The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-07-22
ORANGE COUNTY
FARM BUREAU
Notes for Week Ending July 20.

r. J. Huber, specialist of the bureau
of plant pathology, spent Friday with
the county agent investigating the preya
lence of disease in cereal grains. We
visited grain fields in Randolph, Chelsea,
Williamstown and Brooktield. In Ran
dolph we found considerable smut in
the oats. Other diseases found were a
leaf blotch, mildew on barley and wheat,
and a little rust. Nearly all these dis
eases are easily controlled by treating
the seed in the spring with formaldehyde
or hot water. Few farmers realize how
prevalent these diseases are and how
much damage they do. Five per cent
smut in the oats means a decrease of
two bushels per acre on the average
yield. There are probably 1000 acres of
oats in Orange county this year. The
loss from smut alone this year, according
to the results found Friday, would total
at least 1000 bushels. Now is the time
to look at your oats and see if you can
| find the smutted heads. If so, or if you
buy seed oats of uncertain history, plan
to treat your seed next spring. Wheat
and barley are also subject to the same
disease and can be controlled also by a
slightly different method.
w. j. Tubbs, farm management spe
cialist, reports that there are about 2S
acres of potatoes in Randolph Center
| for which an exact cost account is being
kept this year in cooperation with this
department. These figures ought to
prove valuable another year in determin
ing how extensively we can afford to
make potatoes a cash crop in this county.
Harold Bailey of Bradford has been
inspecting the potatoes around Randolph
Center for certified seed. He finds them
| in excellent condition at this time.
Miss Dutton and the county agent
| plan to visit Chelsea west hill at the
| time of their next meeting, July 80. Miss
Dutton assists the ladies in making a
freless cooker at this meeting
The Vermont extension service urges
poultry men to pay more attention to
the marketing Of their eggs. Money is
being made in Vermont with poultry
even under the present grain prices.
Judging by the quality and condition of
eggs that appear on the average market
| there is much need Of more attention to
grading, cleanliness and marketing meth
DDS. The selling price in many cases Is
| lower than the market warrants for a
Srst class product. One example which
illustrates this point is the fact that re-
Gently one grocery store in the state was
paying farmers SO cents per dozen and
| less than 25 miles away eggs were sell
ing at retail for so cents per dozen. The
farmer could get some of this IA cents
difference by forming egg circles or some
cooperative means Of selling and by
more carefully grading the product. If
you are interested in starting such a
circle, and would like Gambling, grading
and packing demonstration in your sec
ton, write TO the county agent and he
viii arrange for same. We have poul-
try specialist in this state and he is at
our service.
The county agent returned from 10
DAYS vacation July 49, The remaining
days of the week have been spent large
| ly in the office and investigating the ce-
real diseases. Twentyfour letters were
written and "a farm visits made.
| Recipe for week: Drying Spinach,
Swiss Chard, Beet Tops, etc.-All greens
should be fresh and in prime condition.
Remove leaves from roots, wash, cut leaf
stocks and blades into sections one
fourth inch long Spread thinly on trays
and dry thoroughly Store in paper
bags and hang in dry place. To test to
see If they are sufficiently dry, place a
cracker in the bag and If the cracker be-
comes moist they are not dry enough.
Z. H. Loyeland, County Agent.