Evening Star Newspaper, August 5, 1923, Page 69

k- THE SUNDAY improved Methods of Cattle Raising - Demonstrated at Government Farm STAR, WASHINGLO. Agricultural Plant at Beltsville, on the Baltimore and Washington Highway, Has Been Turned Into a Paying Proposition and Also Furnishes Valuable Information on the Subjects of Breeding and Feeding—Swine, Sheep, Goats and Poultry Among the Subjects of Investigation—How Often Should a Cow B BY JAMES A. BUCHANAN. UST at this time, political parties are paying particular attention to the farmer and scratching their heads to see if they cannot do something to relieve his situation. The wisest heads in political circles are casting about for a remedy that will give to the tiller of the soil something that will satisfy him. The condition is more acute in the sections of the country where the farmer depends upon wheat than in any other region. In some of the states, where formerly the crop was largely a wheat vield, they have gone into other branches of the farming industry, and these sections are re- ported to be in a highly prosperous condition. The government took a very ordi- mary farm out at Beltsville, on the Baltimore and Washington highway, | and turned it into a paying proposi- tion. At the same time it uses it as an experimental station and many valuable things have been learned. There may be some who have the idea that the reason the government : has made this farm a paying propo- | sition is that it has the resources of the nation behind it, but this experi- mental farm as closely checked when it comes to cost as the enter- prises of the agriculturists who de- sire always to keep their eyes on the “cost sheets.” This farm at Beltsville was pur- chased in June, 1910, for $25,000, and comprises about 480 acres. Of this property all but 100 acres was till- able at the time the government took ‘\ title. Some one may say that the ground, or rather acreage, was pur- chaser at a price that no individual could have bought it for, but that may be disputed, considering that the place at the time of purchase very few improvements on it. that there were no fences, the soil was at a low state of fertility, and a general | run-down condition obtained, a con- dition that would have disheartened the majority of purchasers. Those placed in charge of the proj- | ect made a careful study of condi- tions, and the outlook, even to them, was not of the most encouraging character. * ¥ ¥ ¥ Ar-"n:n a careful survey it was de- cided to divide the tillable land between the animal-husbandry divi- sion and the division devoted to the dairy work. Immediately after the farm had been divided, it was fenced and a large portion of it was drained. The soil was treated o that its fertility would return, crops were planted and these crops have been than to maintain the animals that have been the means of making the farm a paying proposition A little over a year ago the dairy division rented additional acres, although six acres are used by the animal-husbandry division for poul- try investigations. This end of the farming business has come to be a more source of profit to the men outside | of the government. and many a mort- ®age has been lifted by the aid of “biddy,” who gives evidence of her appreciation of good treatment in the Torm of a nice white egg, the kind that vou pay 50 cents a pair for if they are served in a fashionable eating place The breeding and feeding of s are studied this Maryland farm. Here the men in charge take noth- ing for granted. They have to be shown that the method of treatment of the pigs is such as will be of the ine on had | sufficient | e Milked? o I8 24 30 36 4% 4 ourselves—wool—and there is a {laboratory that is used in the develop- !ing of a method of determining grease |and dirt in wool and a system of |sampling fleeces to determine clean- ‘wool content. The experiments along this line have been of great benefit, not only to the wool grower but also to the man who makes a specialty of buying | this valuable product. 1 ! Persons who have traveled over remarked how sturdy some of the people were, and almost invariably they have asked how it was that these men of the hills were so strong. Always the same answer was made— that as youngsters they were given goat’s milk and later fed on cheese made from the milk of the nannies. 10f late, this industry in this country has taken on an added growth that certain parts of Europe have often | 8§ B4 GO GG IR TS 84 DO METHOD OF ILLUSTRATING GROWTH AND CHANGES IN A CALF. especially those who are speciallsts in stomach disorders. Those in charge also note the sci- entific relation of breeding and the production and composition of goat's milk. The old theory held by many that the goat, especially the male member of the tribe, was enamored of a tin-can diet has long since been exploded. WATSON SEGIS PONYIAC HOMESTEAD, WITH A RECORD FOR ONE YEAR OF 25,360 POUN AND 927 POUNDS OF BUTTER FAT. 1l XPERIMENTS at the government farm include those relating to the different kinds of food for cattle. For example, they have fed the stock velvet beans. In this test soaked beans gave the