The bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 191?-19??, August 15, 1913, Image 6

The bulletin., August 15, 1913, Image 6

About The bulletin. (Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Ga.) 191?-19?? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 1913)

Page of 8

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (3.6 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 8

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextIMPROVING ^eCORJv , >Sa »1 ecrop^ t -teMWa P~ * - •-•'•. -* z'* ^»rKSkKC ... » An^ «2nßn£2M^^^'^^^m»^S<^^w@»vK%£Y'4K£3nMc3ra&iy*x^VZ , warwr silfelßllil! O«afc^^ ztmw ^wmgfgy .;, jjmiWfMM Wjl I 4 ^wjMgaOWwM w t i lurniM. iin^ ■ '■■■■■■"■i l 9 Oj^aul:! SE»y ; k <i | + ♦ /jßjgj^jpaM f j'Wr 1r Owlll|li§»^ ; .*ll 'z • i»se«Bf^*WO^ I 11 t- H I MikOp - ft U WBjilli^^ x ■ W.OI hf xJF 1 . = ■ ,: 'l^ L /AltW' I ^wsggjii!^ r IWW®^-' 1 ... 3 .... V .. .. COJ^TT By HORACE MARKLEY. 4 7 IT is surely an amazing fact that the | corn crop of the states should av- ■ erage year after year only about 30 । bushels to the acre. The acreage planted is increased by millions from ■year to year. Vast areas of virgin , territory are constantly being brought . under cultivation. It is a matter of Tecord that many farmers raise 100, 200, some as high as 300 bushels to I the acre, yet the average for the en tire crop is never increased. Is it likely that there is anything ■ ■wrong with the government figures? I do not think so. There is as much care given as is possible to insure ac curacy, and I daresay that many farmers, even ifythey raise more than 30 bushels to the acre, will feel satis lied that the figures are correct from ! his knowledge of what the average J yield is in his district. The farms are tilled by a pretty good type of farmer, on the whole, hard working, and fairly intelligent. The best that we have been able to produce of the true American, and for the most part the best of the sturdy sons of the soil from many foreign lands. We have a national depart ment of agriculture that has" been the envy and the copy of the world, which is in a sense, a farmer’s university, .and the sole aim and purpose of which has been and is, to make bet ter farmers. For a generation or more, it has striven by study, experi ment and printer’s ink lavishly dis seminated, to educate the farmer and bring him to a higher level as an effi cient tiller of the soil. Through the work of its many professors it has presumably told the farmer much about seeds, and soils, and methods of cultivation, and of protection from insect pests, an infinite variety of de tails about the vital facts concerning bis business, yet the result remains the same, so far as corn is concerned, year after year—thirty bushels to the acre. In almost every state in the Union there is now, and has long been, an agricultural experiment station, work ing in co-operation with the federal de partment of agriculture and hand and band with the farmers of the state to -educate him. The stations are equipped with professors, and ex perts, many of them of the highest ; authority in the land, vast tracts are under experimental cultivation, they bave been planning, working, testing soils and seeds, and fertilizers, to aid the farmer in the exercise of economy and the growing of better crops. The . net results of their labors they are -constantly disseminating by means of lectures, and correspondence, and bulletins, free, for all who would avail of such —yet the net result after all these years is an average of 30 bush «ls to the acre for corn The agriculturale colleges have .gone even further than this. They bave in many instances not been con tent to work and lecture and print the results of their labors for the benefit of progressive farmers, they bave been militant in their work, bave instituted campaigns of educa- i tion by sending out some of the pro fessors on special trains, right in the ; heart of farming districts, and giving the farmer heart-to-heart talks, and object lessons in better farming methods; telling him about soils, methods of cultivation, seed selec tion, Inviting them freely to ask -questions, to the end that he may be come a more enthusiastic worker and ■.raise better crops. Although this has been going on for years and beyond -question many have profited by it, yet the average yield for corn the past year wan just the same—SO bushels. I Is it possible that the present type । of farmer has reached the limit of his capacity to improve? It may be so. At any rate, besides all this there ■ is an agricultural press, of vast pro portions throughout the states, work . ing to educate the farmers and keep i him posted on everything that may be of help to him in his business. I Many farmers take several such pub i iications. Then again, the tools that I are available to the farmer for his ; work are far superior to what they have been in the past, and are im proved every year. Is it possible that the farmer is not as a class taking ad vantage of the best tools for his work? What is the first thing to be done i in the growing of better corn crops? I I think, in seed selection. There is nothing startling or original in this, I admit; Xt is the doctrine that has long been preached, but I would sim ply add my testimony from the re sults of my experiments with the hope that it may lead others to try along the same lines. There is noth ing difficult about it, there is certain ly nothing costly; it amounts to sim ply a little more thorough and intelli gent Heart interest in one’s labor. To secure a corn that will yield ten fold what he has been accustomed