The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 14, 1917, Page 10

e e S ORI LR TN TAA TRC R A Season to Nip Plant Diseases Early Government and State Agricultural Colleges Cooperate to Cut Down Ravages - : in Farner’s Fields ' In the middle of this picture is a road. To the left is a thin, stunted devitalized crop of flax, ordinary flax trying to make good against the wilt. On the right| is a thrifty, sturdy crop of flax—wilt resistent flax—growing under exactly similar conditions, but yielding abundance of seed rich in oil. Wilt resistent flax, is an achievement of Professor H. L. Bolley of the North Dakota Agricultural HE FIRST OUTBREAK OF plant diseases is important, more so this year than usual. If plant diseases are to be checked, they must be wres- tled with at once in field or garden. For that reason the department of ag- riculture, co-operating with the agri- cultural colleges in different states, is " seeking through a plant disease sur- vey to grapple with them promptly. At the North Dakota Agricultural station, a number of franking tags have been received, which will be sent to any farmer or other persons in- terested in crop diseases. Professor H. L. Bolley, plant pathologist and botanist at the North Dakota Agricul- tural college, has issued this appeal: “If you notice any injury, particu- larly to the field crops, flax, barley, oats, wheat, potatoes, or any of the crops in which you are interested, send the specimens addressed to the Agricultural College, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, and you will get a report on the character of the disease. Ask for the franked tags which will allow you to mail the speci- mens free of postage. If you want your seed fields inspected, apply soon.” LABORATORY FARMERS DO SOME DIGGING One reason why agriculture has come to be such a great industry in the minds of people is because it has kept up-to-date with other sciences through the work done by experts in laboratories as well as on the farm. The growing of wheat that will resist rust and flax that will resist wilt could not have been achieved by the farmers alone. They had to have the help of plant physicians who knew as much more about plants than the far- mer ordinarily does, as the M. Ds. know about the human body. Both the federal government and the state governments through hard- digging scientists have been doing some advance work, getting ahead of the rank and file of the farmers and scouting out the way for them. The results of their labors have been turn- ed over to the farmers who dig the soil, and foolish indeed would be the farmers, foolish and ungrateful, if they did not avail themselves of this aid, for which they have paid taxes, and which will be wasted if it is not used by them. A BOOKISH PHRASE WITH SOUND MEANING : v,'-ifi‘/ant disease survey” may sound more bookish than farm-like, but the name doesn't count. What does count is the fact that a well organized effort is being made this year to catch all diseases at their beginning. This will save for the farmers a big share of what they otherwise might lose. This year it will pay to watch the growing stuff closely. Most farmers know the first blighting signs of rust. They know smut. They know flax wilt. They know potato scab. But there are other diseases, and a sharp lookout could well be kept this season for some of these unfamiliar signs of-trouble. All such signs should be heeded. A tractor census for 1916 showed that the following states used tractors, as follows: North Dakota, 2,137; Min- nesota, 1,575; South Dakota, 1,527; Montana, 808; Idaho, 262; Oregon, 318, and Washington, 209. ‘“Literally thousands of good farms are waiting for the right man,” says a writer in Farm Stock and Home, praising the rent situation. If they are still waiting there must be something wrong. Stock feed has increased in value between 30 per cent and 40 per cent over the average of the last three years, but dairy products have ad- vanced only 10 to 15 per cent. More than $50,000,000 is estimated to be the annual loss to dairying in the United States through the annoy- ance of insects that worry the cows, thus cutting down production. The gardeners were inclined at first to resent encouragement of city people to plant for their own consumption. Cut worms and hot weather will soon show they had no occasion to worry. In spite of strenuous efforts to get spring wheat into the ground, indica- tions are that rye and barley will have to substitute throughout much of the Northwest. Bdnkers are advising farmers to borrow money of their local bankers (at current interest rates) to build’ silos, and thus help conserve the food supply. Inspection of the garbage cans of all Still Time for Gardening NOT TOO LATE TO PLANT Peas Lettuce Spinach Potatoes Cabbage Carrots Sweet Corn, early Based upon the average dates of the last killing frost in spring gleaned from many years of observation, it is still not too late to plant many gar- den staples throughout the zone em- _bracing® Wisconsin and Northern Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana, the northern part of South Dakota and Iowa, and most of Nebraska, Northwestern Kansas and Colorado, according to specialists in the United States-department of agri- culture. 