The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-07-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST TO THE FARMER
- And STOCK GROWER -


few cukes and watermelons on the
side. | hope to gradually get into
live stock, with hogs and chickens and
make a speciality OF Sapphire Blue
hogs and Rhode Island White chick
ems. | may be flying in the face Of
things TO introduce these new varie-
ties, but | get very best reports con-
corning them, and am going to give
them a try-Out. The blue hog was
developed in Massachusetts, and do
well in Cuba and Texas, and ought to
do we'll liz Florida. While not much
given to novelties, yet all the stand
ard varieties of stock are of modern
origin, and all had to make start"
lin s-Union.
The Fort Myers Truckers Associa-
ton packing house shipped out ITO
carloads of vegetables during the past
season. mostly of green peppers and
eggplant, although few tomatoes
I'D ether vegetables were among the
shipments. Taken altogether, with
the unfavorable market conditions,
strikes, embargoes and the like. the
growers were fortunate to come out
as well as they did ~ meeting expens-
es and securing a profit. Mr.. A. ri.
praughon is the manager of the truck
r. hacking house.-Fort Myers News
ccrghun1 Poisoning
Sorghum poisoning of cattle is
common occurance in dry climates,
sometimes occurring in Florida, and
is attributed to prussic acid, which
is found in sorghums.
z. E. Collins, former chemist OF
me Florida Experiment Station, states
that this poison is not found actually
in the form of prussis acid, but in q
substance known as glucoside, which
aust be broken up in the plant before
il is active. For this reason, poison
ing usually occurs where the animals
have eaten the stunted growth and
; not likely [. occur when the growth
( the plan has been good.
Examination of several varieties OF
sorghums by Mr.. Collins showed that
prussic acid was present in varying
amounts, so that some care should be
exercised in feeding sorghum, particu-
larry TO animals that have not been
accustomed to it.
The greatest danger in feeding fresh
sorghum is likely to occur when the
cattle are turned in on the green sor-
ghum allowed to gorge themselves.
A precaution would be to feed this
forage after they have had some 9TH
er feed. for if used in this way will be
incurred that little risk will be incur
red in feeding sorghum grown under
normal conditions in Florida.
The symptoms observed in prussic
acid poisoning of stock are Dull and
watery eyes, partial paralysis of the
tongue and great quantities of saliva
running from the mouth. The limbs
and ears are usually cold, the eyes
dilated, also a constant discharge
of urine and feces. The muscles of
the lead are usually contracted, show
ing twitching, and the animal shows
general signs of paralysis.
Feeding sorghum to animals, If or
binary precautions are taken, is not
dangerous, but it is unwise to turn
cattle that have been kept without
feed or water into sorghum field and
allow them to gorge themselves. The
large amount of green feed that an
animal under such conditions will
take into its stomach may be suffici.
ent to kill the animal from farmenta-
ton, and many of them die each year
nv bloating from eating green feeds
Of any kind, whether they contain
prussic acid or not.
s*s
Keep the Hogs Free From Lice
There is no good reason for any
farmer allowing lice to infeSt his