Milford chronicle., 1928-05-18
STARVING THE SOIL

While Congress talks of farm
relief and the White House of We
toes, the controversy over what is
to be done with Muscle Shoals as q
fertilizer-producer continues to rat
tie the rafters above the heads OF
discursive Senators.
Meanwhile the boys and girls on
the farm are organizing crop
growing champion clubs, and next
Fall the prize winners will flock
to Washington from every part OF
the country. They will tell about
big yields secured in raising cotton,
corn and cereals. The highest Of
ficials of the nation including the
President, will receive them. The
Secretary of Agriculture and other
officials will look after their enter
tainment in their own National Cap
ital. There will be paeans of praise,
questions and answers. They go
like this:
Remarkable production! Won
derful!"
How'd you do it?"
81 used fertilizers and cared for
the land, and"
In short, to be a prize-winning
youth and get a trip to Washington
means, in the first instance, that
the contestant must blacklist the
examples of the elder generation
who pursue the inexcusable luxury
of trying to substitute political re-
lief for practical farming.
Depletion of soil fertility in the
United States is increasing and
false measures of economy have
been particularly glaring since pot
ash supplies were shut off by the
war, and one of the consequences
has been that American agriculture
has been opened to the ravages of
cotton rust, corn rot, fruit rot, to-
bacco leaf spot and root rot, and
comparable diseases to which pota-
toes, alfalfa and other legumes fall
prey. This is described by agricul-
tural experts as being due in
large measure to potash hunger. If
this diagnosis is correct then we
have the answer to the outstanding
question of why there has been
depletion of fertility of 100,000,000
acres in the nation since 1913.
SEED INSURANCE
At a cost of about two or three
cents an acre seed corn may be in
sured. Department. of Agriculture
circular number 376 has valuable
information concerning the develop
ment of seed, plant and soil anti
septics, and mention is made in
this government publication of sem
esan which has produced a record
in government tests by increasing
production of sweet corn SO per
cent The tests made in the corn
belt were verified by taking the
same shipment of seed corn and
then treating a portion of it with |
the mercury compounds. The treat |
ed seeds and the untreated seeds |
were planted on adjoining acres,
with the remarkable result indicat- |
ed above.
An enterprising merchant on the
Boardwalk at Atlantic City is now
giving the pedestrian and wheel
chair millions an "eyeful" of fine
farming in his Wonder Window.
In order to show the advanced
growth of seeds treated with seme-
san, pots containing Seeding plants
of corn, pumpkin, cotton and Mexi-
can chick peas which have been so
treated are placed alongside of pots
similar plants which
have not been treated. Another
feature is the showing of scab dis
eased potatoes in contrast with dis
ease free potatoes and gladioli in
fected with hard rot as compared
with disease-free gladiOli.
What a wonderful thing it would
be to have displays like this in
windows throughout all
he agricultural centers of the 9
r
r
FROM HAT TO HEELS :
Ever since Hamlet propounded $
lis immortal soliloquy we lesser r
nortals have made mOmentous de- s
,isions to the tune of the famous +
phrase. ITO choose or not to I
hoose to go forth to meet the world v
nOdishly ensembled" is the 1928 h
-ersion of the well-known question. 8.
But why question such a sensi- T
lie idea! So saving of time and so !,
imple Just to descend upon ones h
avorite shop and emerge triumph Il
ntly perfectly cOstumed from hat h
0 heels, A beautiful idea, indeed, =
ut fraught with many pitfalls for !,
he unwary. n
For that perfectly harmonious =
nsemble so sartorially satisfying as :,
whole may prove a hydra-headed -
coat, hat-perhaps '.
hoes, gloves, purse and scarf rear Il
lg themselves in utter disharmOny
D shatter ones dreams when sep { Il
rated one from the other and made =
D do multiple duty. ~ ~
And so, having decided to be un- Il
ielding to the temptations of en- I
embles of tweed, kasha and gabar-
inc for wear after fur-coat days; .
aving been lion-hearted in face of a."
he still more alluring woOlens and
he fascinating new mixtures of y
ilk, wool and rayon, soft as cob l
yebs, which Dame Fashion next II
to manufacturers would h
0 the trick and cause the obstinate =
, fall, what happens! That obdur-
te lady has decreed the ensemble b
hall rule and she is not be be
ainsaid.
-
Wings Of Spring
Elude it-or resist it if you can! -