Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1921-07-06
WITH THE COUNTY AGENT
Hi Spots from the County Agriculfu-
raj Office
Lime and Toharcn

A
that IS now growing tobacco. The
dInerence IN size of the plants on the
uniimed soil as compared to the plants
where the line was thrown caused
Mr.. Hovde TO sit up and take notice.
Mr.. Hovde Of Stoddard said, Il had
about a hundred pounds of lime rock
left from white washing last fall: the
lime stood around in a barrel until this
spring when ! found tha4 it had be-
come airslacked. Having no use for
II IN this form | threw it out IN the
field on plot Of ground that rad been
growing tobacco for twnty-five years
paid no more attention to il until
about week ago when / noticed a
marked changeint1e color and growth
OF the plants This particular plot
OF ground now is growing tobacco
planas seven and eight inches taller
tnan the plants growing alongside of
them on ground which received no
limestone. This incident has convinc-
ed me that lime is the one soil con-
stituent that is needed on my farm.
After cultivating the field the Sec
ond time ! also noticed that the filth
Of the soil had become much improved
This ground was particularly mellow
and easy to work Moreover, IT con-
tanned an exceptional amount OF nlois-
ture. It is what would call a real
live soil.
! have also examined this plot of
ground since the last rain, and found
that this lined spot had not developed
hard surface crust like the rest of
the field had. This too, helped to
keep the moisture during the past
week because it never did break or
crack open.
All this evidence has made me want
to lime my entire farm However,
| do not expect to use burnt lime but
am gonig to buy crushed limestone
This ! know does not act in the soil as
rapidly as raw lime but if added in
sufficient quantity ought to produce
the same result. ! am now planning
to have all the various fields on my
farm tested for soil acidity. ] am
going to have the County Agent come
out to my farm and take these soil
samples and test them and recommend
70 me what quantity of limestone to
use on the soil. figure that with
the cost of lime at $3.50 to $3.50 per
ton, | will be able to lime my farm
and pay for this lime by the increase
in production Of tobacco on my farm
in one year.
Ny farm is just like all the other
farms around me and ! believe they
too, are acid. Some of my neighbor-
ing farmers have grown tobacco for
more than twenty-five years and con
sequently are much depleted of this
valuable plant food. OF all the def
ferent plants / raise on my farm
believe that tobacco is the biggest
user of lime. / do know that alfalfa
too uses much lime but so far as /
am concerned / want to prepare my
farm te at least grow good clover and
tobacco"
City Milk Supply
With the increasing demand for
milk and milk products and the new
legislation on milk substitutes there
comes question of what we who are
supplying milk for city can do to i'm
prove the quality of the product we
sell and incidentally increase the use
of the product. We are fully aware
of the value of pound of butter, a
pound of cheese and quart of milk,
but we sometimes hesitate to utilize
these products because Of our lack of
knowledge fthe condition under
which they are prepared for our use.
Mr.. Rhinehart of LaFarge says "Our
| legislature has done much to protect
the industry of Wisconsin by eliminat-
| ing the manufacture and sale of filled
milk in competition with the milk of
the Wisconsin dairy COW. Our federal
government further aims to assist US
dairymen to our business. of butter
production by system so calied't tax
ing oleomargarine and butter substi-
49,. e frhn
ton has come to me "What can we do
to assist ourselves in this business of
,dairying?n At no time during the
history .cf the filled milk business or
substitute butter business have we
heard complaints by these industries
asking dairymen to curtail production
because of an oversupply of their sub
stitute product. When their price of
products decline they put on additional
advertising campaigns. Where they
invested 500 for advertising formerly
they now have invested $500. They
have done this to keep up their sales
accordingly as the price of commodi-
ties generally decline. We, as dairy
men, can PROTECT by this example. The
advertising feature fthis business is
sufficient to demand our keenest at
tention in selling our product, that of
the dairy COW.
I have often questioned how much
money is being spent by the producers
of dairy products to accomplish the
sale of their product to obtain the best
market price. If we have spent any
money at all in advertising, let US
now double that amount, in that We
mightaccomplish our purpose and put
out business on a competing basis
with other business enterprises. Let
US decline in our request for legisla-
ton to further protect our business
until we ourselves have done all in
our power to protect it through BUSH
ness principles and policies met by
competition fthe supply and demand
for dairy product.
OF the many farmers in our county
who are using butter substitutes rath-
err than butter and drinking water
rather than milk let US ask the ques-
ton "Why do you not support the
business which you yourself are trying
to develop and which you are depend
ing upon for a living. We might
limit this question by asking our city
friends why they are not using butter
and milk rather than milk and butter
substitutes. In my estimation the an
swer to these questions would be quite
consistent with the practices and pol
lev in the use of food products used