The Exeter Advocate, 1923-3-22, Page 3Address communications to Agronomist, 73 Adelaide St, West, Toronto
L. Y:—;Will you please explain the
action • of bacteria in relation to soil
fertility?
Answer:—The action of bacteria in
the eei1 is to bring about the decay
of the organic matter and so reduce
it to a condition that it can be used
as food by plants. In the process of
decay; aeids are created which make
plant food available. The nodules on
legunifnous plants are caused by bac
teria, making passible the utilization
of nitrogen from the air, This nitro-
gen, and, in fact, all soil nitrogen
occurring as plant or animal remains,
cannot be utilized by succeeding, crops
until it has gone through preparatory
processes. First, it is broken down
to ammonia, then built up to nitrite,
and then to nitrate, the form in which
crops take it from the soil. These
lirocesses •depend entirely upon soil.
bacteria.
E. N. B.:—I understand that sweet
clover sometimes„introduces from 40
to 50 pounds of nitrogen
per acre and
also supplies humus -forming material.
Would it be a good plant to' grow to
be turned down as a green manure?
Answer=iSweet clover would un-
doubtedly prove a very excellent
green manure, but on account of its
- high value as a food for live stock it
would seem unwise to turn it under in
the crap stage. Dealing with this
very question at an agricultural con-
ference held at 'Winnipeg,• Dr. Gris-
dale, Deputy Minister • of Agriculture
for Canada, pointed out that where
sweet clover can be grown success-
fully, and the grower understands how
to handle it, it would seem profitable
to use it for animal food and to re-
turn the manure to the soil.
Nurse Crops for Seeding Clover.
Nurse crops are almost universally
used when seeding elover. Their most
important functions are: to reduce the
cost of production of tale clover hay
(red clover 'being a biennial or per-
ennial that produces little or no for-
age of value the first season), to shade
theyoung seedling plants from the hot
July and August sun, and to leave a
sturdy stubble that will retain the
snow and protect the clover from the
heaving action of frost.
The cereal nurse crops, in order of
their revenue-producing qualities,
would' usually stand: oats, barley and
wheat, in •Pastern Canada. In pro-
viding shade et the right time, and
nottending to smother the clover
seedlinglater in else seams, the order
would likely be reversed: wheat, bar-
ley and oats. In sturdiness of straw
and the ability to withstand the wed-,
Cher and hold a blanket of snow on.
the field, the order would be: wheat,
oats and barley.
The investigational -work with nurse
crops, at Charlottetown over a period
of six years, has been along two lines:
First, to determine the best rates of
seeding nurse crops, and second, a
!comparison of diffeeent cereals as
nurse crops for clover.
The experiments on rates of seed-
ing nurse crops were arranged in con-
nection with a four-year rotation,
hoed crop, grain, elover and timothy.
Pour rates of seeding were used each
year with both oats and barley. The
rates used were 1%, 2, 2% and 3
bushels per acre with oats, and 1, 11/z,
2 and 2% bushels per acre with the
barley. The returns, though not coos;
elusive,- re seeding for clover, were
quite marked in the second year hay
(timothy) in favor of the light seed-
ing of the nurse crop. The rate of
13I bushels per acre of either .cereal,
gave the best average returns for the
two hay crops in the rotations. When
fhe returns from the rotations were
made up as a whole, roots, grain and
hay, seeding at the rate of 13 bushels
per acre with oats and .also with bar-
ley gave the highest average return
per acre.
- The experiment with different sorts
of cereals as nurse crops was planned
also with a four-year rotation of hoed
crops,' grain, clover and timothy. The
three cereals, wheat, oats: and 'barley.
were used. The rates of seeding were:
wheat, 1% bushels, oats, 23 bushels;
barley, 1% :bushels. A sig: -year aver-
age of the bay produced, places these
in order of value as nurse crops: oats,
wheat and barley. Taking into con-
sideration the value of the hoed ,crops;
and grain in .the complete rotation,
then the average return per "sore
would placethem in the following.
order: oats, barley and wheat,
Summing, up then, the different fac-
tors to be considered in the selection
of a nurse crop for clover, we are
rather surprised to find that oats,
sown at a rate that will give first
quality seecl grain, stands at the top,
with barley second and wheat third.
