The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-10-02
The Farm and the Farmer
BY William r. sanborn

prints an interesting article under the
caption THE Vanishing Wether".
winch we reprint, showing as it does
the changing conditions affecting our
mutton trade. The effect of the
change also has its bearing on the pro
auction of American wool, though in
smaller degree than on our export
trade in mutton and in live sheep.
Says the writer:
"A Chicago commission house was
advised last week of a consignment
of II carloads of aged wethers from
Miles City, Mont. A full carload of
wethers has been a novelty at the mar
ket all through the season, and, in ap-
prehension of a glut, the commission
man sought an outlet Killers assured
him that it would be possible to absorb
carload daily, but advised him to
order them in from the feedlot slowly.
This was on a market that less
than 20 years ago absorbed $4,000
Montana wethers weekly without "in-
digestion" The aged wether is a
vanishing specimen of the sheep spe-
c1es, recalling the period in the early
COS when the Montana product was
fed by the hundred thousand round
St Paul, Mimi, every season. They
went to Chicago by the trainload,
weighing $50 to $50 pounds, exporters
taking the bulk, and the heavier they
were the better they liked them. At
present, killers want sheep weighing
ITO to 120 pounds, and balk when they
ale heavier
In the period of sheep plentitude
S375 per cwt. was a common price in
| Chicago, and it represented a feed
bill, as grassers were not adapted to
export trade Doud & Keefer, Rae
Bros, and John Long-names now al
most forgotten in trade circles-were
the exporters of that period. Even at
the prices then current, they frequent
ly lost heavily on the turnover in
Liverpool
Never again will this country pro-
duce heavy wethers. The little nut
ton sellers need can be secured from
moderate but nevertheless abundant
supply of fat ewes. American consum-
ers are not partial to mutton"
Fertilizes His Fruit
/ I have found spraying and fertiliza-
ton to be the most important factors
in fruit growing" says Robert Ander-
son, a successful orchardist of Covert.
Mich. Without spraying, you might
as we'll give up, for no other practices
will make up for spraying. After
spraying comes fertilizers You must
feed the trees if you want big crops
A lot Of orchards don't pay because
= they are half starved"
How about Pruning?" was a cues.
ton put to Mr.. Anderson. Isn't that
one of the most important factors ~
Il don't want to minimize pruning,
was the answer, but | feel that it is
often overdone in the effort to make
up for the commission in other prac.
i tees. The success of pruning Is not
measured by the amount of wood you
remove, but the amount you properly
leave. l can illustrate this by the
fraction, six over two, in which six
represents the trees and branches
and two the productive power of the
soil. It's no use to have more wood
l than the soil will support to produce
good fruit, so you take four away from
/ six by pruning, and you have the frac
: ton two over two. But another wa
} is to add four to the two below by fer
! tiliZing, and you have six over six
: more fruit because you have the woot
: and the plantfood to make the fruit
That's the system I practise"
: Mr.. Anderson has a Is acre peac1
l orchard on which he has applied 81;
pounds of ammonium sulfate and 40t
/. pounds of acid Phosphate or bone mea
S per acre for the last three years. Ais,
] in 1921 he applied in addition so
pounds of 1910 fertilizer per acre IL
per cent phosphoric acid and 10 pc
+ cent potash). Rye is seeded eacl
: fall and plowed under in the spring
e by which system the organic matte
Z in the soil is increased.
Y McAdoo Joins Bureau.
: William G. McAdoo, former secre
n tary OF the treasury and railroad ad
d ministrator, is now a member of tn
/ farm bureau, having joined last weel
r at Elko, New. Mr.. McAdoo announced
r himself as thoroughly in sympath.
& with the purposes of the organization
Q when he paid his five dollars men
bership fee.