Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-03-28
PROF. GOFF TELLS HOW IT CAN
BE DONE.
EXPERIMENTS ON SOW MILK
Its Yield and Composition Studied at
the niVersity-Report of Expert
ment Station Says the Milk Is Rich
er Than Cows, but Has not Been
Developed by Breeding.

| The smut of oats, which causes an
annual loss to the farmers of WiscOn-
sin, amounting in the aggregate to
many hundreds of thousands of dol
lars, may be entirely prevented by
treating the seed oats before sowing,
at cost for labor and materials which
! need not exceed five cents per acre of
| oats sown. Prof E. S. Golf, horti-
culturist of the Wisconsin university
says that two methods of treatment
/ have been found satisfactory. These
he calls for convenience the fOrmalin
| treatment and the hot water treatment
The first has the advantage of being
the simpler, but it requires a small
cash outlay for materials. The second
requires no materials or apparatus ex-
) cept what the farmer already has, I'M
/ less it be a good thermometer.
For the formalin treatment soak the
seed oats one hour in a solution OF
formalin, made by adding one ounce OF
formalin to every II gallons of water.
Place the water in barrel or other
convenient vessel, add the formalin to
it, and pour in one and one-half BUSH
els Of seed Oats for each 31a gallons of
the solution. At the end of one hour
draw off or pour off the part of the So
luton that is not absorbed by the oats
/ and spread the oats out on clean floor
to dry They should be shoveled over
once or twice day until dry enough to
sow. Formalin is a liquid that may
be purchased at drug stores. 1t costs
from so to so cents per pint, and pint
contains Is ounces-enough for about
80 bushels of seed oats. 1t is sold in
smaller quantities at 10 cents per ounce.
If forfnalin is purchased in consider
able quantities, it will be well to have
the druggist weigh out one ounce in a
small bottle, and then mark on the bot
tie the height to which the ounce
reaches This bottle may then be
used as a measure in adding the form
ain to the water.
The hot water treatment consists in
soaking the seed 10 minutes in water
at temperature of 1873 degrees Heat
the water in a large kettle, and close
by sinking barrel in the ground to
within a foot of the top. Pour part of
the hot water into the barrel and take
the temperature with a good Their
mometer. Then add either cold or hot
water stirring it in the mean time, I'M
til it shows a temperature of 133.
Put about bushel of oats in a coarse
gunnysack; tie this to one end of a
pole over post, thus making a lever
by which the sack of oats may be easily
raised or lowered. Now dip the sack
of oats into the water in the barrel.
The water will be Immediately cooled,
and hot water must be added to keep
the temperature about 1873. Let one
person attend to the temperature, and
another to handling the oats, Keep
the oats moving in the barrel. Take
them out at the end of 10 minutes; dip
the sack at once in cold water, then
spread on a clean floor to dry. Shovel
them over three times day for few
days, when they may be sown with
force drill; or in two or three hours
they may be sown broadcast. AS the
oats absorb considerable water, it is
necessary to SOW about half a bushel
more per acre than when untreated
seed is used This is on the basis OF
two and one-half bushels per acre. Two
men in one day can treat enough seed
to SOW 20 acres.
The fourteenth annual report Of the
agricultural experiment station OF the
university for the year ending June
80 last has been issued, and contains
fund of matter of interest and value
to farmers. 1t is nicely illustrated, the
frontispiece being a picture of the new
building jointly occupied by the de-
partments of horticulture and agricul-
tural physics at the university.
It reports that at the university dur
ing the past year Doctors Babcock and
Russell have devoted large portion
OF their time to a study of the compo-
sition of milk, especially in it's relation
to cheese, and also to a study Of the
changes which cheese undergoes dur
ing curing. The final purpose of all
this work is to reach, if possible, a
rational system in the manufacture and
curing of cheese which at present is
carried on by empirical methods, some
thing Unwarranted, they say, in these
! modern times. Some of the important
findings of these investigators are pre-
sented in this report. 1t is hoped and
planned to- continue this line of study
in the belief that the results will war
rant the outlay of time and energy.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are
lost annually to the cheese interests
of Wisconsin in the imperfect manu-
facture of cheese and through wrong
handling and care of the product dur
ing ripening. It is the ambition of the
Wisconsin station to- so advance our
knowledge in these matters that a
large part of this loss can be prevented
and the quality of our cheese products
improved
The report states that no subject be-
fore our people is of more Importance
than the home production Of the sugar
we consume. The annual expense to
this state for sugar is about $4,000, 900.