Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-12-31


aged in every way possible, as such
seed was usually of low quality as the
firms selling such by mail order do not
have TO comply with the Wisconsin
Pure Seed Law.
Improvement of Livestock
Sixteen pure bred sires were secured
for Rusk county farmers. 1t has been
difficult this year to sell the surplus
sireS that farmers in Rusk county have.
Consequently not many have been
brought in from the outside. This con-
dition exists because of the present
financial situation.
Thirty high grade heifer calves have
been shipped in from southern Wis
consin which We're placed with boys
and girls or farmers.
Tuberculin Testing
There is evidently very little tuber-
culosis among cattle in Rusk county.
During the past year fifty head were
tested by the County agent and two
hundred and twenty-five head were
tested by veterinarians of the U. 5.
Department of Agriculture In only
one herd were any re-actorS found and
i'm this particular case it was known
to be in the herd. More of this work
is planned TO be conducted during the
coming winter. The Importance of
maintaining the present cleanliness of
our herds is extremely important and
every precaution should be taken by
those shipping in cattle for breeding
, purposes.
Improvement of Soils
Rusk county is indeed very fortunate
in having such good soils over the en-
tire county. The different soil types
represented are good agricultural soils.
However, the fact remains that legume
, crops will increase the amount OF nj
, trogen in the soil and these crops should
, he encouraged especially on the lighter
soils. Soy beans are IL crop that are
increasing in popularity very fast for
the reasons that they
J. Increase the soil fertility.
2 Give the farmers crop of hay
if they are planted as a catch crop i'll
case of failure of some other crop
,. They are a good crop with corn
for silage and this is the use to which
they are now quite generally put in
the vicinity of Bruce.
! Last spring seventy bushels of soy
bean seed was distributed at Bruce to
farmers This seed was purchased with
J the assistance of the Bruce State Bank,
! during the winter and was sold for l00
} per cent less than the prevailing spring
prices.
J Acid Soils
J Many soils in the county are acid as
! are most Of the soils in Wisconsin
These all need lime to increase their
J producing value. a soil tester was pur-
! chased by the County Agent and as fast
J as possible soils are being tested where
! farmers wish it. To correct their acid
J ity it is planned TO ship in lime i'll cal
) lots. during the coming winter.
Cooperative Marketing
, The day has passed when the Coun
; ty Agricultural Agent can hide beneath
an educational shell and the farmers
: themselves demand that he do a large
amount of work at assisting in coop
erative enterprises chiefly in the mar
keting of farm crops and livestock
: Several local marketing associations
have been assisted in organizing the
past year. However, this work is ex
tremely difficult for an agent to get re-
! suits from because of the lack OF a
larger organization to work through
Land Clearing
tempted by the County Agent this year
was land clearing. 1t is without doubt
line of work that is certainly de-
serving very much effort because upon
it depends our development.
To stimulate interest and without
any thought Of land clearing contest
series of winter meetings were held
last winter. One at Sheldon, two at
| 7 Il nt
were in every way successful and really
: brought to the attention of the County
Agent the Importance of and the pos
sibilities of land clearing campaign
A contest had previously been advO-
Gated by several men in the county and
these men were called together for a
conference on the practicability OF such
an enterprise.
The Rusk County Million Dollar
Land Clearing Contest was inaugurated
at a meeting held during March. Funds
were raised at this meeting to carry
on the contest.
The Executive Committee, OF which
the County Agent was secretary, hired
Mr.. !. Il. Lee Stewart to direct the
clearing contest and Mr.. Stewart began
t. work on April LIST.
The work of the land clearing cam
paign can be divided into three lines
of effort:
!. Dynamite sales.
. = County publicity.
3. Land Clearing Contest.
The dynamite sales were pushed IN
order to get the orders punched sufti-
GENTLY and to increase consumption III
order that the dynamite could be han
died in carload lots and sold to the
farmers from the car at lower price.
Purchasing of dynamite in this way
means saving of from four to i've
cents pound TO the purchaser. by
dealers and by the County Agent, as
sisted by Mr. Stewart, twelve carloads
were handled in this way at margin
ranging from One-half cent to one cent
Der pound over cost price. This means
total saving of $4,000 figuring say
ing of four cents per pound. The work
) of taking orders for dynamite for
spring delivery should begin at least
by January 1st. in order that the or
ders may be placed by March lst ana
insure early delivery.
In order to stimulate clearing as
sst the settler and to maintain prices
of land clearing materials at as low