, Of course, $200 is quite an expense. But does a farmer hesitate to pur- chase a 'binder costing $200? The average farm uses :a -hinder about six working days each year. The average binder lasts about six or seven sea- sons with our careless ways. This cistern, if builtright, would last fifty years.. The water will be used 865 .days every' year. You say, "The binder is necessary in order to save labor." Very well, I say, "Why should not the housewife save labor as well?" When a young man is courting, he seldom asks "her" if she is willing to carry 1,100 tons of water up a moun- tain 650 miles high for him. There are many. ways of getting water into the kitchen that do not cost $200. Some cost more. A Sink is Necessary. In all the methods given in the fol- lowing 'discussion, a kitchen sink is included. A kitohen sink nnust have a drain to take away waste where it will not contaminate the surround- ings or water supply. The sink with a drain just long enough to stick. through the side of the house is not a sink. Nor is the zinc -lined box with a hole in the bottom that drains into an ancient candy pail a sink. It is just as bad to have to carry water out as to have to carry it in. All of the methods given have been he use on various farms long .enough to tell their good and bad points. Most of then !nay be seen in any ooninnnnity. The cheapest and simplest method of securing a kiteben water supply is that 'of placing a rain>rwater barrel on brackets under the eaves at a height that will allow the water to flow from a tap into the sink. The total cost of such an installation need not exceed $5. A kerosene barrel, a short length of one -half-inch pipe fitted to the barrel with lock nuts and gaskets, an 'ordinary 'bibb or faucet, and a few pieces of scantling may constitute the materials. To double• the capacity, use two bar- rels, connecting them with a piece of pipe at the bottom. A screen .over the top will exxclud'e dirt and leaves, and prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. The objection to this scheme is that it works only when the rains come at fairly regular intervals. It is also useless in winter. But it is good while it works, and is far better than carry- ing all the wester. The pitcher pump at one end of the sink has the virtue of getting weber into the ;house without carrying, al- though it does take a little effort to work the handle. The •pitcher pump is of the suction type, hence water may be drawn vertically, only about 22 feet or. less, Neither will it work satisfactorily if thecistern ar well is located more than 50 feet horizontally from the ptinip, The above limata.tione nor5' due in the attic or upper storey of the house or an outbuilding, en a hill, in the bank approach to the barn,. or on any other convenient elevation within a reasonable distance of both the sup- ply and the house. The gravity tank may be filled .in numerous ways, de- pending on local conditions. I have seen these tanks filled by force pump, by hydraulic ram, from a spring lo- cated on a hill above the tank, from the roof of the barn or house, and from a flowing well,. , The possibility of a gravity system should be care- fully -.considered before installing an expensive mechanical water -supply outfit. Where it is possible, the gravity system may not be the cheapest in first cost, but if the water is :obtained by gravity er by hydraulic ram the coat of operation is very small. Nor must the windmill be overlook- ed. Because the wind does notblow. every day, many have abandoned the wind power in favor of gasoline or kerosene. With the prices of these fuels constantly rising higher, the cheap wind power must lee seriously considered. The secret ef..a sati:s s- tory water supply from wind -driven pumps lies in the gravity tank of a calaeitylarge enough to tide-overthe; casae days: Improved windmills, with ball _,or roller bearings, large oil reservoirs, and scientifically designed vanes :and blades take advantage of the lightesxt breezes. Garavityy taroks of all kinds are sus- ceptible to trouble. Freezing in winter is likely to burst the tank, especially one of email dimensions and square shrape. In the case '•of the large tanks .or cisterns for storing water vier long periods•, carelessness in closing tau- test may result in the loss of the entire supply. This may be remedied byy the use of good self-closing cocks. Freezing may be taken care of by earefui packing of .pipes and other ex- paeed surfaces. A tower tank, as, ;usutilly erected, is not very ornamen- tal, and a tank in a building or built into a bank is likely to be more satis- factory. The attic tank should al- ways be Get in a metal pan provided with a drain. Leaks, oondensation, or breaks from freezing will then be taken care of automatically. All tanks should be provided with an overflow a size larger than the inlet pipe. The amount of water that 'may be collected from a roof will depend upon the annual rainfall, the size of the roof, and the ability of the