The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-05-25
What The Farmers Are Doing
Chapter Nv.

Ter Nv.
tried milking machines, but does not
find them satisfactory.
Chancey Merkley is raising five
acres of potatoes, Ave acres of hay,
has about dozen cows and supplies
milk and cream to Frenchy's Cafe at
Blackfoot.
Marian Merkley has built a new
house on the Roemish place. He is
! raising five acres of potatoes, no
beets, fifteen acres of wheat and
some hay. He does his pumping
with q gasoline engine.
Some School Farming
John Briggs has three and half
acres Of beets, six acres Of potatoes,
six acres Of wheat, twenty of hay,
half an acre of mangels, a quarter
of an acre Of Gold Bantam sweet
corn and an acre of the Mammoth
sweet corn. He has six ewes, ten
lambs and they keep the weeds
cleaned up about the place. He says
they are about the most profitable
thing he has on the farm. The boys
are raising about half an acre of
onions and half an acre of beans, in
Guiding two varieties, the navy and
the pinto bean.
A. J. Henschied is raising ten
acres Of potatoes, four and half
acres of wheat, ten acres of hay and
fifteen acres of grain. He is renting
the T. J. Ragan place.
A Thoughtful Farmer
Ivan Tanner has sixty-nine acres
in his farm and is raising ten acres
of potatoes, six acres of beets, eleven
acres of wheat, and about twenty
acres Of hay. He has some in orchard
and pasture. Mr.. Tanner dips his
seed potatoes and where he cuts
into a potato that shows disease, he
cleans the knife before cutting an
other potato with it.
Mr.. Tanner was using a two way
John Deere pillow that he had in use
for ten years and says that it is al
most as good as new. He says that
by using two way pillow carefully
he can keep grading his land SO that
it is in better condition every year.
By having that kind of pillow and a
Fresno riding scraper it makes the
grading of the farm very easy COM
pared with the old method.
About Feeding Cattle
Mr.. Tanner fed 40 steers asst
winter, furnished by Albert Zwigert
of Pocatello. The conditions on
which they were fed were that Mr..
Tanner got a cent and half a
pound for feeding the stock plus 5 "
cents pound for what they gained
while in his possession. This is
called feeding ION the spread" To
make it palmer, if a steer weighs
1000 pounds when received by the
feeder and did not gain anything
during the period of feeding and was
turned back at the weight of 1000
pounds, the man doing the feeding
at IN cents pound spread"
would receive SIS for wintering the
steer. If the steer weighed 100
pounds when turned back to the
owner, having gained 100 pounds,
then the feeder would receive an adj
ditional $3.50 for the gain, making
$20.50 for wintering the steer and
for what growth he had made. An
other way of stating it is that the
feeder receives the herd or the ami
mails at 4 cents pound and gets
511 cents pound when he turns
them back to the owner. In the
winter of 1920 and 1921 he fed
some steers for Mr.. Zwigert and re-
ceived 2 cents a pound instead Of
III cents pound as last winter.
Mr.. Tanner says that cent and
half a pound was too close a margin
under the conditions existing last
winter. He made very little money
but had enough fertilizer to paint
his whole farm yellow.
Case Of Watered Stock
Mr.. Tanner says he had two
punches Of steers delivered at two
different times and on one bunch he
did better than the other. He said
he believed that one bunch of cattle
had been filled up with water before
weighing them to him and It took a
long time feeding them to overcome
that weight Of water. Mr.. Tanner is
of member of the Federal Farm
Loan association of Blackfoot, a
member Of the board of directors
and a member Of the board Of in
spectors. w. G. Sollenberger is
president and Mr.. Gregg is secre-
tary. They organized several years
ago, but their operations were held
up pending court decision on the
law itself and it is only recently that
they have been free to go ahead with
their loans. They have inspected
many farms in the last few months
and have approved applications for
loans to the amount of $280,O00.
Information for You
Alfred Buttcane is raising seven
acres of potatoes, ten acres Of wheat,
and some hay and grain. He dips
all of his seed potatoes before plant
ing. About the first of May Mr..
Buttcane got the idea that potatoes
were higher than they we're going to
be later on so he sold all of his po-I
tatoes and in couple Of weeks
bought what seed he wanted at half
the price he had sold his crop. Mr..