The Brinkley argus. (Brinkley, Ark.) 1883-current, 1917-02-23
THE UNIVERSITY
ASSISTS FARMERS
Work Being Done BY University OF Ar
kansas Experiment Station Worth
Money to the Farmers.

out out products worth while to the
farmer. The products are in the ma
ture of facts tried and proven. They
contain information that helps the
farmer to avoid costly mistakes and
to do better with the means at his
command. Thousands of inquiries
from farmers are answered each
month by the Experiment Station,
while there are thousands upon thou
sands of farmers who have no idea
of the work of the station and its
value to them If you are dissatisfied
with the results obtained on your
farm or need any information, write
to your university for help today.
Here are few things mentioned,
merely as samples of the work being
done by the Experiment Station.
Hog Cholera Experiments.
Among a number of experiments
under way to learn more about hog
cholera, one Is to learn what hold it
has upon sucking pigs. From expert
ments thus far worked out it seems
that SO per cent of pigs from immune
mothers are immune to hog cholera by
exposure as long as they are sucking
the mother. When injected with hog
cholera virus, that is, putting the dis
| ease into their blood, the per cent
| showing immunity was not quite as
| high as by exposure. There was also
! some variation in different litters, as
] rl,o oh or
immunity than others. 1t is worth
while knowing that little pigs can be
| protected in this way, but must be
made immune as soon as they are
/ weaned.
Soil Tests Interesting.
The Experiment Station has shown
| for years that the soils in many parts
/ of the state are in need of lime. In
a careful study of samples taken dur
ing the past year, in Prairie, Pope
and Washington counties, the upland
soils were nearly all found to be acid.
This condition can be corrected only
by the use of lime. The most econom-
ical form of lime to use is crushed
limestone, at the rate of one or two
tons per acre, applied on land that is
to be seeded to clover or alfalfa.
The bottom land soils along the larger
streams do not appear to be greatly
in need of lime at the present time.
The investigation is to be extended
to all parts of the state as soon as
funds are provided to continue the
work
Experiment With Seventy Varieties
of Potatoes.
An experiment with seventy varie-
ties of potatoes has been under way
for several years. The 1915 season
was rather moist, and the past rath
er dry one. The size, shape, eyes and
general appearance of the tubers have
been studied Yields of marketable
potatoes and culls per acre, at differ
ent dates during the season, have been
secured These yields at different pc
RODS were secured to determine the
advisability Of digging at the regular
time for early market or of waiting
for further maturity. Market reports
have been kept to compare the prices
at the different diggings.
There are two striking things about
our results so far.
/. There are about twenty varie-
ties outyielding the Bliss Triumph,
the most popular commercial variety
now being grown.
2. About three-fourths of the high
est yielders have been white potatoes.
OF these varieties the best and most
consistent yielder has been the Irish
Cobbler.
The experiment was carried on at
Fayetteville and Van Buren, this year
and it is to be continued another year
at least.
J Self-Feeder for Hogs Proves Valuable.
, Experiments with the self-feeder for
hogs have shown that the self-feeder
not only saves time and labor. but also
makes larger, cheaper gains at an
early age, due to each animal balanc.
ing and increasing its daily ration ac.
. cording to its individual requirements.
The selffeeder is becoming very val
liable and useful in pork production,
especially in this day and age, when
with the present high priced feeds
and labor pork must be grown as
cheaply as possible. The seE-feeder
is adapted for sucking pigs and fat.
tening shoats. The cost of the feeder
= is small; every farmer with small
herd could afford to build one.
Cotton Variety Tests Give important
Results.
+ Cotton variety tests were made by
, the Experiment Station in 1916 at fif
teen different points in the state. The
tests served many purposes, but two
things are of much Importance.
3 l. The value of the seed and lint
: produced by some varieties greatly
exceeded that of other varieties.
| 2. Such varieties as Dixie and Gov
ington Toole were very much more re
6 sistant to wilt than the ordinary vari
cites, and therefore proved much NOR,
profitable on land infected with wilt
n Tho xJorly of tho Eynarimont Sta