The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-09-18

III CiNiiiS iiiSCClS esIlQ WI lliS, anu liIeil
whatever damage to vegetation was
done in his underground passages was
due to the field mice that followed
him. But even if this is true, the mole
is still responsible for the runs. In
cur garden this summer they fairly
rioted and made their runs in every
direction. They took a row of lilies
and the bulbs were eaten whether by
the moleS or mice. it made little diff
ference. SO we declared war and got
q pint of carbon bisulphide that cost
% cents. Opening holes into the runs
here and there, we poured little into
each hole, and as fast as a new run
was seen the poison went into it. 1t
was not long before there were no new
runs to be found, and hereafter we
shall have the carbon bi-sulphide
ready at the beginning of the season,
and as soon as the track of a mole is
seen in garden or lawn the death deal
ing fluid will go into it for moles and
mice both. We find that it is more eff
fective than any trap yet devised.
Simply make a hole with the finger
and pour a few drops in and cover,
and then go a few steps further and
repeat the dose SO as to be sure to
get the whole run filled with the dead
~ fumes OF the chemical.
The Genius of Industry.
Just now there are thousands of
young men entering the agricultural
colleges all over the land. To these
we would commend the words of DR..
VIM. Oser who has just been called
to a professorship in Oxford Univer-
sity from the John Hopkins University.
III an address to students: 81 propose
to give you the master word of sue
cess. 1t is the open sesame of every
portal, the great equalizer in the
world, the true philosophers stone.
which transmutes all the base metal
of humanity into gold. The stupid man
among you it will make bright, the
bright man brilliant and the brilliant
man steady. With this magic word in
your heart all things are possible.
and without it all study is vanity and
VeXation. And the master
word is Work. We sometimes hear
men say Of certain man that he is
broken down by hard work. This is
generally pure nonsense. Hard work
seldom hurts any one, while idleness
and dissipation hurt all. One of the
greatest advantages in the modern
system of education Is the opportunity
to develop body and mind harmonious
w. This is particularly true of the
course in agriculture. The mental
work is greatly aided by the practical
doing Of things in field and barn, and
Il sound mind in a sound body is
combination which, united with hard
work, will always win. 1t Is far bet
terAto be a sane and we'll rounded man
with the genius of industry than to he
what men call a genius. In fact, so
far as we have observed, college
geniuses seldom amount to much after
they leave college. 1t is the man Of
fair ability with plenty of industry
who is success in the world.
UD,,o (.ro,x,, nosrx, EIoa5
Farmers Bulletin No. 202 discusses
the Bulletin of the New Jersey Station
which gives an account of experiments
III furnishing protein in the rations for
mich cows from homegrown crops
instead of purchased concentrated
foods. Milk was produced more
cheaply with the homegrown feeds.
the cost being $50 cents per 100
pounds on the homegrown ration,
and S39 cents with the purchased
feed The profit from feeding the
homegrown ration, calculated for
milk at 81 per 100 pounds. would
amount to S1.99 per cow per month.
On the basis of this test the author
calculated that when mixed hay
(timothy and red top) sells for SIG
per ton, and wheat bran can be pur-
chased for $26 per ton, and dried
brewers grains for $40 per ton, al
substitute for mixed hay, wheat bran
and dried brewers grains, fed in the
proportion indicated in the ration"
And that on the same basis crimson
clover hay is worth $1655 per ton. A
ration of SO pounds of COW pea slage
and 10 pounds of crimson clover hay,
with pounds OF corn and cob meal
costing 1857 cents per COW per day,
produced as much milk and butter as
a ration in which two-thirds of the
protein was supplied by der brewers
grains and cotton seed meal costing
I715 cents. But the writer points out
that the purchase of concentrated feed
rich in protein may be profitable from
the standpoint of the maintenance of
soil fertility for if all the milk sold
from the farm was obtained from
foods grown on the farm the exhaus-
ton of nitrogen would be in greater
proportion than the mineral elements.
and when this is the practice. it is ne
cessary to apply heterogeneous fertilizers
in order to maintain fertility. But he
evidently overlooked the fact that in
the growing of these protein foods the
plants used are those that get us the
nitrogen from the air, and that instead
Of q loss of nitrogen there would
probably be an actual gain where the
heterogeneous feed produced on the
farm is largely returned in the manure
S0N6d. 1T OUGHT 10 ne cheaper TO get
nitrogen free from the air than to buy
il in fertilizers.
Soil Study.
If the Bureau of Soils is ever to ac-
complish results Of real value to the
agriculture of the country they must
realize that no mere study of soils in
their chemical relations to plants will
ever amount to much unless at the
same time the effects of the life of
PLANTS on the soils is also studied. 1t
may be perfectly correct, so far as
laboratory solution for a few days is
concerned, to say that all soils are
alike. But the power of selection and
solution, which the plants themselves
possess, must at the same time be
studied Mere water Solubility of ma
terials will never account for the use
plants make of matters in the soil.
The microscopic life in the soil, in its
relations to the plants we cultivate as
crops is only beginning to be dimly
comprehended. Chemistry and
biology must go hand in hand if any
results of real value are to be had from
n study of soils for soils are not mere
chemical compounds, they are labor
.tories where constant work is gong
ON through the agency of living things.
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