The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1937-02-18
Farmers Institute at
Eureka Great Success

The second annual Farmers Institute
sponsored by the Eureka Chamber OF
/ Commerce went into session at the high
school on Monday morning. At that
time Ralph Mercer of the Government
Agricultural Conservation Program
spoke to the men on his subject, ex-
planning the effect this will have upon
the farmer The high school students
also heard Mr.. Mercer speak In the
afternoon questions on the conservation
program were answered by Mr.. Mercer.
Monday afternoon was very full. The
first speaker was E. E. Isaac of the Ex-
tension Division of Montana State COL
lege. Mr.. Isaac spoke last year to the
farmers and this year he chose as his
subject one very interesting to farmers
of this part of the state, Potatoes A
very thorough discussion was given in
Guiding choosing of seed which should
j be of major Importance and should be
about medium in size SO as to produce
as many potatoes of eight to 10 ounce
size as possible since this is the most
desirable size for sale Testing of seed
and its value was discussed and the
value of certified seed emphasized so
as to receive the proper yield for the
amount of land and work entalled.
Harvesting of potatoes was also en-
phasized and the need of handling
carefully so as not to bruise and thus
start storage rot Sixty degrees is the
proper temperature for storage the first
six weeks to insure the healing of any
bruises which were unavoidable. There
after a temperature of 40 to As degrees
/ should be maintained Ventilation is
of major Importance and this should be
controlled ventilation. MIR. Isaac rec
commended that all seed potatoes should
be stored III Slated boxes so as to
insure a circulation of air among the
potatoes
Neil Parker was then introduced as
the Crested Wheat King of Flathead
and received an enthusiastic welcome
since Mr.. Parker has spoken to the
people of this community before and
has succeeded in creating much inter-
est in the crested wheat hereabouts.
This grass originally came from the
steppes Of Asia and is friendly to a
cold dry climate Prof Hansen of the
South Dakota Experimental Farm first
raised it about Is years ago. Mr.. Par
ker began raising it in 1922. Il yields
about two tons to the acre and is III
great demand for seed purposes. Some
Of the farmers about this community
j are planning on starting this grass T.
Z. Sabin already has, patch started on
his ranch north of town.
During the crested wheat discussion
the ladies were called into another room
where they had the pleasure and profit
of hearing Miss Stone, lady taking
Miss Harrer's place from Flathead, lead
a splendid discussion on the Purchase
Of Food. Miss Stone gave out mimeo-
graphed copies of various phases OF the
subject SO that the ladies were able to
take home what they were unable to
absorb there. Some interesting points
were the waste involved in: the pur-
chase of cake flour by the package in
stead of by the sack. the same with oat-
meal. in buying large instead OF the
small juicy oranges for orange juice,
the buying of small prunes which have
larger seeds accordingly, the buying of
cooked or partially cooked cereals in
stead of the uncooked, and in the buy
/ ing of expensive cuts of meat. Did
you know that one-fourth grapefruit
equals "a Of glass Of orange juice and
equals LIZ cups of tomato juice in vita
mine c content? She placed much
emphasis on reading of labels on the
cans to know the content and the
weight Some glass containers as well
as cans are built to deceive in size
Some packages of soap chips are twice
the weight of other brands of the same
size. A table of minimum essentials
of food was given out. Miss Stone
urged that these be bought first, then
add the trimmings. Some of these es-
sentials per day for an adult are: |
pint milk, some fruit, some whole grain
cereal; and weekly: liz to 2 pounds
meat, IL pound butter, tomatoes to
times, and each child 4 eggs in addition
to pound of meat or fish.
| On Tuesday morning E. E. Isaac gave
a valuable talk on commercial fertil-
izers He discussed various demonstra-
tons which had been conducted on
farms in the use of phosphate in raising
potatoes resulting in an earlier ma
turity and handling storage qualities,
also better netting on Melted Gems
and more blocky and smoI Their tuber.
Phosphate has been found to improve
tomatoes BY an earlier fruit and re-
ducing the tendency to crack About
one ounce of phosphate is mixed into
the soil around the transplanted plant
to a depth of two inches With the
potatoes the best results are obtained
by using 100 pounds per acre Of the
treble superphosphate or ammoniated.
] In the afternoon the main speakers
were Miss Fl. E. Cushman of Bozeman,
r. G. Newell, county agent Of Flat
head, and Ralph Mercer of Bozeman.
Miss Cushman gave very interesting
and instructive talk on the raising Of
poultry She discussed the value of the
co-operatives, breeds best suited to this
locality, construction of houses, care,
and she laid much emphasis on the
purchase Of chicks. Miss Cushman be-
gan by selecting various ads in poul-
try magazine and showed how to select
| the companies which really offered
| good chicks bv the concreteness of their