Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-01-04

& OW OCWo
some such enormous total every farm.
er. and every householder who has
rats upon his premises, contributes a
share
The futility of past efforts and the
lack Of permanent results indicate that
the real cure for the rat evil in cities,
especially seaports. lies in preventive
rather than curative methods The
extraordinary success that has attend
ed the rats struggle for existence is
to be explained largely by the abund-
ance of food and shelter furnished by
man. Preventive measures should be
directed to Withholding these advan-
tages. The curtailing of food is less
important in its effect upon the pres
ent rat population than in its certain
result in lessening population. Abund-
ance of food means many young in
litter and many litters in a year;
a restricted supply means fewer young
and fewer litters The most important
steps, therefore, toward the suppress
sion of the rat are the enactment and
strict enforcement of municipal ordi-
nances providing for the disposal of
garbage and the protection of food
supplies, and the rat-proof construc-
ton of dwellings and other buildings.
Grow Corn.
Consumption of corn as an article
of food is annually on the increase.
In 1877 the annual consumption in
the United States per capita totaled
SOL bushels. The population of the
Northern States consumes more wheat
than corn, but corn products enter
largely into the food consumption Of
the people of the Southern States.
Corn bread is on the table regularly
in the best homes of the South and
nominally comprises the staff of life
of the common and middle classes.
Corn is the basis of the meat pro-
duction industry, as it is eaten by
cattle, sheep and hogs and transform
ed into the meat products that grace
the table of modern civilized people.
While alfalfa is rich in muscle-pro-
ducing attributes it requires corn to
round out the fat and marbieize the
choice cuts that sell at fancy prices.
Corn is indigenous to most of the
States, but particularly adapted to the
black loan and alluvial soil of the
Western States and the Mississippi
Valley district
Corn excels all other cereals in the
volume of production per acre and its
adaptation to domestic food consump-
ton has stimulated increased produc-
ton. In 1906 the acreage of corn in
Illinois totaied 9,616,SS6 acres and the
yield aggregated 47,169,5S5 bushels.
The same year the acreage in Iowa
was reported at 9,450,000 and the pro-
duction 973,275,0OO bushels These
are the two leading corn belt States,
although corn is grown profitably in
the Southern, Middle and New Eng
land States.
Corn revels in rich soil and is a
voracious feeder of plant food. Corn
is particularly fond of stable manure
and responds quickly to fertilizer. If
the farmer has not manure enough to
spread thirty loads per acre and
wishes to plant forty acres of corn,
it would pay better to spread fifteen
loads per acre and supplement the
deficit with dressing of commercial
fertilizer, represented in $50 pounds of
nitrate of soda, $50 pounds of acid
phosphate and so pounds of muriate
of potash. If the season is late, acid
phosphate can be increased one-fourth.
The farmer cannot afford to risk
INFESTED seed, as the stand can easily
be reduced 25 per cent by using in
ferior seed. While it is desirable for
the farmer to select his seed from
his own field, many farmers favor
buying from growers who make a
speciality of raising seed corn and
guarantee their seed to grow That
variety should be grown which is best
adapted to the locality. The white
and yellow Dent flourishes in the corn
belt, States, while the smaller and
earlier maturing varieties are better
adapted to the shorter. seasons of the
Northern States.
A well prepared seed bed for corn
reduces one-half of the work of cul-
tivating the crop. AS soon as the corn
is planted the field should be thor
oughly narrowed and cross narrowed
to kill all the terminating weeds and
leave the ground clear when the corn
attains the proper size for cultiva-
ton. Rich soil and thorough culti-
walton are essential to produce the
Iarcart Weld -Coodalps Farunar