to getting the farmer must breed for results. He has got to improve the corn in the same way that he would raise the standard of his stock or his flocks. And once he has secured a type of corn that shows increased productiveness, he must try to. keep it pure, avoid inbreeding and main tain its stamina, with the same watchfulness and care that all breed ing demands. It does not require a scientific edu cation to grow more and better corn, or better crops of any kind. It does require brains. One of the first things to be done is to get out of the slip-shod ways of working. Corn; es pecially, is one of the most abused crops of the farm. Because it will grow and give some returns with a lot of neglect—lt gets it. In no one respect Is the average farmer more careless than in his choice of seed, and this may be said to be the prime essential. The farm ; er is plowing, manuring, performing all the operations from planting time to harvest, year after year, and with i some of these he takes considerable I pride; for instance, I know farmers who are perfect plowmen; they knew I it and are proud of their skill, but these same farmers are hide-bound in an old custom of throwing their corn in their crib just as it is husked, asd when they want seed in the spring time, they go to the crib and pick out sufficient likely ears from what are left to meet their needs, and let it go at that. It is an enigma how a man can be so skilled as a workman in many re spects, and yet absolutely inert to one of the most vital phases of secur ing perfection in that work. It needs no argument for it has been demon j strated over and over again that the ' breeding of plants can be followed i with as much certainty as to results, as the breeding of animals. Then why not do it? The only added equip ment which nine out of ten require is the exercise of more intelligent care and precision in some of the details. It seems strange, but it is never theless a fact, that most farmers are aware of what may be done in plant breeding, and know the general prim ciples, but they will not wake up to a practice of them in their own in terests. If we are to Increase the corn yield we have got to get it in the breed. THE BULLETIN, IRWINTON, GEORGIA. - -Z'< It is not in the soil, or the fertilizer, or the weather, nor in any other fac tor, important though each may be. The first essential Is to breed up corn for points with the same care given to animals or fowls. Type, quality, stamina, productiveness, etc., must be known, must be sought for and improved with each season. It is not enough to pick out perfect ears or such as may be attractive at harv est time. It is necessary that one shall know the plant that produced the ear, and all the conditions of its growth and environment. There are many mysteries to be solved in this question of seed selec tion with the view to breeding up a more productive type of corn. My own experiments in this direction will indicate some of the difficulties to be met with. In husking the corn in the fall of 1908 I came across just one stalk containing two ears. It was the first I had ever met with, though upon Inquiry I find that farm ers do frequently come across such two-eared stalks, though they never pay any attention to them, but throw them in the crib with the others. It occurred to me, however, that it would be well to plant from those two ears and endeavor to raise a two eared type. One ear was of good size and the other about two-thirds as big. Weighing them the large one weighed 14 ounces and the small 9% ounces. The large ear was an average ear such as every stalk carried. Thus this particular plant gave 9% ounces more than any other plant. This gain would mean almost a ton more to the acre if the corn could be bred to yield two ears. It would mean even more if the two ears could be made to attain a good size Instead of one be ing large and one small as in this case. The corn was of a variety called yellow-flint, obtained originally of a near-by farmer. From these two ears I selected 630 kernels, discarding the butts and tips. The field in which this was planted was fall plowed and dressed during the winter with a liberal application of a high quality of stable manure, as I keep such in a cement-bottomed pit. The two-eared seed was planted at one end of the main corn field. It should, of course, have had a separate plot, and it may be that the tendency to revert to one ear was due in part to its contiguity to the ordinary corn. The 630 kernels made 210 hills. Fourteen failed to come up, probably being eaten by worms or mice. The germination showed very strong vital ity. However, of the 616 stalks, all from the two-eared seed, only 136 stalks produced a double ear. About one-fifth. Another interesting point, showing clearly the tendency to reversion to remote ancestors, is found In the fact that while the two-seed ears were of 12 rows about 75 per cent, of the yield was of one eight-rowed cobs. Although this variety of flint corn will show frequent ears of 12 and 14 rows, it may be considered properly an eight-rowed type of corn. Thus we see that after throwing the sport of a two-eared stalk, there is not l Jr IWvJ gfa gz K\ v .SSSpK^jsr is K f.