The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-14

a desirable substitute for clover and
alfalfa. 1t thrives under the same
general conditions as does corn,
though fiouv1shing On much thinner
soils. The soy beans not only serves
the purpose well as q pasture and
makes good hay il cut before the
vines are too ripe. but makes excel
lent silage when sown with corn or Z
fine green manure II plowed under.
In sections where the conditions are
favorable and the season long enough
the soy bean will produce from fifteen
TO twenty bushels Of beans per acre.
these making an excellent ration
when ground with corn and having
twice the feeding value Of that cereal.
In getting a start with the legume
best results are secured by inoculatins
the field with soil from an esta blished
field or by inoculating the seed with
cultures which one can secure fresh
and reliable from the department Of
agriculture at Washington.
wise. as one We came across the other
hcsAcStcu dtIS IAuSh
which would have increased in value
at the rate Of $50 per acre during the
year to handle an automobile agency
through which he got a 500 commits,
sion on $500 machine. He lost
just about $4,000 by the deal.
The reason why tuberculosis as q
bovine ailment aftlicts the dairy COW
more seriously than the steer in the
feed lot seems largely traceable to the
fact that the steer rarely lives be-
You'd the age OF three. while the dairy
COW may be doing service at the pal.
when ten or twelve. The average steer
doesn't live long enough to be sick.
While the volcanic ash soil to be
found in some sections Of the west
makes n fearful dust during the sum-
mer months. the fact remains that it
is marvelously rich in fertilizing ele-
ments. This is especially noticeable in
the Yakima valley. where in places
this soil. rs fine as bolted flour. is said
to extend to a depth Of seventy feet.
In all agricultural communities our
standards of good citizenship should
more and more come to give high
place to the man, whether owner OF
tenant, who at the end of q season
leaves the soil which he has tended
in as fertile and productive a condition
as when he found it. And it should
class as very real traitors to the coun.
try's best interest and welfare the
very large class who despoil and rob
the soil ruthlessly.
The English potato crop for the year
1909 averaged 23S bushels per acre as
against an average in the United
States of about 1O5 bushels. 1t is well
to remember, too, in this connection
that the English average was secured
on lands which have been titled for
200 or 800 years, while here the land
has not been cultivated on an average
sixty or seventy years. There ought
to be suggestion in these figures for
the American agriculturist.
The agricultural department is con-
tinuing its vigorous warfare against
the weevil pest, which has exacted
such heavy toll from southern cotton
growers. and as a result Of it's efforts
para site enemies have been introduced
which are greatly lessening the dam
age sustained. In some fields in Lou.
isiana as high as u per cent Of the
boil wecvils have been destroyed by
these inseC$ enemies, and at various
spte tn,
of the weevils have been destroyed by
| the same agency.
Investigations which have been made
by the Nebraska experiment station
| into the causes Of sorghum poisoning
show that this result is due to the
presence Of prussic acid in the greer
leaves of young and old sorghum
| plants and Kafir corn. The poisons
seem always to be present in minute
| quantities. but Is developed in danger
| Gus quantities when the plant is ar
rested in certain stages of its growth
by dry weather. 1t is more than like
| ly that to this same poison is due the
frequent death Of stock which has
eaten Of the green shoots and suckers
in a field Of corn following a period OF
retarded development.
The present session Of congress
promises to have on its hands another
! seance with the oleomargarine ques
ton. The present tax on this hog fat
beef fat, cottonseed oil mixture when
uncolored IS but one-fourth Of a cent
| per pound. but IL colored to initiate
butter the tax is 10 cents per pound
1t is this little tax that the cleo chaps
are trying TO get reduced in order that
| they may have a still larger profit on
| the sale OF the product, which is dis
posed OF at handsome profit ever
with the present tax. at from 10 to l;
| cents q pound less than is asked fol
| best grades Of butter. On the one
hand the laboring man contends 70,
| the oleo producer contends for him
| that butter at 81 cents a pound is de
cidedly luxury and out of his reach
| that If he wants to buy q fatty produc,
| colored to initiate butter it is nobody's
business but his own and that II be
| chooses to purchase it he ought not tc