The results also indicate that these
cereals are all satisfactory nurse crops
when sown thick enough to produce
the best :quality of seed; grain.
Poor Fruit and Vegetable Crops: How
• to Avoid Then.
The ,long Canadian winter gives
farmers, fruit growers, market garde -
Caere and dwellers in. cities and towns
abundant time to .think over the work
of ,the co-iming,grewing season, and to
plan how _to make use of their time
in order to obtain the beet possible
crops; but semetiiees opportunity is,
nrgiestc�d, 'anis sufficient thought is
red .;e. n e te the many problem.; whit!
confront the man or woman who
works on the land. If things are not
Iclearly , thought out . and provision
made for obtaining the seeds and
' other material needed to insure the
greatest success, when the spring
rush comes it may be too late.
I There is such a difference in the
quality of seeds of various kinds and
varieties of vegetables that this
should be considered when ordering.
Take, for instance, the onion. The
seed of this vegetable loses its ger-
minating power very rapidly, and if
one obtains old seed, or uses old seed
that one has on hand, there may be
few, if any, plants germinate. More-
over, even if some plants grow, there
may not the enough to insure a good
stand, .particularly if the root mag-
gots happen to be bad. Sometimes,
also, the onion seed bought may be
from strains which require a longer
warm season for development than we
have in many parts of Canada, and
the result will be a large proportion
of thicknecks. 'Seed that will germin-
ate well, and its special strain or se-
lection, are very important with other
kinds of vegetables also, the •greatest
difference perhaps being in strains of
cauliflower, cabbage, and tomato, but
also such staple crops as beets, car-
rots, parsnips and turnips vary much
in shape and trueness to type, and in
jother ways. If care is taken to order
seeds from a reliable source, and to
get, not the cheapest, but the best, the
difference in price between the best
seed and the ordinary will be repaid
many times in the •satisfactory crop
that isobtained, provided that it is
Iooked after and that the season is'
favorable.
Careful attention to the vegetable
crop after the seed has germinated
will do much to prevent a poor crop.
There aro cutworms, root maggots,
flea beetles and other insects to com-
bat and great vigilance is required in
order to prevent damage from being
done rather than in trying to control
these insects after they are well under
way. The poisoned bran mash is the
best remedy for cutworms, and a sup-
ply of this should be on hand to apply
just as soon as there is the first indi-
cation that cut -worms arebout, For
root maggots affecting cabbage and
cauliflower, corrosive sublimate is the
best remedy. Another treatment is
necessary for the root maggots affect-
ing onions, which often destroy almost
all, or all, of the young plants. Bul-
letins dealing with these -insects can
be obtained free on application to the
Publications Branch, Department of
Agriculture, Ottawa.
There is often a temptation to sow
seed or out plants too early in the
spring, with the result that the seed.
either rots in the ground, or else the
young plants are killed or badly-in-
jured
adly'in-jured by frost, and when a resowing
or a replanting is made, it inay be
too- late to obtain good crops. The
following hints may be of service:—
Seed to be sown early in spring, the
young plants from which will stand
some frost—beets, carrots, lettuce,
onions, parsnips, peas, radishes, kohl-
rabi, garden cress, salsify, spinach,
parsley and leeks.
Beed best sown in hot -beds, the
young plants from which will stand
some frost—cabbage, cauliflower,
celery.
Seed to be sown after danger of
frost is over unless it is planned to
protect the plants: --,beans, corn, cu-
cumbers, melons, potatoes and squash.
Seed of late cabbage is not sown until
May, but the plants will endure frost,
and seeds of swede turnips should be
sown late, although turnips will stand
frost.
•
"Feeling'For Layers
This method is about as certain as the trap nest-Experi-
ments with capons Feeding costs --- Excellent Flesh
produced without confinement Dandling
Baby Chicks.
BY L. STEVENSON, ONTARIO DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE.