spouting and gutters to handle the maximum fall. - Calculating Cistern's Capacity. The mean annu'al rainfall in On- tario, for example, is very close to 85 inches, Of this, it is reasonable to expect that 25 inches may be con- ducted into a cistern, The loss of 10 inches comes through entail show- ers that barely wet the roof, from niaiseu e absorbed 'by the roofing lira- teriai, from evaporation, snow blown from. the 'roof, Sind overflow of gutters in heavy showers. To find the xamount of water that may be collected from a given roof in Ontario, we would first measure the ground area of the structure. This area multiplied by the total rainfall will give the volume of water. Thus; a building 30x40 feet hat an area of 1,200 :sgnxare feet, Multiply thish +by the equivalent of 25 inches, er 2 feet, and we find a volume of 2,400 cubic feet, "CT 20,000 glallons. Now, if we are using water constantly, it will not be necessary to Make the cistern to hold the full amrount. An 8,000- gallon,,cistern will hold the Water'from one wet eeason to another an Ontario. The easier water is obtained tlie more it will be used, and lead is ex- ectly what we wish to lead to. In, tree average family where the water is realest, the daily :consunvption may be as low es two gallons for .each person, With an unlimited .supply, this quart- tity will be as high as 60 to 80 gal - lona Thi water will be used for more frequent bathing, for batter lnuatdry work, cookery, drinking, and toilet .purpo:see. It will be safe to compete the size of cistern or xdiaaly water supply, as the •endo may be, on a basis of 40 gallons each day for • The Welfare of the le a The Favorite Child—By Frances A. Gray It was' the one uninewried member of oar little group who quite inns) cently started the •dnscusa'ion, Some thingthing had been said about Hortense and her children and Grace remarked "Isn't little Jack, Horxtens•e's favorite • child?" The Sentimental Mother was shock- ed. "My dear," she exclaimed re- proachfully, "no another worthy of the name loves one child more than an- other! It's impossible for a mother ' to have a favorite among her chile dren." But the Practical Mother, as usual, brushed aside mere superficialities. ••"Nonsense!" she retorted, "it is impos- sible that any woman w•ho has more than one or two children should not have a favorite, even if she never ad- ' mit* the . fact to herself. Within one family the' children will often• differ very widely in natural disp•os'ition, temperament --in every possible trait. If a another has several children it is almost certain that there will be one among them who is naturally more congenial to her than the others." She paused, and then added with her surprising frankness, :for she is one who openly admits what other people are apt to conceal and deny even to themselves, "Naw my little girl is too nvuch like me for us to get along harmoniously. She is quick and high- strung, too, and, frankly, she often gets on my nerves. Bat little Frank is exactly like his father—very calm and placid and easy-going, and I'm much uch more fond of 'him." There is something undeniably true hi the point of view of the Practical Mother. It is possible that in one of her children a mother may find a more congenial and responsive nature than in any of the ethers. But the ques- tion is not whether it is natural for 'a her to feel such preference, but whether she. is justified in letting it affect her attitude toward her children so that the fact becomes noticeable to other people and even to the chidren themselves. In large families, we frequently see Parente who give a certain prestige - and powor to the eldest, permitting him to dictate to the whole family, Even more frequently we see parents, , but especially mothers, who favor the youngest child, granting him greater eon,snderation though expecting less from him than from the others; in short, petting him all through her lifetime. "Middle children" are Bela darn the recipients of extra favors unless in the case of an only girl oz an. only 'boy in a family of. �tihe oppo- site sex. I recall one little incident of a stepfather of one girl and five boys which I thought quite touching.. He had a 'beautiful book which they all wanted very -much but which they refused to own together. Naturally, he was uncertain to whom he should give: the book, but finally, handing it. to the'third 'boy; he said, "I'm sorry I haven't a book for each one of you, but I think I'll give this to you, Harry. You aren't the oldest and e you aren't the youngest and you aren't the only girl, so.you don't get • many extras." Them, patting him on: the shoulder, he added with a smile, "Besides, I was a middle child my- self." Parents should watch very care- fully to avoid partiality, for if they do not, the moment is sure to come when the children will discover it. As soon as any such partiality becomes evident, the favored child is apt to become "spoiled," and the seeds of that ugly. quality of jealousy are sown