^^y X^ < i^is GOO^S^^ OTTZACSI ^>TALK ARD ‘mRR^ RAAJ^D IR^JLOi HLM sufficient stamina in all the seeds to reproduce like the parent. The corn reverted not only to the one-eared but to the eight-rowed type. This is one of the mysteries that will have to be solved, no doubt be fore a highly-productive two-eared type of corn can be raised with the qualities of the parent so fixed that it can be relied upon to maintain a big average yield. It may be due to ■ a weakness of inbreeding. Some of the ears weighed over a pound each, making over two pounds to the stalk. If this could be aver aged for an entire corn field it would yield over ten tons to the acre. Such may seem an exaggeration or an impossibility, but it so only in comparison with what we have been accustomed to. Even if by judicious selection of two-eared seed each year still the type could not be fixed so as to produce even yields of the maximum amount, yet if it gave an increase of 20 per cent, as it did in my experiment, the return would be a big one for what is involved. It does not imply added cost, in the pro duction, but only a greater care and interest in one’s work. Another thing to be kept in mind in breeding up a type of corn for high er productiveness Is that the number of kernels to the ear and their size has an important bearing on the yield of grain. A corn expert once figured out that if the productiveness of corn could be Increased by only one kernel to each ear, on the entire crop it would mean a gain of 50 tons of grain! Even though the figures be not abso lute there is no gainsaying that the Increase of yield would be a very big amount in the aggregate. The jjoint is made very clearly in the accom -1 panying photographs which show eight, ten and twelve-rowed ears of corn. Each ear was exactly the same in weight, being 11 ounces each. The eight-rowed ear gave seven ounces of grain, and had a cob weighing four ounces, the ten-rowed car weighed up eight ounces of grain and had a , three ounce cob. The twelve-rowed i ear gave 8% ounces of grain. A dif । ference of an ounce and a half to the ear of actual grain is an appreciable gain worth striving for. But that does not mean that such is the limit of the gain to be obtained. It would be quite within reason to obtain ten- I fold that increase. The chief requisite to substantial . progress In the growing of a more productive corn must be the skill and i judgment of the worker. The first • essential is no doubt seed selection, but this does not merely mean the , picking out of the best looking ears ■ either at harvest time or in the husk ! ing. It Is necessary that the grower • shall watch the corn from the first I start of the seed and through the I growing. Vigor, productiveness and early ripening should be noted, not merely ; in the mind, but In a book, and the > stalks should be marked so that they : ’ can be identified at any time. My ’ I method is to snip out little bits of U tin; punch a hole through them at . one side and put a bit of thin wUe i through and twist this loosely about 1 the stalk when marking it. On the ' tin I scratch a number with a sharp j awl. There is not likely to occur t any accident that can destroy this ; ’ tag or erase the figures. TO BRING SETTLERS SOUTH Southern Railway to Make Splendid Exhibits of South at Northern Fairs. Washington, D. C. —Splendid exhib its of Southern farm products, show ing the alluring agricultural opportun ities awaiting industrious settlers in the territory along their lines, will be made by the Southern railway and af filiated companies (including the Mo bile and Ohio, the Georgia, Southern and Florida, the Alabama Great Southern, the Cincinnati, New Or leans and Texas Pacific and the Vir ginia and Southwestern) at three great expositions and thirty-five dis trict and county fairs in the North and Middle West during the late sum mer and fall. This is the most exten sive campaign of this character ever undertaken for attracting settlers to the Southern states and will place their advantages in the most striking way before thousands of sturdy farm ers of just the type that is desired in the South. Special exhibits will be made at the Canadian National Exhibition at Toronto, August 23 to September 8, the attendance of which touches the million mark, the famous dairy show at Waterloo, lowa, in November, and the International Live Stock Exposi tion in Chicago during November and December. Exhibits at district and county fairs in New York, Connect icut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, In diana, Illinois, Wisconsin, lowa and Minnesota, have been arranged in four circuits, running from August 5 to late in October. The work of preparing these exhib its has been under way since the close of the fair season in 1912. Since the beginning of the new crop season, agents have been at work with the result that from every state on the lines of the Southern system, there have come most representative col lections of agricultural products, in cluding grains, grasses, vegetables and fruit. Large photographs show ing farm and other views in the South will also be used. The exhibits will be in charge of agents who are thor oughly familiar with conditions in the South and who will be on hand con stantly to give information desired about any locality. Special leaflets and booklets have been prepared and sev eral hundred thousand will be placed in the hands of prospective settlers. These exhibits are being made en tirely at the expense of the Southern railway and affiliated lines. The ter ritory served by them and the whole Southeast will be given wide adver tising which should be productive of much good for the section. In adidtion to this series of exhibits at Northern fairs and expositions, the Southern railway and affiliated lines will make educational exhibits at a large number of fairs throughout the South, detailed announcement 'of which will be made later. Malaria. Malaria has been recognized since the days of Hippocrates as one of the most formidable and destructive