The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1912-02-01
FifthPaul Hoover, "a.
Sixfh--Loil Norris. 81


classes considered soil fertility and
manures and the raising of and value
! OF alfalfa. The discussions were OF
absorbing interest and of a nature
that carried the time devoted to the
classes much beyond the time gener-
| ally given When dismissal was fin
ally announced many of these In at.
| tendance were still unsatisfied and
gathered about the instructors for a
! further comparison of notes and to
ask questions prompted by personal
experience.
Manure and its value fas;ra fertilizer
was first taken up and eS6seSRe notes
on the subject were Jm9deidby the
class members. Every feature OF the
question was handled and many new
points were considered in detail, even
down to the idea of how best to col,
lect and care for the fertilizer.
Alfalfa Is a somewhat new crop
for Iowa and the growing of the plant
may be said to be still in the expert
mental stage. Results obtained by
the more experienced growers tend TO
show, however. that the day is com
ing when alfalfa will be extensively
radiated in most parts of the state.
Its superiority over clover and its
value as a food for horses, cattle and
hogs has been demonstrated. Three
crops of the food can be harvested in
a season and the prices obtained
make it extremely desirable as a
profit-yielding crop. With an ordi.
nary season between five and six
tons of the feed can be cut from an
acre of land, yielding return worth
from SIS to $120 per acre in season.
The story of alfalfa was told in an en-.
tertaining way. Following the talk
by Professor Mosher the class deyel-
oped into an experience meeting.
Will Crozier was called to. the plat
form and told of his experiences in
preparing his ground, planting, care
treatment and effort put forth in get.
ting a stand" Frank Edris and
others described in detail experien-
eeS with the feed and some interest
ing details of the care and handling
were contributed by Professor Bliss.
Some big stories developed in the
course of the arguments. Professor
Mosher was constrained to apologize
for the statement of Scott county
man who claimed to have raised two
hundred pigs pastured on few acres
of the feed, but it remained for Frank
Edris, who has had fourteen years
experience, to claim the laurels in
this line in the statement that he had
turned sixty-tive shoats to feed on
little piece of growing alfalfa, to see
what effect the roofing of the pigs
would have on the plant. The pigs
were given no other feed but thrived
and fattened and made apparently no
Roadway in arresting the develop.
ment OF the crop. When at last the
hogs were taken from the pasture, to
be rounded off for market there was
more pasturage in the lot than when
they were turned in and the piece OF
alfalfa through which the hogs had
foraged showed a far greater devel-
opment and crop OF feed than anoth.
er piece of the same field that had
been fenced off and left undisturbed
and untouched by stock. The alfalfa
trophy will remain in Mahaska for an
other year, at least.
Possibilities.
Professor Bliss in emphasizing the
good that may come of the Short
Course work cites few instances of
value.
Statistics show that the average
acreage of corn, per county in Iowa
Is 10000. The average yield OF corn
per acre In Iowa is 35 bushels. To be
sure, here in Mahaska, the average
doesn't effect the argument. Sup
pose through seed testing, planting
better corn, more careful cultivation,
ETC., the average yield per acre could
be raised ten bushel, and this is by
no means an impossibility,-weh have
gain of a trif1e of 100000 bushels
| for the county. Corn is selling to-day
around fifty cents. That means that
the value of the crop is increased by
the sum of $450,000 for the county.
Iowa has ninety-nine counties. This
some ratio in all of the counties gives
an almost unbelievable increase in
the value of the corn crop alone.
| About hogs. The average litter OF
pigs raised by a brood sow is found
to be about four. To increase this
number one pig or to five per litter
is an easy possibility, and at no cost
to the breeder. 1t is a low average
to estimate that there are nine brood
sows for every farm in the county.
The average number of farms per
county in the state is 2,160. That
means 20,44O sows in the county. One
pig increase per SOW, for each litter,
with pork selling around $3.50 per
hundred means an increase in the
value of the hog output of 100000
per county.
Say it is possible to increase the
amount of butter fat yielded by each
cow in the county ten pounds. This
may be done by just little more
care and attention given to our our
cows, milking dry and Just being
j good to them" We have in Iowa one
}, million five hundred thousand dairy
animals an average of about $1,000