The writer carried on a series of crates for two weeks, produced the
experiments with poultry when con -i same high grade of flesh. Follovifing
netted with The Agricultural Experi- is the feed cost of an eight -pound -
reent Station for Vancouver Island, ,two ounce capon:
Feed cost to rear to end of
third month.... ..'; . 21.54
Feed cost to rear during fourth
month 16.2'
Feed cost to rear during fifth
month ... ...:. 13,17
Feed cost to rear during sixth
month..... , .......... 21.2
Feed cost to rear during sev-
enth month -...............21.3
Feed cost to rear during eighth
month 23.4
Feed cost to rear during De-
cember, 20 days 14.4
Sidney, B,C,, and presents the follow-
, ing notes as among those worthy of
consideration:
Determination of Egg -Laying.
A test was made of the feeling
method, to determine its accuracy.
Thirty hens that were under trap -
nest, record were subjected to the
feeling process for eight days: Janu-
ary 17 to 24.
The results of "feeling” were check-
ed. up and tallied perfectly with the
"trapnesting," indicating that it is
quite possible for any careful person
to determine which hens are laying
by feeling the bird for the presence
of the egg in the oviduct, in the early
morning' before she leaves the perch.
The method also has an advantage in
that it eliminates the necessary con-
finement of the birds in a "trapnest"
for a period which is frequently longer
than is actually required to produce
an egg
The great disadvantage of the feel-
ing method is thatit is impracticable
for pedigree breeding, inasmuch that
the eggs from individual birds cannot
be recorded.
Experiments t'•'ith Capons.
Thirty cockerels were operated on
when twelve weeks old. These birds
were a thrifty and well -grown lot,
averaging 241 pounds in weight. After
caponizing they were kept under the
same conditions as the cockerels. The
feed cost for a pound increase in
weight was slightly less for the cock-
erels up to six months of age. At this
time the cockerels and capons weighed
the same. These birds were killed for
Christmas trade when 264 days old,
and weighed; plucked, 8 pounds 2
ounces. The percentage of offal was
low, being but 18 per cent. of the
total weight. The birds were not crate
fed, but were finished on a liberal
milk ration. The quality of the flesh
was excellent, and the wholesale price
received was 30 cents per pound. The
advantages of caponizing are that an
excellent quality of flesh can be pro-
duced without confining the birds in
small feeding crates and the tender
flesh can be retained to a greater age
and weight. The cockerels made just
as good gains, and when milk fed in
Total feed cost $1.31.21
These birds were sold for $2,43 each
wholesale, leaving $1,11.79 per birds
Prom this we can deduct 20 cents, tile
price paid for the bird as a day-old
,chick, and have 91.79 cents per bird
for labor and shelter.
Handling Baby Chicks.
In another experiment a thousand
one,day-old chicks were procured from
two reliable 'local breeders. The first
day they remained in the incubator,
and on the second day they were
transferred to the brooder, but were
not fed until forty-eight hours old.
The following hints on general treat-
ment are given;
Do not chill or overheat the chick-
ens, or disastrous results will follow,
If they pant they are too hot, and if
they huddle together they are not
warm enough.
Do not overfeed during the first
week,
Change the water daily and see
that it is perfectly clean.
Give plenty of green food.
Feed sour skins milk whenever pos-
sible.
Do not forget to supply charcoal,
grit, and shell.
Make all change of food and feed-
ing gradually.
Clean and disinfect breeder often.
Do not use damp, mouldy feed or
straw.
Never allow chicks to crowd in
brooders or colony houses.
Place chicks on the range in colony
houses, after the eighth week.
Do not let the cockerels and pullets
run together on the range.
TheTobacco of Qu
11/
and in packages
open flame, and ignition, with ex-plo- The first farmer was the first man,
sive effect, will occur, regardless of and all historic nobility rests on pos-
the factthat one considered oneself: session and use of land. Emerson.
sufficiently removed from such to bel
in no danger.
We recall a disastrou's fire which oc-
curred in a countess town and which
was due to the fact that two men
sought to empty a barrel of gasoline
into an underground tank. They were
working in the open air unmindful of
the fact that the wind was blowing
directly from them toward the build-
ing where double doors stood ajar.