5 For the guidance of great numbers of persons now gardening for the first time, the department has issued a zone Beans Radishes Onion Sets Onion Seeds Beets Kale Parsnips Tomato Plants map showing the sections mentioned above are included in the two zones, still open for safe cultivation for a few weeks. There is, of course, considerable variation in the region for which this advice is given. Certain planting ac- tivities may be performed in the southern portion of the region several weeks before similar activities should be gotten under way 50 or 100 miles farther north. The advice is based on the latest frost dates in the section and the variations in weather con- ditions from year to year also may in- fluence planting periods. THINKERS college, and its benefits accrue to the entire flax-growing area of North America« What matter if one does send in a few harmless specimens and get back the word that they held no dangerous plant diseases. Better get that infor- mation than risk losing $5 an acre on the crop or even $1 an acre—especial- ly when it will cost nothing to send them in to be examined. The franking tags will carry the diseased specimens "to the laboratories and a report free of charge will be sent back. The farmer will then know what to do. Maybe he knows anyhow, but in any ‘case of doubt with opportunities at his elbow for making sure, there ought to be little loss from . diseases families is now proposed as a war method of offsetting the inequalities fostered by lame methods of distribu- tion, Since it was announced that farm labor would be exempt from military service, the “back to the farm” move- ment has begun to flourish in the cities. “The steer that reaches the packer unfinished is a great economic loss. The beef calf that goes to slaughter ig even more so,” says J. Ogden Armour. Kansas has 1,077,006 milch cows, according to the latest cow census in that state, an increase of 67 per cent since 1910. Reports from 324 cold storages May 15 showed that they contained 6,239,- 716 pounds of creamery butter, against 2,695,473 May 1. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF BREAD AND POTATOES NOW ‘When bread is ten cents for a 16- ounce loaf potatoes will have to be $1.50 per bushel in order to supply the nutrients as cheaply as the bread, When potatoes go above $1.50 per bushel bread is a cheaper food.—Agr. Ex. Dept. N. D. Agr. College. SOW ALFALFA IN JUNE Alfalfa needs to be sown early enough so it will have time to make enough growth to enable it to go through the winter. Any time in May or June has given good results. If the alfalfa is seeded alone, early in May will prove a good time where pigeon grass is bad, as this will give it time to get ahead of this weed. When Rus- sian thistle is bad, sowing late in June has been found to give the alfalfa the best chance.—Agr. Ex. Dept., N. D. Agr. College. this season, unless something out of the ordinary occurs. FIELD SEED INSPECTION IS ALSO TIMELY Inspection of fields for certification of seed ought to be done soon also. Noxious weeds will be more of a bur- den to farmers under the TUnited States grain grading rules than they ever have been before, It will be more important to keep the seed clean. To keep it clean the weeds should be dis- posed of before it ripens, and the fact that it has been disposed of can be profitably made known only through an inspection of the fields. The seed grown in the certified fields will be in demand next year. The agricultural college has but a small staff for doing this field work and it ought not all to be bunched late in the season. DRAGGING MAKES GOOD ROADS The easiest way of maintaining a good road is with the road drag. The road drag scrapes the surface of the road planing off the projections and filling them into any low places. The best time to run the road drag is soon after a rain. Ruts are the ruination of a road. They hold water which softens up the soil, every passing vehicle making the rut a little deeper. The only way to deal with ruts is to keep the roadbed so smooth that the water cane not stand on it. A small rut soon bew comes a big one. — Agr. Ex. Dept, N. D. Agr. College. PR IR T 0 MAKE A SMOOTH ROAD BED To make a smooth road bed, it is ne~ cessary that the soil be put on in lay-~ ers, and each layer smoothed and if possible, packed before the next layer is added. When the soil is dumped on to the road in heaps and then leveled, the surface will be wavy. This causes harder hauling, more wear and tear on vehicles, more dust, and water will be held in the low places which will soften the soil and make a starter for a ruts —Agr. Ex. Dept. N. D. Agr. College. e R CULTIVATION SHALLOW The surface soil warms up first and also contains the most available plant food which is just what the plant needs so that is where it sends many roots. Deep cultivation will cut these roots which means a setback for the plant. The cultivation should be shale low so as to miss the roots, it will then help the plant. Shallow cultivation helps the plants mature early.—. ; Ex. Dept. N. D. Agr. College. —Bh s B I b RAISED GARDEN BEDS 5 Gardens are often planted in raised beds,—this results in more of the sofl being exposed which may increase evaporation and it also makes it easiep fior the rainfall to run off.—Agr, Exy Dept. N. D. Agr. College. - Government June Crop Report Encouraging figures as to crop con- dition are contained in the June 8 gov- wernment crop report issued last week, showing in all lines of grain a large increase over last year's production. In round numbers the increases pre- dicted will be 10 million bushels of wheat, 129 million of oats, 34 million of barley, 10 million of rye, nearly 8 million of hay, and pasture is reported 8ix per cent better than it was a year ago. The report for the whole United States is as follows: L ALL WHEAT—June 1 forecast, 656,000,000 bushels; production last year (final estimate), 639,886,000 bush- els, OAT8—June 1 forecast, 1,880,000,000 bushels; production last year (final estimate), 1,251,992,000 bushels. BARLEY—June 1 forecast, 214,000,- TEN 000 bushels; production last year (final estimate), 180,927,000 bushels, RYE—June 1 forecast, 67,900,0 bushels; production last year (flnfi estimate), 47,383,000 bushels, ALL HAY—June 1, forecast, 102,000,= 000 tons; production last year (final estimate), 109,786,000 tons. PASTURE—June 1 condition, 83,8, gn;pa.red Wwith ten-year average of Average prices compiled by the gov=- ernment on the principal farm prod- ucts June 1 this year, compared with June 1, 1916,~are given in the follow- ing table: i Price 1917 Price 1916 +++1$2.4834 bu.|$1.00 bu. 1.60 bul| .74 bu P b . . 1 5 16.26 tonml12.46 tom -20.1-56 1b.].12 1-5 1b. .81 doz.| .19 doa. W,