The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 14, 1918, Page 11

s A e e gy i g vl then Calamity May Be Good Fortune Saving the Pigs to Save the Frosted Corn Proves Benefit to Producers—Some Farmers Using Salt m Cribs When Short of Feeders S a corn season, 1917 stands unique. It has the largest corn crop ever harvested, according to government crop estimates, and yet such is the shortage of corn for next year’s planting, that serious doubts are entertained as to whether enough seed can be procured to give an average planting. g This, of course, is due to the early frosts that nipped much of the corn before it had matured, and which, in turn has given a vast quantity of corn fit only for stock food, at a time when the demahd for corn for human con- sumption is greater than it has ever been in this country. There is usually a surplus above that needed for human consumption, of corn of the finest quality.” This has been used in the past as stock food, but with the abund- ance of wet corn now to be had, there is a problem of finding enough quality corn for human consumption and at the same time finding enough live- stock to use up all that the people will not eat. : The possibility of a shortage for hu- man use is reflected in the recent action of the Chicage board of trade,. which prohibited trading in December corn before the end of the month, be- cause there was not enough contract corn to meet obligations. ; EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING In any period of world shortage of grains, scarcity of such a staple as .-corn would be disastrous, but there is one good feature to the corn situation that in the long run may prove more helpful than a full crop of well matur- ed corn would have been. This is the stimulus to saving live- stock that the soft corn surplus has furnished. Shortage of livestock for world con- sumption is even miore serious. than a grain shortage. Grain can be replen- ished in a season. Livestock requires years. Once the world’s herds are reduced the breeders are face to face with all the difficult problems well known to livestock producers, the dif- ficulty of . getting -enough breeding animals of the right type to reproduce a worthy race, and the fact that it takes several generations to begin to . show improvement. For several years those acquainted with facts have been pointing out the rapid decline of cat- tle. " This danger was growing long before the present war made it acute. Now have been added a decline in the hog and sheep supplies of the world, so that those who wear clothes are already making over worn wool and inferior materials to take the place of newly produced wool; while those whe - .eat are having to utilize cottonseed oil and other vegetable oils in place of animal fats. = But just when these uvestock sup- plies. were dwindling ‘most speedily, when a drouth in some of the live- stock producing sections added its spur to hasten the clean-up, came' the early frost that spoiled the bumper corn crop for everything but feed. . FROSTED CORN SAVES THE PIG CROP “Farmers in some sections were rush- - ing their half’grown pigs to market in unprecedented numbers, not “qualify for the $2.25 price.: They 'decided 40 and these: . were going into plcnlc hams and other - ~ edible” dainties, ‘when ‘the :farmers of . the corn belt found ‘their “crop could They . = had to do aomethlng, ‘and ‘de it quick - soor lese their corn. feed it up. They began to buy pigs. The farmers in the drouth sections, shorted on feed, had to get rid of their pigs and do it quick. Here is where calamity met calamity and produced a benefit. The pigs were saved from slaughter. Thousands of them are now fattening in middle western feeding pens. When they go to the big wheel in the slaughter house that converts them from hogs into pork, they will carry 75 to 150 pounds more pork than if the corn crop had not been frosted. This condition has been reflected from Chicago, Kansas City and South St. Paul. The pig business has sud- denly taken on a “feeder” aspect that it did not have before. From the Equity Livestock exchange in South St. Paul alone there were shipped one week recently when this movement was first starting, 22 carloads of pigs, pigs that would have been sacrificed on the altar of “feed shortage’ had it not been for the feed surplus created by the early corn frost. This is but a sample of what was happening every- where. It seems probable that the farmers who were prevented from enjoying the high price of cash corn will reap an equal return from the price they will get for their live hogs when fattened on their soft corn. This will almost certainly be the case unless manipu- Jation of markets results in cutting the price on hogs before they are market- ed, which does not now seem likely. FARMERS SALTING WET CORN TO SAVE IT But there is too much soft corn. It can’t all be fed at once, and wet corn does not keep. Moisture in corn is even worse than in wheat. Corn spoils faster, and this has led some farmers to try a new method of sav- ing, which gives promise of success. If this develops into a practicable method it adds another unusual feature to the 1917 corn season. This method is salting—salting the soft corn. As each wagonload of the corn in the ear is hauled from the field to the crib eight to 10 quarts of salt P Turning the soft corn into pig, and coneervin‘g both Money for Montana Farmers Report from Helena 8ays Government Will Provide $1,000,000 for Seeding 1918 Crop ONTANA: farmers are to get some measure of federal and state aid in putting in their ~1918 grain creps, according to announcement' from Bozeman and Helena. The