Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-12-15

the soil particles apart, enabling i
to hold water like a sponge, protect
ed from evaporation by dust blan
ket.
Granite soils are just the opposit,
from the black sticky, being com
posed of very large particles o
atoms. The difference between tn,
two soils in this respect might b,
compared to gfanulated and pow
dered sugar. The very porus natur,
of the granite soil permits the water
to run through, teaching out the
plant food. Humus is needed to fill
up the interstices between these
coarse soil grains. In other words
granite needs humus to fill the
spaces between the soil particles
while black sticky needs humus to
hold them apart.
The best way to provide humus in
an orchard, said Professor Reimer
is to sow cover-crop about the first
of September. Have the ground soft
and loose and deeply drill in about
lao pounds of vetch and gray winter
oats, or rye, per acre-mostly vetch.
Plow under as late as possible next
spring, before the ground gets too
dry to plow. Most farmers plow too
shallow; consequently, the cover crop
is not we'll turned under and there
fore interferes with subsequent cul-
tivation. A good moldboard plow,
with drag chain, run seven or eight
inches deep, will make it possible to
turn under the straw and vetches
nicely.
There are some thirty varieties of
vetch, five or which are being grown
experimentally at the Talent station:
bitter, purple, woolly podded, hairy
and sand vetch-the last kind being
the kind commonly grown in Oregon.
Other legumes are being experiment.
ed with, some as strange looking as
the inhabitants of the countries from
which they were imported. Fall
planted horse beans had not been
killed by the ten degrees of frost
which prevailed last week and had
nitrogen-gathering bacteria ON the
roots as large as pea.
Numerous tests failed to find any
acid soils in this locality, although
there may be some such soils. A
dimes worth of blue litmus paper
will enable anyone to test ali the
soils on his farm. Stick O. strip of
the paper into the wet ground and
if the paper turns REQ cr pink the
sell is acid and needs lime. The lat
ter is commonly applied at the rate
of five tons per acre, or 63 pounds
to the square rod. That is, ground
limestone rock is applet at this rate.
A lesser quantity of pure lime would
be needed. There are solid noun
tains of limestone rock in Jackson
county such as the one at Gold Hill,
where the cement plant is being To-
Gated. Along the banks of the
streams lime-coated rocks may be
found, indicating an abundance of
lime in the soil
The Talent station is ideally To-
Gated, being on the Pacific High
way, half mile from the railroad de-
pct, telephone connections with all
the surrounding country, electric
lights, etc. The commodious resi-
dence is provided with city water,
septic tank and will soon have gas
for use in the laboratory, which is
being fitted up in the second story.
Professor Reimer is Michigander
who taught horticulture a half dozen
years in North Carolina and Florida
before coming to Oregon. He is
thoroughly in love with his work,
horticulture being his hobby, and it
is only necessary to PROFOUND an in
telligent inquiry to secure an in
structive lecture upon this or any
correlated subject.
People sometimes wonder why the
Talent station doesn't issue some bull
letins. These will be forthcoming
in due season, but at present the ex-
periments have not progressed far
enough to furnish material for val
liable summary. The old style bull
letin, based upon information OF
gathered from various sources, was
unauthorized by law and is today
regarded as something of joke, like
the free-seed fraud. Bulletins are
supposed to contain only the results
of original research and experimental
ton, not a mere neurological rehash
of what is already known. The lat
ter information can best be obtained
from our excellent agricultural press,
in the opinion of Professor Reimer.
When the Talent station has any in
formation of local interest to give
out. il will be published in the local