Evening journal., 1914-02-26
MUCH GARDEN
TRUCK LAND
LAYS IDLE
Only 2 Per Cent Of Adaptable
Soil Used, Figures
thOW
SANDY LOAN THE
FINEST FOR PURPOSE
By The United Press.

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 - Garden
truck, the second largest crop. in the
point of value. grown in The United
States, is raised in bat two per cent.
Of the land especially adaptable for that
purpose and most Of the remaining 9S
per cent. IL idle DR.. ,. *. Cameron OF
the Bureau oi Soils. who knows more
about dirt than any other man in the
country, has reached this conclusion and
he says that the present need IS not for
more extensive gardening but for better
shipping facilities at terminals. The
barrier between the city dwellcr and
mess of green peas Is TO be removed
by finance rather than by farming.
"'rhe finest garden soil in the world
is a sandy loan, usually not very good
for general farming" said the expert to-
day in discussing the question with q
United Press correspondent, land land
of tins nature stretches all the way
from New England TO Texas. Transpor-
tation TO market is the biggest problem.
In New York, Chicago. st. Louis and
other big cities. the problem is much
more the same and it is being attacked
from two angles. The city people are
turning back Go the soil and the engi-
nccrs are devising new methods OF quick
transportation
DIR. Cameron was moved to thi, com.
ment in view of recent story from
New York that an agliculturist there
had devised new method OF forcing
vegetable growth by applying "car-
bonic acid gas direct 10 the earth. The
government has made several expert
nents Of this nature but has produced
no unusual results. Certain other
methods, however resulted IN abnormal
I " large vegetables. but these are gem
orally without any economic value.
big vegetables do not save anything,
because there is plenty OF room to grow
truck" explained The expert. "1ho best
/ land for this purpose Is sandy loaiu,
/ because il can b. controlled easy and
/ worked up nicely A soil analysis will
show the proper fertilizer, and land like
muscle, improves in strength and pro-
ductlvity when properly used"
A pound OF fresh poultry represent .
an investment of from 1871 cents 10 2O.j
/ cents. providing the most scientific
methods have been used in breeding
and feeding After experiments Gov
ering nearly three years during which
time more than million fowls were
fattened for the market the animal hus-
bandry division of the Bureau of Ani-
NAL Industry has arrived at these fig
ures. The higher figure represents the
cost of the fowl in July aud this gradu
ally becomes less until November.
The experiments were conducted un
der the supervision of Alfred Il. Lee
whose aim was TO discover the cheap
est food for the commercial fattenna
of poultry. Every variety of fattenins
was tried and three model rations wer,
finally decided upon.
No. consists of three parts corn
meal two parts lowgrade wheat iloul
and one part shorts; No. has three
parts corn meal and two parts low-grade
wheat flour, and No. has five parts
corn meal. three parts low grade wheat
flour. one part shorts and i've per cent
correct tallow The same feeding
value is secured in ration of three
parts corn meal and two parts oal
flour. but at an increased cost OF 81
cents pei hundred pounds of grain.
Tallow makes the fat ON the birds
more pronounced. but increases the cost
of the grain in weight. Thick condcnscC
buttermilk in the place Of tallow pro
duces better results. The addition o
beef scraps to the buttermilk was trie,
but this did not increase the gain
Grit was found to be OF no value in fat
tcning for period under fifteen days.
Under commercial conditions in th'
middle west the best results are sccur
cd by fattening for about fourteen day
during the summer. After the middle o
September this period should be shorten
ed gradually till the fattening process
lasts only six or seven days.
Birds eat more when fed three time
day but show greater gain per poun'
when fed but twice "A day
In the experiments conducted by th
government there was a great variation
in the results secured in fattening. rhi
was due TO the difference in the abilit.
of the birds to take ON little flesh, L
their weight at the beginning of tn
feeding. and TO weather conditions.
The variation of birds makes their Sc
lection in fattcning OF considerable inn
portancc. II was also shown that broil
ers can be fattencd about cent and
half chcapcr pcr mound than rOasters.