Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-12-12
Facts for Our Farmers.

AalIeu over the outside of the win
doWs will be effective. Blankets, old
carpets or straw put over the bins
containing potatoes viii often save the
seed. A lighted lamp or lantern set
In the potato bin will keep the temper
AZURE up several degrees. This need
not be done only on the coolest nights.
A coat of strawy horse manure makes
the best covering for outside pits.
This can be put on any time in Jann-
airy or February. 1t will keep the DO
tatoes from freezing and also from
/ LnaWlnS out so soon in the spring.
thus making a cold storage of the pit
and keeping them from sprouting so
soon when warm weather comes.
Keeping them from sproutIng is one
Of the essential things to successful
potato growing. One likes to have
them sprouted enough to see the eyes
we'll when cutting times comes, but
! not so much that they will get broken
! off or bruised. This will REQUIRE a
| new effort in the potato to start out
new sprout, and so much vitality is
gone. There is always a good deal
I depending on good healthy seed of ann
kind. But one sometimes thinks that
this applies to potatoes a little strong
er than many other seeds. Don't
| plant poor variety because you hap
pen to have them. There is no excuse
in these days for a man to have a
poor variety. There are so many
good kind in every neighborhood, and
ii few cents worth Of seed will grow
such a lot of good ones. Don't plant
a rough variety even if the quality is
good and yield well. Better plant a
good quality smooth variety even if
the yield is less. No farmer can afford
to plant poor variety of anything
Just because you get more bushels il
you have to eat it YOURSELF. But il
1t is for the other fellow to eat, and he
Is satisfied with it, make your peace
with the Lord and then plant it.
Beet Pulp for Dairy Cows.
The following remarks of Secretary
of Agriculture Wilson, at the meeting
of Clear Lake Qowa) Beet Sugar
Growers association, bear forcefully
upon the subject of the value of beet
pulp as food for dairy cows:
THE most profit from growing
beets will be had by the neighborhood
that feeds the by-products or pulp to
the dairy Cow. We grow beets ana
others roots at Ames so as to have
something OF that kind to give to all
the animals on the place in winter
time. Europeans who have had ex-
perience, feed this by-product to every
animal or the place. The managers
Of the Agriculture college of Iowa.
where the finest animals in the
United States are found, and where
the best beef, mutton and pork ever
taken to Chicago are finished, find it.
necessary to have roots; and | have
no hesitation in saying that the Iowa
| farmer can afford to grow roots for
his animals, no matter how cheaply
he can get other feeds. The Iowa
former can afford to grow sugar beets
| for the pulp alone. The carbonaceous
matter that goes to make the sugar IS
Of no value to the dairy COW, which
has all the carbOnaceous matter she
requires from her hay and corn and
other carbOnaceus feeds. This pulp
is g necessity in the finishing Of our
| fine steers.
1--WE have come to the time when
we must keep an eye On the South
Amrican republics The Argentine
~ I
alfalfa, and is sending very fat grass
! fed animals to the European markets.
| We must send something better than
they possibly can produce; we must
finish animals young and finish them
completely and put such a product on
the market as the South American
cannot compete with Well informed
| dairymen are aware that the dairy
cow must have a highly heterogeneous
, ration in order to do her best work.
For this reason the by-products Of the
mills are purchased-bran, Oil-meaT,
etc. When the sugar content has
been removed from the beet, the
heterogeneous element is left in the
pulp, and the nutTitive ratio is re-
| duced to something like the nutritiVe
ratio of oats, which makes a very
valuable feature in the ration Of
dairy COW. The neighborhoo0 pro.
| ducing sugar and butter and sending
these things into the worlds markets
will never reduce the fertility Of the
soil, for the pulp is returned to the
| fields through the domestic animals.
| And this is quite an importan con
Slderation, when we are thinking OF
introducing new crops. We are adj
mOnished by the experience Of our
! fellOW-citiZens in the east and south
and west in this regard that we
! should avoid reducing the fertility II
the soil as they have reduced and are
reducing it. 1t is true we have a
richer soil than the people in the
the southern states, but we have no
| richer soil than in New England ami
! valleys Of the Rocky Mountain states
and the Pacific coast states. And
they have succeeded in so reducins,
the fertility of their lands that they
take a crop of wheat GnI~ n--" %
two years. We must avoid reducing
Iowa soils to this condition. Here -
a promising crop that will grow on
what comes from the atmosphere and
not what comes from the soil
I'm making arrangements for fur
nishing beets for a factory, it should
be distinctly understood that the by
product, the pulp, does not belong to
the factory, but to the man that
furnishes the beets, and on this basis
oplv choTyId tho 70 ryroo or q orrac - AZ,