Gasoline vapor was carried into the
building and found its way to an -open
fire at the far end. The explosion
which followed blew the whole side of
the .building out, let the roof fall in
and more speedily than it takes to tell
it the entire structure was a mass of
seething flames. This, is, the time of
year when gasoline for cleaning pur-
poses is used oftentimes within doors
because of inclement conditions out-
side. - — It should be remembered that
Seeds sown in hot -beds, the plants
from which will not stand frost—
melons, egg plants and peppers. These
plants require a longer warm season
than most plants, hence the necessity
of starting them in hot -beds.
In order to prevent serious losses ef
the fruit crop it is important to begin
early. .If foliage of fruit trees is de-
stroyed, the crop for the following
year will be reduced very much, if,
indeed, there is any crop at all that
year, it will have a bad effect on this
season's crop also. The tent cater-
pillars are increasing in Eastern Can-
ada, canker worms are bad elsewhere,
and other insects are destructive,
hence the trees should be sprayed to
kill them before they have clone ap-
preciable harm. Disease must also be
controlled if loss to the crop is to be
prevented. As caterpillars begin to
work and diseases are actfve just
when the leaf buds are breaking, or
have broken, the spray materials
should be on hand and the pump in
good order to begin spraying. Spray
calendars can be obtained from the
Dominion and Provincial departments
giving best formulas to use and times
to Spray, with information about the
insects and diseases to be destroyed.
The conservation of moisture in the
early part of the season is important
if we are to prevent a loss of trop.1
rust at blooming time, and when the,
fruit is setting, it is necessary to have
a good supply of moisture in the
ground to insure the fruit setting
should the weather be hot and dry at":
that season. Hence, early •cultivation'
to conserve moisture and warm up the
soil, so that growth will be active and
there will be a flow of sap to the set-
ting fruit, is very 'necessary.
Danger From Gasoline.
The writer happened recently upon
an advertisement which began some-
thing after this fashion: "If a quart
of gasoline will carry your Ford a
distance of four miles how far will
one gallon of it carry the roof of your
house?". Certainly, here is food for
reflections Plenty ofpeople there are
who never stop to figure it out until
after the explosion carries roof and
walls and everything else before it.
Me danger of using gasoline for
cleaning or other purposes, lies not
so much in its being inflammable as in
the fact that its vapor, when mixed
with air in the . proper proportions,
is highly explosirve.. A slight draft
will carry the vapor oftentimes to an
AN OLD
INDUSTRY IN A NEW SETTING
Maple syrup and maple sugar, now delicacies, were -originally used by settlers as a substitute for cane sugar,
whiner was, of course, almosrt impossible to obtain. In some parts of "Quebec and Eastern Ontario, the old mothods
of collecting sap and converting it into syrup are stili tisod The picture shows a farmer collecting syiliI;in wood-
en _pails
ooden_pails and boiling itat an outdoors fire. The upper central picture shows the tnede;;n method of tapping and col-
lecting sap .Irl sanitary ,receptacles, and the upper !eft -hand picture shows the scientiec methods, of handling syrup.- ,.
the cooking or heating stove, the ker-
osene clamp or :anything else of this
kind offers the spark which will set
off the explosion should the gasoline
vapor max with the air in just the
right proportions. Be careful.
es, mse
RADIO RECEIVING SETS
Farmers! Protect your crops by get-
ting last minute weather reports with
a Westinghouse Radio Receiving Set.
Also latest Market Reports, Concerts,
Church Services, Etc.
CANADIAN WESTINGHOUSE CO.
Limited
HAMILTON, ONT.
District Offices: Toronto, Montreal,
Halifax, Ottawa, Fort William, Win-
nipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver.
Irrigated Farms in
tithern Alberta
In the z antou3 Vauxhall Diotriot
Sow nicer Irrigation Project ,
J n especially good location for znL'ced
farming and dairying. Splendid op-
ppoortnnity or young men now living
in districte where good land cannot
be bought at reasonable prices.
THIS IS NOT PIONEERING, the
tlret 10,000 acres are fully settled and
another 10,000 acres now ready for
settlement; maximum distance from
railroad, seven miles. Good roads,
telephones and schools. Easy pay-
ments, extending over 18 years.