best results, whol. | beans were next, while ground bean | were last. This upset the old idea that ground beans as a cattle food surpassed all others, For a number of years there has O HUNGER STRIKE FOR THESE YOUNGSTERS AT THE BELTSVILLE FARM. greatest benefit, for, after all, the work that is being done out there has for its main purpose the giving to the country of information that will be of benefit to every citizen. These keen-eyed government farm- ers have means of determining the effct of parasites on the rate of growth and development of pigs, and the effect of different kinds of foods on the firmness of carcasses in soft pork investigations. Here also they investigate value of fishery by-products as sources of protein food; they mnote the effects of close in-breeding in the matter of production, size and variety of the little groups of new pigs, and the rate of gain under certain con- ditions. The abattoir on the farm enables all experiments conducted to be car- ried through to completely cured meat products. * ¥ ¥ ¥ HERE are many who like the meat of sheep and at the place called Sheep Acres, a practical forage- crop system for intensified sheep farming has been developed. Those in charge of the work are preparing for the future, when grazing lands for sheep will be far less extensive than they are today. The system is parallel with the English system, under crowded pasture conditions, and those who have eaten the fymous Southdown mutton will agree that vast reaches of land are not essen- tial to'good mutton. Here is the very latest word in sheep raising. They havo experimented until they have been able to raise twenty more lambs per 100 ewes than they could under old conditions. One must not think of sheep in terms of food only, for from. this gen- tle oreature comes that highly im- ’ @ortant. product-with - which~we-clothe the |is truly remarkable, more especially in the last two years. There are today farms that are de- voted to the raising of goats and the selling of the milk from them. At the government station is a herd of milk goats and this herd has estab- lished beyond the shadow of a doubt that the milk from the goat is not only valuable for infants and invalids, but also for others. The milk of the goat is recommended by physicians, . THE.MAN.WHO DOES THE MILKING AT THE BELTSVILLE FARM USES A STAND, . .o i’ Srsvel. moighocalythistydive poands, ', PHOTOGRAPH-SHQWING THE, SUITCASE RADIO- OUTFIL ON-RUNNING BOARD: OF AL OMOBILE. . . been a great movement, especially in the south, to use cottonseed meal as a stock food. One lot of cattle at the farm was fed cottonseed meal, then shelled corn and cottonseed meal, also shelled corn and soaked velvet beans, while another combina- tion was that of cottonseed meal and soaked velvet beans. While the cottonseed-meal and the velvet-bean ration was found to produce the smallest daily gain, it was, however, the most profitable ration. Two pounds of velvet beans were found to be practically equal to one pound of cottonseed meal. There are two main lines of poultry investigation at Beltsville. They are the breeding and the feeding of poul- try. About 1,800 hens are used. These have been built up by scientific breed- ing and are fine examples of what can be accomplished by careful work and thorough study. The general plan has been to combine good egg production and excellence of standard quality and breed character in each variety of poultry. The results in this line have been particularly mark- ed in the single-comb white leghorn and have resulted in interesting both poultry breeders and the various state experiment stations and agricultural colleges in the possibilities of main- taining flocks of poultry in which both utility and exhibition qualities are combined. A new breed, called the lamona, has | been established. The object in glv- ing *his breed to the country was to produce a general-purpose fowl com- | bining both e and meat production. | This fowl produces a white esg and has the qualities desired by the American public—a table fowl with white plumage, vellow legs and yel- low skin. A system of culling—that is, sepa- rating the less valuable chicks—hus been carried on for some time, with the general result that a far higher standard has been obtained than was | thought possible when the work was first undertaken. It is a decided con- trast with the methods that formerly | obtained on nearly every farm in the United States. Poultry can be graded | i AUGUST 1923 —PART 5. Fine Art of the Expert Lens Maker e ~ Shown in Giant Camera Made Here Life-Size Portraits in Unequaled Detail May Be Made With Photographic Box Which Has Been Produced at Bureau of Standards—Scientist in Service of Government Gives Product of His Sidll for Public Benefit—First of Kind Ever Made—Pictures Shown at Smithsonian Insti- tution—Methods of Removing Inaccuracy in Glass. N ONE of the little laboratories at the national bureau of standards, our great testing factory where the most complete facilities are provided for trying out the efi- clency of most anything—from an ordinary pin to the most intricate of automotive