The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-13

| informstio printed by the United maile' free to. anyone applying for
 Just now when tons of vegetables are going to waste the methods of con servation especially worthy of consider ation are those based on preservation l by fermentation and salting or brining. There is nothing difficult about the proc ess, but it is necessary to do the job right and not depend always on some one telling you and perhaps leave out some trifling detail that is all important for success. Write to the department of agriculture, Washington, D. C., and follow the plain printed instructions that will be mailed you in bulletin form. You will be surprised how simple and easy it is to preserve such favorite vegetables as. cabbage, snapbeans, tur- nip and beat tops, encounters, green tomatoes, peas, corn, etc. The pleas antry. of the old countries save every thing, otherwise many of them would starve to death.
 "t The Value Of Pastures
 The writer has preached about, the great value of permanent pastures for more than a quarter of a century, but never realized their true valune until confronted with conditions that have obtained in the south the past winter, and now forcibly impressed anew in certain sections, especially in Missis- | sippi and Alabama, where conditions are hot and dry and stock already suf- .fering for something to eat. Owing to severe and unusually cold weather con ditiOns the past winter that held on un- til late spring, thousands of stock liter l ally perished or starved to death for lack of vegetation. Right now in some sections of the coast states the range cattle are suffering because excessive heat and dry weather are parching up the wild grasses, many of which cannot recover even though rans do come. 1 There is a remedy, well known to every southern farmer, in Bermuda grass and lespedeza.. Those farmers i who are so fortunate as to have their pastures of Bermuda grass or lespedeza, either alone or in combination, need not worry about weather conditions so far as their lWe stock is concerned. Corn especially, and most all other feedstuff is high and there is little prospect of cheap prices in the future. There is yet time to plant corn and other forage producing plants and it better be done. It is time also for one.to be thinking of making permanent pasture, as the fall months, the proper time to SOW many grasses, will soon arrive.
 | NJ. Fertilizer Waste
 Shere waste is one of the outstanding characteristics of the human, race. One of the biggest items is plant food, an item that would probably be overlooked by even an experienced compiler of sta tistics The general farming and truck | ing industry is responsible for a vast waste that no one has ever attempted to estimate. Some people have the curious idea that fertilizers are in no sense an I expense, assuming that the permanent ] benefit to the soil through the applica- l tiOn of any plant food is simply an add ed investment It is true that fertilizers should not Le an expense and should not be, so considered, providing .alwyas that the resulting crop made possible through their use will yield a fair divi- dend on the investment in the way of increased yield. This theory does not always work out in actu: practice be- cause much depends on such results as are governed by weather conditions, disease and insects, yield and most im- portant, the money or it's equivalent realized from the resulting crop. This season thousands of acres of miscel- laneous truck crops were abandoned for the simple and good reason that the net sale price, where the goods could be sold at all, would not pay the ex- pense of gathering and preparing for market, to say nothing of transportation charges. These wasted crops were fed with expensive fertilizers, quickly ex- lpneded and where na staple crops fol lowed, the loss was almOs tcomplete. c. Many of my valuable zinnias and daisies are going to seed and I would like to save some seed in order to have the same stock another year. When should the seed, pods be pulled Mfrs. C., Troy, Ala.
 A. The pods should be brown, ma tured and dry before removing for seed. Leave the seed in pods until winter be- fore cleaning out. The crop, another year, will doubtless be satisfactory and equal to this year although selection is generally practiced to maintain a high standard,
 Q. My. cannas this year are glorious and wrote to ask if I may remove the old bloom and other unsightly debris without injury to the growing plant ?- Mrs. H. G., Carrollton, Ala.
 A. The removal of all dead flowers and other rubbish won't hurt but will really help the plants and prolong their, blooming period.
 Q. My cucumber vines have borne abundantly and are still setting fruit although somewhat rusty. Can these old vines be depended upon to produce a fall crop of small fruit for pickling purposes or will new planting have time to mature Mrs. F., Decatur, Ala.
 A. don't believe your old vines will hold out to produce another or late crop of small fruit suitable for pickling. Better plant few hills for this pur- pose. There is yet plenty of time to do so.
 Q. have farm in Mississippi on Which would you consider the most de- crop of some legume as a cover crop and am undecided as to whether to use soy beans, velvet beans or cOwpeas. which would you consider the most de- sirable TX. A.
 A. This late in the season, I would prefer the cOwpeas although either of the others would do. The question of availability of seed and the expense of seeding would be a considerable factor in influencing a decision.
 Q. Since the hot dry weather has ar rived, many of my plants and vines are turning yellow, red or brown like fall of the year, although we are not suffer ing especially with dry weather. Could it be some insect that is causing the trouble Mrs. G. T.. Mobile. Ala.
 A. This condition is common to plants that need cultivation. It could be due and most likely, to red spider, l an insect nrohahlu soran nnhia n,,oh ns