This Ie the Peet Laid Any in Alberta
Write for further information to:
C8.178D.s. mAND and ISEXaATIOT3
CCMPA.Sf'Y', arerreset
aleRtoine at, - Alberta
Saves. $3 to $10
Cay on Labor atone
:Mixing concrete by
Land tach a hoe i,
a bark-brenkin; lib
—and trink of the
labor east. Th. "r3rontfoad'1r:1ti::11Egr
VALUE FA1t\t '1ZE E31�.L•'It
it is the right viz, an sm:til i,b founda-
tions, heree trou ;hr, ,los, ale Many term-
ers use it for nil \tug feed, fertlfiz T. etc.
Made for baud tr power, an skids or
:maimed en trurr a, malts1 Or withoat engine.
Write for booklet.
' Coo'd Shapley far Mulr Co„ Llm1124.
Brantford 2E0 Wellington Street. ^Ontario.
r
; iwpz -x:, 44,
"Eastlake"
"
Galvanized Copper -bearing
"Metallic" Shirigies
Fire, Lightning. Rust and Storm
Proof—Make, Water by Condensing
Dew and Frost.
Sand Postal Card for Folder "b"
The --'etaiimc Roofing Coe
Llsnitod 503
1194 King St. 1131.,,Toronto
Don't wait for someone to
be in pain to get Kendall's
Spavin Treatment in the
house.
For all external hurts andpaintl
—for all muscular troubles.
Kendall's Spavin Treatment makes good.
K IWAsrOir, Sask., Decemberatb,1121
Please send me one copy oryourTRH:371SE0N TsB;
80r.SE, 1 baro used your EendeS, -Spin Cure for over
Moven years dad found It ono atilt bet liniment, I have
ever used for allktnds ofsorat. (Signed) 31. ZS:hlAii,^
Get a bottle at your druggist's today. Regular
for Horse Treatment--RefinedforHuman use.
DR. D. J. KENDALL COMPANY,
Enesburg Falls, Vt., U.S.A.
SPAWN
TR EAT
8
The CatneVian
WILL FIND
a
FieIp
anFanners
TO EB 071' SERVICE to Fasten,: Canadian 1 srmera ..nd !help to :meet the!-
needs' in securing competent fur= belt, tha Canadian Psotfio Azilwaztis
prepared to utiiizo its widespread organxmltioiz to provide such help .from
n nu`mberr of countries.
The CANADIAN PACIFIC 7is,flw,tr 1411 now receive and arrange to fill
applicatton9 for male and feign:o foam help to be supplied from Great
Britain, Belgium, Holland, henna?„ Swltzelrand .and Norway, in all •of
which countries the Company bas representatives eeho have farmed in and
are familiar with Eastcrie Canadian -•onditions and who ars nowin toueh
with such menand women ready end ars-sloes to cofay. to Canada.
T7iB GOVERNMENTS of tl'o countries above mentioned have expressed
theta willingness to aid the immigration of this clans of their peoples. 7>i.
order to fill such applicst.ors eutisfaotor1ly andbringthe beg to the
farmer' at the proper tree and with a clearundorstenng of the require-
ments and obligations oaf each, a painted ".Application for Help" form has
been prepared: which can be obtaiasd f.cne any of the offices listed' below.
The Company vellI male no charge to ,i.e fanner for this .tetvice nor will
the farmer be required to make ane• o sit advance whatsoever towards the
travelling expensee of his hash to the nearest railway station. The Informa-
tion necessarily asked for. in thsso•.application forms, which will be held la
strictest confidence, covers the foiiov tu.g pone,—tno' kind of help wanted—
male or feu-ado—married of unmarred ; date required surd for how loss;
nationality desired; menthly warts of=ered; kind of work offered, eta.
IIONTItEAL P.T, {J' Pottyrtl, Gen .�grIzidtaral ggent.',C.P. .
i s
C. il:te ?7otttaoct, 7 a_.d ,.gait, C.IP.3t.
ErNTVILLE, N.S.—Geo. E, Graham, .aim, Mgr.,;Do_ttinion Atlantie 1
Department of Colonization seed Development
Canadian lsrs`ile Railway
'. S. DENNIS, t :z„ef Comlia@DIonel•, Montreal.
..»areare�:s..urn claim n•:aeex.+4 .,awe te5aas,
A