government has made available about $500,000 for thre buying of rye, oats and flax seed to be dis- tributed at cost to farmers. coupled Wwith the announcement that the seed so purchased is for “needy” farmers, and that bankers stand ready to help in the situation, it may be taken that this money will go only to those who are in' dire straits and would be unable to continue farming without it. The money was secured through, the extension department of the agricultural college at Bozeman, and will be administered through that . agency. Besides this half million provided for rye and flax seeding, $500,000 will be obtained from the. government’s grain corporation. This is the corpor- ation that was organized and financed - with $50,000,000 under the food law. As its chief-dnty is the procuring of a snpply of flour, the corporation is ~particularly interested in_wheat, and . through arrangements made with its ‘officers, the $500,000 obtained from _this source will be used to' buy and distribute seed wheat to Montana. farmers, That they are in need of flnanclalu -f-help and .wfll welcome any rellet s . PAGE ELEVEN As this is shown by the way they have tried to pa- .tronize the new land loan law enacted at the last session of the legislature. For several months after it went into effect (in March) the farmers did not know anything about it, and so it has come into use only within the last few months. Yet the annual report of the " state land department, - made December 30, at Helena, showed that $700,000 had already been loaned to farmers. They pay 6 per cent interest and the loans run from three to 10 years The federal money obtainable for rye, flax, and wheat planting totals $1,000,000. This is only 25 per cent of the sum asked for in the bill introduc- ed recently by Congressman John Baer of North Dakota, in seeking financial help for the grain belt farmers. Mr. Baer’s bill called for $50,000,000 for the Northwestern states, Kansas, Nebras- ka and Texas, and of this amount it was provided that Montana should-re- ceive $4,000,000. If the $1,000,000 to be obtained through the Montana agri- cultural extension department, and the “federal grain- corporation at Minne- apolis is made available, this would doubtless be taken into consideration in adjusting the sum-called for in the Baer bill. ‘What action will be taken on the bill is not yet known, but the fact that other forms of relief are be- is added to each load. This is well sprinkled so as to touch as much of the corn as possible and has thus far proven a good preservative. Those farmers who have tried it say the salted corn keeps well while the un- salted corn spoils. The salt draws out the water and prevents souring or rotting providing there is ventila- tion enough to carry off the moisture. Ventilation is imperative. By using salt it is said that corn carrying 25 per cent of moisture can be saved, and the cost is so small as to amount to almost nothing—less than one cent per bushel. If salting the 1917 wet corn crop can save it, another big step in providing winter feed at a time when the feed shortage is an actual menace, has been taken, and_the pig crop at least, and also perhaps to a large extent the cattle crop, will be saved now and put in good condition before slaughter. What is even more important, the breeders will be saved and put to reproduction instead of being convert- ed into a single mess of food, and their. usefulness ended when eaten. * The saving of corn this season when such quantities of it were in a fair way to waste utterly, will further cause farmers to make an effort to produce a bumper corn crop again next season and in future seasons, even though late planting may forewarn them that they will have a frosted crop. It is also possible that this emergency may develop a new perma- " nent method of utilizing corn, for the ing tried shows the need of the tillers of the soll for subatantlal help. R SO LS S A L DR preserving quality of salt, and the fact it is essential to livestock are well known, and combining the two may come to be a regular practice. The United States department of agri- culture is now making experiments along this line, and may discover more facts about it than those feeders who ~ have been driven in an emergency to salt their soft corn to save it. VALUE OF MANURE Manure applied to land that was put into corn and followed by three crops of wheat (at the N. D. experiment sta- tion 1906-1907) at the rate of six loads per acre increased the yield enough to bring $1.40 per load. Wheat was then averaging about 80 cents and corn 50 cents per bushel. Now that wheat and - corn are over $2 per bushel the net re- turn per load of manure will be about $3.60, if the same rate of increase in the crop is secured. BEWARE OF FLAX POISONING Some flax screenings contain enough prussic acid to be poisonous to stock and especially cattle. Many cases have been reported in North Dakota. In case one wants to feed flax screenings, better try it out on one of the less valuable animals first for a week. The danger from the poison is reduced if the cattle have been fed some other food before being fed the flax screenings. It is also well to feed flax scréenings or other flax products in limited quantities. The government has established a new regulation regarding cold storage poultry: 56 per cent of it must be sold in six months, and the last of it must be disposed of in a year from the time it was stored. Forced fattening of poultry has been ordered discontinued by the food ad- ministration on the ground. that it wastes grain. It also produces a high . | priced article that has but a limited demand. : v