Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-09-11
AGRICULTURAL ITEMS.

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Farmers are becoming more inde-
pendent in regard to food supply
than they have ever been since be-
fore the Civil war, in the opinion of
a field man of the United States de-
partment of Agriculture, who recent
ly returned from an inspection trip
IN New York and the New England
states. Farmers in that territory
who have never before raised wheat.
barley and buckwheat are growing
small patches of such crop for their
own use.
The farmer who expects to help
maintain Wisconsin's winter wheat
acreage of 112, 900 acres may take ad-
reported from the station farm at
Madison. Out of 80 varieties of VIM
ter wheat in the experimental plots,
Wisconsin's Pedigreed No. 2 was
practically the only variety which
survived the unusually hard winter.
SOwn at the rate of IL to IL BUSH
els to the acre early last September,
the pedigreed wheat withstood the
winter better, according to the agron-
omy department, and also gave bet
ter yields.
Boys and girls in Is states have
planted 10,414 ounces of sugar beet
seed supplied them by the United
States Department of Agriculture for
the purpose of making sugar-beet
strip. The seed was secured through
the Bureau of Plant Industry and
distributed by the States Relations
Service to Is state leaders of boys
and girls club work in the North and
West. Each boy or girl receiving an
ounce of the seed is pledged to grow
it and to make the beets into strip.
1t is estimated that, with average
yields, this might result in the home
manufacture of more than a $1,000 GAL
Ions of strip, which may be used in
many ways as a sugar substitute in
general cooking.
Receipts from the National Forests
in the fiscal year 1918 ending June
so amounted to more than $3,574, 900.
Fees from livestock brought in over
$1,700,000, and timber sales yielded
$1,5O0>000. Water power permits
brought in a little less than $100, 600.
Smaller amounts were received from
various forms of land occupancy.
Turpentine privileges on the Florida
National Forest yielded the govern
ment about $4,000. In California CO.
operative arrangements have been
made with 126 individual owners
controlling about 100000 acres Of
timber land, whereby the Forest Ser
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fighting Of all fires that NAV occur.
This protection is obtained at an av-
erage cost Of liz cents per acre paid
by the oWners.
Fully 200, coo, 900 wild rabbits are
killed in the United States every year
according to estimates made by the
Biological Survey of the United States
Department of Agriculture. Many of
them are jack rabbits, the majority
of which have not been utilized in
the past. If all the rabbits killed
were consumed, they would represent
between 200, 900 and 800, 900 tons Of
valuable food, and if proper measures
were taken to insure the collection of
skins, these alone would have a val
ue of $20,0 0 900. The Biological Sur
vey has been frequently called upon
to help western farmers inc oping
wit hthe rabbit pest. In view of the
probable economic value of rabbit
meat and fur in the coming few years,
the energies of the farmers and
ranchmen will be directed to the con-
servation of this important
Already a number of establishments
for collecting, dressing, canning and
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in western centers. AS in Australia
the transition of the wild rabbit in
his country from it's status as a
pest to a source of profit is assured,
it is believed.
Getting rid of quack grass by clean
c~ultivating is an old story to Wis
consin farmers, but getting rid of it
without losing a crop is somewhat I'M
common. Jens Chrenholdt of Sawyer
county, accomplished it so successful
ly in 1917 that not one of the farm
ers who visited his field recently
could find a blade OF the grass. AT
ter the hay was off last year the field
was plowed. Instead of blowing deep
which would leave enough soil on the
roots that they might grow again,
the pillow was set shallow. This cut
the roots close to the surface and ex-
posed them to the hot sun of late
summer The field Ias plowed with
a tractor three times, narrowed e
eral times-in fact, worked thor.
oughly all the rest of the fall. I'm
the spring" says r. F. Murray, as
sistant state leader of county agents,
"the ground was again worked we'll
and the field was planted to pota-
toes. When the potatoes were in
spected by a group of Sawyer county
farmers, not one sign of quack grass
was found, although the owner made
no claim to completely destroying the
pest" ***
More than 1000, 900 bushels of ped
igreed rye, 'the rye that made Wis
consin famous" will be available for
seed this fall, according to reports
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