of maladies, the more formidable be cause it was supposed, in accordance with the name which Macculloch adopted for it from the Italian less than a century ago, to be caused by a pervasive venom in the air. But since the epochal observations of Lav eran, the labors of Golgi and his col leagues and the experiments and dis coveries of Ross, it has lost much of its mysterious terror, and the sure way to its prevention and extirpation has been revealed. A Vertical Fall. A little Boston girl, about four or five years old, was enjoying a slide upon the stones. A lady picked her five years old, was enjoying a slide upon the stones. A lady picked her up, and asked, kindly: “You poor little mite, how did you fall?” The tiny child looked up into her kind friend’s face, and with the tears streaming down her cheeks, sobbed: “Vertically, ma’am.” A Better Guarantee. Some salesmen are equal to almost auy emergency and do not spare the “other car” when occasion requires. “But the blank car is guaranteed for life,” protested a prospective pur chaser to a salesman of the sort. “Yes, I know it is,” retorted the quick-witted salesman, “but our car is guaranteed for a whole year.” It required several moments for the prospective purchas er to see the point. The First “Deadheads.” Very few are aware that the origin of the word “deadhead” takes us back to the theaters of Ancient Rome. R. H. Broadhead, in “A History of Panto mime,” gives the following realistic explanation. He says: “Persons were instructed to give applause with skill. The proficient hired themselves out to the peets, authors, etc., and were so disposed as to support a loud ap plause. . . . The free admission tickets were small ivory death’s heads, and specimens of these are to be seen in the Museum of Naples.” Ancient City Under the Sea. The Greek ministry of marine states that Lieutenant Bakopulos, while car rying out the observations entailed by the naval duties assigned to him, hap pened to notice on the sea bottom to the east of the island of Lemnos, on the reefs marked on the British admi ralty charts under the name of the Pharos bank, at a depth of from five to twenty-five meters, some ancient ruins which w’ere perfectly visible and prove the existence of a town about three miles in circumference. Delicacies I Dried Beef, diced wafer thin. Hickory Smoked 9 and with a choice flavor that you will remember. I Vienna Sausage—just right for Red Hots, or to serve cold.. Try them served like this: Cut rye bread in thin dices, spread with areamed butter and remove crusts. Cut a Libbv’sVienna Sausagein half, lengthwise, lay on bread. Place on top of the sausage a few thia slices of Libby's Midget Pickles. Cover with other slice of bread, press lightly together. Ar range on plate, serve garnished with parsley sprays. Libby, McNeill & Libby, Chicago I^. KODAKS “Th© Best Finishing and En larging That Can Be Produced’* I Eastman Films and complete stockamatenisupplies. Quick mail service for out-of-town customers. Send for Catalog: and Price List 4. K. HAWifES CO , Kodak Dept. 14 Whitehall St., Atlanta, Ga. A woman is unpopular with her neighbors if she never does anything that they can gossip about. Cheap Talk. “That Mrs. Naybor dropped in this afternoon and got off a lot of cheap talk.” “Cheap talk?” “Yes, she used our telephone for a full half hour.” The Best Hot Weather Tonic GROVE’S TASTELESS chill TONIC enriches the blood and bMlds up the whole system, and it will wonderfully strengthen and for tify you to withstand the depressing effect of the hot summer. 50c. Insufferable. “So you broke your engagement with him?” “Yes." “What for?” "He’s a conceited thing. I sim ply couldn’t stand him.” “1 never heard him brag. What makes you think him conceited?” “All the time we were engaged he never once told me that he was un worthy of my love.” Os Course, the Compositor. An Englishman who had been for a tour round the world was much an noyed with a report of his return which appeared in a local paper. This report ended: “His numerous friends are surprised that he is unhanged!” He did not know that the offender was the compositor, who, in setting up the report had omitted a letter “c,” thus substituting the word “un hanged” for “unchanged,” which tha reporter had written. Summer Clothes. Mildred Lawson, a pretty American dancing girl, made her debut in Lon don last month, and the English crit ics, while admiring her dances, com plained a good deal about the scanti ness of her costumes. Miss Lawson sent some of these English criticisms to a New York agent the other day, and in a letter accompanying them she said: “You’ll notice that they kick a lot about my dresses. But what’s the use, say I —what’s the use of ma king such a fuss about nothing, or al most nothing?” Constipation Vanishes Forever Prompt Relief— Permanent Cure CARTER’S LITTLE LIVER PILLS never fail. Purely vegcta- — ble — act surely ARTERS but gently on ^aJTTLE the liver. W VFO Stop after a ills dinner dis tress-cure 1 indigestion, *2=7 . improve the complexion, brighten the eyes. SMALL PILL, SMALL DOSE, SMALL PRICE. Genuine must bear Signature SieSiiSSSSS®! | More! f Make your horses and & mules give you more work, your cows more milk, your a £ chickens more eggs, your J ® hogs more meat and fat, W $ by mixing a small dose of 0 Bee Dee STOCK & POULTRY MEDICINE @ with their regular feed. 9 S This tonic medicine im- £ proves the appetite, diges- * £ tion, and general health, of g ® farm animals and fowls, J $ and its regular use will V multiply your profits. 0 Price 25c, 50c and 41.00 per can. • “We eave Bee Dee Stock Medicine to dh I®®®##®®®#®©*