engines—there stands a large box-like contrivance that looks like a mammoth carpenter chest, and really is the most extraordinary camera in the United States. This curious camera is the first of its kind that ever was used for photo- graphic work in the world. It is equipped with a nine-inch lens—a glass giant as compared with the lens of the ordinary camera—that Is matchless for making life-size por- traits. A little white-haired, white- whiskered man of modest demeanor and unassuming ways—one of a half dozen of the best astronomical lens makers now living—is the inventor of the extraordinary camera. His name is John Clacey, and before he ontered the service of Uncle Sam, he was a manufacturer of astronomical lenses, and made those used at the Georgetown University observatory other collegiate institutions throughout the country Greed and avarice. apparently, are almost unkmown to this talented maker of many of the best lenses in existence, for he has never patented his novel camera. He has given his discovery to the whole world. His earnest hopes are that commercial photographers will, in time, appre- clate the efliciency of large lenses for portrait work and will utilize these products of the scientific art of glass manipulation. The confusion and interference in a large lens have to be corrected by physical manipulation of the glass Some commercial concerns, sensing the great value of larger lenses to the photographic industry, have, on various occasions, attempted to cor- rect the errors of the educated glass by mechanical means. In every in- stance their efforts failed. There is one way and only one way in which | nogatives are exposed. THE CAMERA LOOKS LIKE A CARPENTER'S CHEST, BEING 6 FEET LONG, 4 FEET WIDE AND 21 FEET HIGH. cated lenses and prisms used in your Uncle Sam's federal laboratories and research rooms, is different from the many tourist cameras that daily are snapped here, there and everywhere in our big league city of government. All these cameras are stopped down to approximately one-fourth-inch aperture to give good definition and to eliminate fogginess when the It is im these shortcomings of the extra large | pogsiple to secure the same view in glass lens can be remedied. The art and artifice of the best lens experts in all creation are required to elim- inate the mistakes from these power- ful glasses. * % % % HE Clacey camera, which is about six feet long. four feet wide and two and one-half feet high, uses plates that are eleven by fourteen inches in size. The pictures are snapped by means of a combination sliding shutter and plateholder which is worked by hand. The ground glass at the side of the unusual camera is the same size as the plates that are used. One outstanding feature is that when the termination of the exposure j is reached the light is cut off directly { DS OF MILK 1 “up,” and when this is accomplished the man who raises chickens for a business will find that his balance in the bank will be much larger. About 1,000 hens are used in the various feeding experiments that are being conducted on the experimental farm, and as a result of these tests a ration especially adapted for leg- horns has been developed. There another ration, slightly different in | its composition, that is better adapt- | ed for the general-purpose breeds. A complete chart is In use at the farm, showing the amount of food it is| necessary for a chicken to have in order to get the greatest ability in is | to1. the laying line. These foods rank in the following order: Gluten meal, linseed meal, cottonseed sova-bean meal and velvet-bean meal. £ THER experiments that have been made demonstrated the compara- tive value of meat scrap, fish meal, | tankage and the various commercial | milk products, including the dried and semi-solid buttermilk. { Some time ago the matter of feed- | ing yeast to the chickens came up and extensive experiments were made, probably with the idea that if the hen were given some of the stuff that is | used in home brew and other things| “biddy” would perk up a bit and in- crease her production; but here is | where the prohibitionists can score| | one more point, for the results were not favorable and the diet of veast was discontinued. . They have also evolved rations that are used in crate and pen fattening, and the cost of such fattening has been determined, so that no longer does the farmer or the housewife| have to guess how much it will cost to bring the chickens into that condi- | tion that will bring a higher price in | the market. meal, at the plate. One of the greatest recommenda- tions of the efficacy of the Clacey camera is the fact that several pic- tures made by Mr. Clacey with his curious photographic box are dis- played in the historical photographic exhibit of the Smithsonian Institu- tion as examples of one of the most momentous achievements in modern photography. 