Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-03-02
Test All Kinds of Seeds

Il lhc lUy luE lie teuTt tut peace tIlc pain,
Test All Kinds of Seeds
We have from time to time urged
our readers not to be so foolish as to
plant seed corn this year without
knowing how much of it will grow.
No matter how well the seed corn
has been kept, no matter how favor
able the circumstance may be under
which it is planted, no man should
ever think Of planting or sowing
any kind of seed without first as
certalning the per cent of it that
will grow as far as possible under,
ordinary farm conditions. 1T is so
easily done that there is no excuse
for man who has short crop be-
cause he failed to test his seed.
Take a common cigar box, place
in the bottom Of it a piece of com
mon newspaper thoroughly wet,
count your seeds and put them in,
fold a wet paper over them, close the
lid OF the box, tie string around it,
and set it on the mantle or behind
the kitchen stove, or anywhere that
it will secure sixty degrees of heat.
If it gets a little lower than that at
night it makes the conditions more
like those Of the field. On the fourth
day count your seeds and see how
many have two sprouts, one for the
top, the other for root; then count
again on the sixth and seventh days,
and you will not be long in ascer-
tanning the value of your corn for
seed.
Apply this same principle to every
other kind Of seed you grow clover,
timothy, blue grass, oats, wheat,
rye, barley-and then you may know
the kind of seed you have and what
allowance TO make for defects in
geri1inatires11 ION aif1faeeeS,s y FaImeR:
Secretary Wilson on the Beet Trust.
In recent interview Secretary of
Agriculture Wilson said:
Either the farmer is not getting
enough for his beef or the consumer
is paying too much. Fat cattle are
not so dear as they were few years
ago, and there are no very good
reasons why the consumer should
pay as much for his beefsteak as
he paid a few years ago.
when beef was at its highest two
or three years ago it was clearly APP
parent that there was scarcity in
the material of which beef is made;
the corn crop had been short, and
consequently beef became very dear.
The retailers put their prices up.
Now their prices are about the same,
although cattle on the hoof are per-
haps $l.50 per hundred pounds
less than they were at that time.
How much difference this ought
to make in the price of beefsteak is
a question that can net be very well
answered in brief. The highest
priced beef is found on the animal
and on the ribs. The price of this
should very much more than that of
the round and the neck and other
cheaper pieces. But beef should
be, in round figures, 20 per cent
cheaper to the consumer than it is
now, or the farmer should be get
ting 20 per cent more for his stock.
"The farmers price and the con-
sumers price have been much near
er together in the past than they are
today. How this neighborliness OF
prices can again be restored up the
question of the regulation of
great combinations This is some
thing that is being considered
not The Department of Com
merce and Labor has bureau
Of corportions which is supposed to
study this question in the interest of
all the people.
with regard to the worlds prices
of beef, | have taken steps to ascer-
tain the extent to which we are meet
ing competition in the British mark
ct from South American countries.
While all the facts are not yet atmy
command, am strongl suspicious that
the Argentine people are sending
an increasing amount of refrigerated
quarters Of beef to Great Britain.
This economic movement ought nor
mally to affect out beef prices for the
retailer or the farmer. The Argen-
tine people can not ship their live
stock because Of the foot and mouth
disease which they have there. So
they are compelled to slaughter and
ship their produce in refrigerated
quarters, aud they must sell it for
what they can get. The volume Of
this trade is increasing so fast from
what | learn, as to account in some
part for the cheaper prices of beef
that are now prevailing abroad over
those Of a short time ago. This
should give us lower prices here, be-
cause the price in London of our
live animals and our refrigerated
beef has much to do with our prices
here, We sell abroad every year
$250,000,000 worth of animal pro-
| ducts J"