in his sisters and brothers. A child's nature should be allowed to unfold in the sunny atmosphere of love and trust. By studying his heeds, parents can help to bring out the best in him, thus forestalling that coldness and lack of sympathy which we re- gret to see between parents and those adult children whose attitude toward life is embittered because, when they were young and affectionate, they were subjected to the ,chilling effect of the consciousness that a little` sister or . brother always stood first in their. parent's affection. each grown person or two children in the family. Where the goofs are not large enough to ' supply the needs of the family, the following scheme has been used: A basin about 40 feet square was made in the top of a rise above the level of the tank. The basin was paved with concrete reinforced with fencing, and sloped' to a central drain provided with a trap to prevent en- trance of trash. : The water was con- ducted through a filter to the tank located farther down' the "slope, and from there was. piped to the house. This supply nets about 80,000 gallons each year. The land upon which it was built, was practically valueless" for any other purpose. The hydraulic ram is a passibility where a spring has a flow of three gallons or more per minute. A watch with a second hand, a vessel of known •capacity, and a small dam to flow the water into the vessel are all that are needed to determine the flow. There must also be an opportunity to get a fall of three feet or more below the •spring for the operation of the ram. Roughly speaking, the ram will ele- vate the water about ten times as high as the available working head or fall, and will pump about one-seventh of the water furnished it. The hydraulic ram is not a perpetual -emotion ma -1 chine, but it is a faithful servant. I have known a ram that operated for ten years without stopping, except' when the spring failed in an extreme -1 Thy dry •season. Of 'the mechanically driven water supply systems there are many. A great degree of perfection has been, reached by a considerable number of these systems. A Special School for Farm Boys and Girls. The Agricultural School at Kempt- vill•e, Ontario, which concluded iii April the first term of the regular course, is the outoome of an effort of the provincial department of .agri- culture to provide suitable educational equipment for young farmers in the eastern part of the province. The •cost of the undertaking is being defrayed entirely from the Dominion grant to the province ander the Agricuitixral Instruction Act. The regular two- year course has been planned along practical lines, and is calculated to make better farmers of those who take advantage of it. Twenty-five farm boys constituted the first student °lass. In addition to the• regular course, an extensive •course cif three weeks was put an during the winter months, which was attended by seventy-three boys. It is the intention another year to add courses far gilds in domestic science. The school has ample land for farm- ing purposes attacyhed to it, and the farm is not only proving to be a valuable object leseon, but is being anade' a centre from which good seed and good live stock is being d.istnibut iK DEe'W OOL iHIU RS With the cora hg of spring, you will be having wool, hides, skins end horse 'hair to sell, Ship it to ne or write for haloes, We wilt use you right. WILLIAM STONE.' SONS Li itrEb WOODSTOCK. ONTARIO ESTAtsUSHEC 1070 ed. It . is believed that from this centre was distributed, during the• past year, niore pure seed than frozr any other government institution it Canada. During the year the school held two sales of purebred stock, a plowing match, arci several field day:. for junior farmers. Furthermore, the institution is developing as a real community centre. These activities taken together indicate that the school's influence will do much to benefit farming in Eastern Ontario. Teaching a Calf to Drink. A calf that is weaned from its mother should be kept without food for at least twelve hours, 'at the end of which time it will be hungry and will usually drink milk from a pail much more readily than when not hungry. Warm, fresh milk from the mother should be put into a clean pail and held near the floor, in front of the calf, which will generally start to nose about the pail. Place one or two fingers in the calf's mouth, and draw the hand down into the milk as the calf begins to suck the fingers. The calf in this way gets a taste of the milk aidd often starts to ,drink without further trouble. If not, the process must be repeated. But sometimes the calf refuses, and force must be resorted to. The feeder, facing the same direction as the calf, straddles its neck and backs the calf into a corner. The pail of milk should be held in one hand and the nose of the calf should be grasped with the other. Place two fingers, in the calf'e, mouth. The calf's nose is then forced' into the milk. 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