1t is extremely appropriate that the Clacey camera should have had in- ception in the National Capital, the city of cameras. The camera is the most common article found in the hand baggage of visitors to Washing- ton. The sights and scenes of our Capital city are photographed hun- dreds of times daily by the throngs of amateur photographers who visit the District of Columbia during the tourist season. The Washington Monument, the White House, the Capi- the Congressional Library, the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Vernon, Arlington and the Rock Creek Park “Zoo" have been photographed by millions of visitors. The camera which John Clacey prizes 80 highly, and now is em- ployed daily in testing out compli- BY GEORGE H. DACY. F you are loathe to leave on that motoring expedition or vacation tour because you are a radio en- thusiast and are so closely wedded to wireless news and music that it is like pulling teeth for you to depart from the immediate vicin- ity of your receiving set even for a short time, you will be interested to learn that Brent Daniel, a Washing- ton inventor, has perfected a portable suit case radio receiving set which is compact. easy to handle and service- ably satistactory in every way. The pleasure seeker can trek to the primeval fastness of the Catskills or the Adirendacks, he can guide his canoe across the solitude of Maine Jakes, can venture the vicissitudes of sky travel, can brave the vastness of the seven seas, or can step on the starter of his motor car and speed cross-country in any direction and still have the attractive amusements of radio entertainment constantly at his elbow as a result of the recent invention. Yes, there have been many and various kinds of portable radio out- fits on the market, but all of them have been unsatisfactory for the use of the general traveling or vacation- ing public because they necessitated the use of either overhead antennae or external coil aerials. Sach sup- plementary equipment demanded that the so-called portable sets be either stationary or else set up in special automobiles or other mediums of transportation. For the most part’ these outfits were portable in name only, as otherwise they featured the principal inconveniences of non- portable installations. *x % ¥ HE radio recelving set which Mr. Daniel has devised fits into a lightweight suitcase as snugly as any six-quart silk hat ever slid into its leather case. Every part and parcel of the portable radio set gees inside the suit case, which, when packed for every minute detail with one of these small lenses that you perceive with your two eyes or which the large- size corrected lens will record. A small scenes in a picture only in the lim- ited angle that it can cover. using a larger lens that confusion errors you reproduce a more detailed and complete portrayal of the scene or object upon the nega- tive. To obtain satisfactory life-size pic- tures the art of commercial photog- raphy makes the initial exposures with stopped-down lenses. These negatives are then retouched and en-| the they desired dimensions. are not as true and larged to However, lens registers the sights and| By | is free of| | | | 1 | | accurate as the direct life-size pic-! tures made with the Clacey camera, because it is beyond the province of the small-aperture lens to record ac- curacy of detail as minutely and truthfully as the large crroriesslens.| The pictures which Mr. Clacey takes| with his mammoth comera, using rapid plates and exposures of six to eight seconds, are so remarkable that they have fooled most expert photographers, who thought the por: traits were enlargements made by the best of Washington professionals. e HE champion camera, which now is one of the outstanding photo- graphic features of our national art of picture-malking, is the product of months of the most exacting and in- tricate labor on the part of its origi- nator. The inventor even has made successful pictures by artificial light, consisting of three powerful electric bulbs, each of 500 amperes. The lenses —there really are four nine-inch lenses, two flints and two crowns in the de- vice—cost in $1,500 to $2,000 and are made of the | basic best imported French optical glass.|miniature this high price for the'that are used in gauging the most However, | the American glassmaking |to train expert astronomical lens- | keeps the wind and rain out of our IT USES PLATES 11x14 INCHI lenses does not preclude the use of| the equipment by commercial photog- | raphers, as there are cameras now in| some of our leading American studios that cost from $1,600 to $2,100. With the recent improvement in industry facilities are now available in this country for the output of American- made lenses of every type and de- scription. The only difficulty will be makers in all the secrets of glass/ manipulation so that they may elimi- | nate the errors of confusion and in-| accurate focus from these large lenses. The Clacey pictures may be re- duced to any size desired. In their reduced form these pictures are more accurate and reliable reproductions of | the scenes or objects photographed than are similar negatives made with a small-aperture lens that is stopped down. It will be only a matter of | time until commercial photographers | will, of necessity, use the larger| lenses, the offspring of scientific lens- making principles. Some