Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-02-05


Fred Clayton and George Sayder, Jr.
al, of Milan. Mrs. Radford aud Mr.
Snyder sang solos and Mrs. Clayton
appeared in a duet with Mrs. RaJford
Favors Three Meetings.
w. II. Ashdown, director of farm
ers' institutes for this congressional
district, said he favored more than one
institute in the county IL would be
advisable. he said, to hold perhaps
two one-day meetings in the lower end
of the county and the general meeting
of two days AT Port Byron. While the
state gives only SIS 10 the county for
farm institute purposes and this is
sufficient to hold only one meeting,
the supervisors might be induced to
appropriate a similar sum, or il
might be raised by subscription.
An essay written by Russell Watson
of Drury on his experiences in attend
ing the boys state fair school at
| Springfield last year was read by the
secretary. r. f. Little. w. S. McCul-
Tough of Taylor Ridge; J. c. Nose of
Port Byron and l.. s. Griffith of Cham
paign were named as a committee to
| judge essays on corn culture sub
mitted by Rock Island county boys for
the prizes.
Discusses Lesumes.
! L. G. Griffith. one of the state speak
ers, talked on legume crops and was
the only speaker at the morning ses-
sion. He took up sweet clover and
! soy beans and great deal of discus
sion was INDUCED in by members of
. h H. Il
experience of some sort with sweet
. clover, usually as a weed. The result
was that when the subject was
dropped, while many were not con-
WINGED that sweet clover is the ideal
hay or pasture crop, there was no
one to dispute that it is the rankest
grower among the legume plans which
are suitable for restoring nitrogen
to work out land and it can be sue
cessfully grown where other varieties
will fail. 1t was agreed that stock will
not eat it well. particularly the kind
with yellow blossoms, if the stalks
are allowed to grow to maturity, the
tender younger growth being best
suited for both hay and pasture.
There was some discussion as to
the relative value of soy beans and
COW peas for hay and as nitrogen
forming plants. Mr. Griffith upheld
the beans. but a number of others I,
took the other side. All agreed, how |
ever, that both are better than many |
crops which are now generally raised /
and should be cultivated to a greater
extent than now.
Talks of Care of Cow.
Charles Foss of Cedarville, ILL.,, last
evening continued his discussion of
the afternoon on dairying. He took
up particularly the feeding and care
of the COW. One of the striking points
brought out was that a good COW,
when giving a full flow of milk is
doing more work than the average
horse engaged in farm work or on the
road. The work instead of being
is done by the digestive and
assimilative organs. Under the cir
cumstances it is impossible to expect
good results FROM a COW which is not
protected from til cold and rain and
given an abundance of nutritious,
healthful food and pure water. In
winter dairy COWS cannot be expected
10 produce a full flow of milk if al
Owed to run in a stock field or forage
elsewhere for food. Standing in yards
lnsheltered is almost as bad.
Proper methods of housing and feed
ng were discussed. The barn must
De clean, we'll lighted and above all,
we'll ventilated. Air and light are the
pest preventatives of bovine tuher-
culosis and will operate toward al
,ure of the disease IL animals as well
Is in human beings
Acts as a Machine.
The COW is no more nor less than a
machine which delivers, up to it's
formal capacity amounts of finished
'roduct corresponding 10 the raw ma I
erial fed it. While feeding will not :
aise the butter fat content in the
milk of a given COW it will have al f
most everything to do with the guam y
ity of milk, provided the animal is
red for large production. Every COW Il
hould have all the forage, such as al O
alta and silage, it will eat regularly
hen the test capacity for milk pro- 9
uction, the quantity of concentrates, /,
UGH as corn meal. bran, oil meal, etc,
hould be gradually increased till a 9
maximum flow of milk is secured :,
,ach individual animal is a law unto
self and the appetite is the best indi-
ator to watch. The ration must be II
roperly balanced and must be di- n
estible to guard against waste and
re COW must like the food. Mr. Foss ii
ave tables 10 show what constitutes L
balanced ration. His addresses were
mong the best heard here at recent fl
lrm Institutes. n
Extols Dignity of Agriculture.
Rev. w. II. Shaw, pastor of the "
ilan Presbyterian church, spoke also st
the evening session eloquentIy
raising the farmer as the producer of II
early all of the original wealth of the II
'untry. The tiller of the soil. he y
I'D, occupies a prouder place in the
story of the United States than any
her class.