Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1921-07-07
.ROGAN TELLS
OF HIS PLANS
TO STRESS THREE PHASES
OF ACTIVITY AT
PRESENT


William ]. Rogan, recently engaged
as county agent for Marathon county
TO succeed Frank G. Swoboda. has
taken charge of the Office and is busy
laying plans for his work here. Mr..
Rogan has fne record of achieve
ment behind him and gives every
promise of lettering his record here
for Marathon county presents a field
OF work more than twice as large as
Juneau county, where he has been
county agent foT the pal three years.
He possesses a likeable personality
and gives the impression of one well
qualified for the task before him.
Il believe said Mr.. Rogan, that
Mr.. Swoboda has the county agent
idea we'll instilled in the minds of the
people and am proceeding under that
assumption. There are three branches
OF activity that intend to stress par
ticularly, live stock, crop development
and soil projects.
The Dairy Situation
II was greatly surprised at some
figures recently furnished on the con-
sumption of butter and butter substi-
tutes in this country showing that
about a third of the butter consump-
ton was of butter substitutes, oleo-
margarine and similar products. And
this is great dairy country. Dairy
ing must be pushed to eliminate this
use of substitutes. The raising of
cattle also benefits the land Driving
through sandy country in the north
ern part of the state an observer will
find occasional farms that show much
better crops than those round about
and in every case you will find that
these particular farmers have dairy
herds, and an abundance of natural
fertilizer enables them to keep their
land at a point where it will yield
good crops"
Corn in the County
Crop development and soil projects
practically go hand in hand Mr.. Ro-
gan states that from his observation
Marathon county is just north of the
corn line, the northern boundry of
what is known as the corn tempera-
ture belt passing slightly to the
south. This is made apparent by the
fact that corn does not mature suf-
ficiently in this section He would
remedy this by the use of commercial
fertilizers,
Numerous soil tests have proven
this he says. "Cornfields treated
with fertilizer show a growth of five
feet or so compared to twelve or fif-
teen inches N fields not so treated.
Commercial fertilizers are of great
practical value and realization of
their value is growing among farmers
But it is of equal importance that the
fertilizer be used properly; with corn,
for instance, full results are obtained
by using the proper kind of fertilizer
and economy in its use by applying it
to the rows instead of spreading it
broadcast.
Use of Lime
in a recent drive of about 200
miles through the county l saw but
one field of clover. OF course the
chief reason for this is that most of it
was winter killed, but this, the
Glover Belt should raise more and
better clover. Marathon county is IN
the crystalline rock soil" belt, a
grade of soil that is very favorable
to the growth of clover But it is a
fact that clover will exhause from the
soil the qualities necessary for. its
growth.
ITO overcome this difficulty and keep
the clover fields at their maximum
production it is necessary to apply
lime. At a farm about six miles
south of Nekoosa very good demon
sJration of the value uf nme in soil
treatment was given. The country in
that locality had been producing good
llnVnr fnr, M
in the same field, one treated with
lime and the other not, showed d re-
markable difference. The acre to
which the lime was applied had a
much heavier and better growth, the
difference being great enough to be
noticeable from the road at dusk"
Mr.. Rogan told how, during the
past three years, he had procured 90
carloads of lime for the farmers in
Juneau county, experiments showing
up with success that its use was being
widely approved of.
Soil Analysis
In all cases of soil treatment and ex-
perimenting with crop development
Mr.. Rogan strongly recommends soil
analysis. BY this means it is possible
to learn the proper fertilizers neces-
sary to make the soil produce the de-
sired crops in the greatest possible
abundance and wasteful experiment
ing is eliminated
There are 5000 farms in Marathon
county. For the county agent to per-
sonally visit 500 farms is a good
years work, which will help most
people to realize the task before the
county agent. Mr.. Rogan expressed
desire for the earnest cooperation
OF everyone. Everybody is going to
be treated exactly alike" he said. 81
wish to be of the greatest amount of
help possible and feel that the value
OF the work | can do will be increased
by every bit of cooperation | can get. .