authorities contend that our| next great forward step in the art of | picture-taking will be the acceptation and commercial adaptation of such perfected facilities as the Clacey camera to the future needs of the photographic industry. Glass to the most of us means sim- | ply a transparent material that lets! the daylight and artificial light in and | houses, offices and automobiles. To the expert lensmaker glass is a com- | plex substance which teems with sci- entific riddles—a perplexing puzzie | that is ever-changing and becoming more intricate as its use in the arts,| | sciences and industries is extended. It you doubt about the hundred and| one mysteries of glass you should | visit the laboratory or testing room | of an astronomical lens expert and| observe him for a while as by this or| | that apparently simple movement he! changes the workaday character of | prism or lens. %% T UNCLE SAM'S huge laboratories, out testing Connecticut the neighborhood of |avenue way, infinitesimally accurate standards are maintained— vardsticks, so to speak, | covered by 5 IN SIZE. minute accuracies and defects of simple or elaborate rhombs quartz planes, lenses and other prog- of intricate The delicately the gigantic camera are harnessed for the testing and standardization of other costly lenses. The arrangement such that a beam of light from a special electric lamp is projected through a pin point hole into a dark cl nber where it is focused on a mir- ror. This mirror reflects the light into the camera, whence it passes through the large lenses. As the beam of light leaves its source, it is divergent, but as soon it passes through the corrected camera lenses. the beam is disrupted into paralle! ravs. Any other lenses or prisms placed in front of the camera in the direct line of these parallel rays will im- mediately show up defects and weak- nesses when examined through small telescopes. In this manner, the hid- den secrets of unknown lenses are brought to light. The expert lens maker, when he locates the defects corrects them by manipulation if the errors are eradicable. All commercia manutacturers of photographic lenses now practice this efficient testing method. There are also three twelve-inch “flats”—carefully standardized cyl- inders of glass twelve inches in di ameter and two inches thick—that are used in determining the defec of prisms and other glass gauges. A monochromatic yellow light from incandescent helium lamp is used as the source of illumination in the technical searching for mistakes and prisms, eny glass work corrected lenses of is an |irregularities in the glass objects. A wave length of the vellow light only one-fifty-thousandth of an inch in length, and it is used as a stand- ardized ruler to measure the distance between the two flat surfaces of the glassware. A small ridge or irregu- larity in the surface of the prism under test as minute as two-mil- lionths of an inch can be readily dis- this remarkable sleuthing almost beyond the powers of the average layman to comprehend the intricacy and accu- racy of these complicated investiga- tions, which are of immeasurable im- portance to certain branches of wcom- merce, the arts and industries. system. It is 'Washington Inventor Perfects a Portable Radio Suit Case Set The outfit is also compact, as the | the radio suit case. case is only eight by fourteen by twenty-four inches in dimension. The only external evidence that the radio suit case is anything other than a commonplace article of baggage is in the operating switches and plugs into which the ear trumpets or loud- speaking devices link. The arrange- ment is such that the portable set can be used at any time without un- strapping the cover of the suit case, under which are stored the batteries, vacuum tubes, amplifier and cofl aerial. If you are going on an automobile trip, all you have to do is to leave room in your luggage carriers for|used. You can even at- | tach it to the running board of the | car, place the ear trumpets on your head and listen to sweet strains of distant music or the latest news, market information, weather reports, base ball scores and what not in the daily gossip that is circulated through the ether from central broadcasting stations as you bowl along over winding highways and byways. When set up for active service in a non-portable form, the radio re- ceiving set under discussion has re- peatedly picked up transcontinental signals from the Pacific coast, where a coil aerial three feet square was Used as a portable outfit, its| reasonably audible range varies from 300 to 500 miles. Unless a person is going on a long sea voyage or into the distant deserts and mountains it is rarely, nowadays, that he gets farther than 500 miles from a first- class radio broadcasting station Hence the portable radio set has a very wide range of adaptability. The outfit is always ready for use. All the operator has to do is to switch on a certain button. It immediately lights the filaments within the trav- eling container. The radio audio amplifier has three stages of amplifi- cation. TQe coil acrial of this stand- (Continued on Sixth Page.) L]