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Show FARM AND RANGE HELPFUL HINTS ON TIMELY TOPICS. ALTAI. KA MliSH K(H A Wisconsin writer in Hoard's Dairyman, answering ati inquiry re-; re-; garding the cutting of a nurse crop of barley, sown with alfalfa, says: "We make a practice of allowing it to ripen and cut as high as we can With binder. We think the stubble left makes a good protection. Cutting with a mower, as for hay, clips it , too close and is liable to be hard on , ' the alfalfa plants, should dry, hot iveather set in right after cutting. We have a thirty-acre field which A'e are cutting now, and as we are naving very dry weather we are cutting cut-ting high and think it will come out O. K., even though it may look as though it was all dried up. As soon as we get a rain it will start to grow and may get two feet high before winter sets in. If alfalfa does not do well in your section I would suggest that even if it looks thin next spring to cut same in the regular way (cut three times "and .j allow the fourth crop to remain for . winter protection). Should you get . a heavy growth this Fall allow it to remain, even if full of weeds. It will pay you. Blackles Control. In the Fall a large number of cattle cat-tle are taken from the range and placed upon succulent, lowland pastures. pas-tures. This change of feed induces blackleg, according to Dr. H. J. Frederick, Fred-erick, veterinarian at the Utah Agricultural Agri-cultural college. Blackleg is a disease dis-ease affecting young cattle, due to a germ that propagates in the soils of pasture land. When an animal dies of this disease, and the body is not removed, the germs get into the ' soil and multiply. A healthy animal pasturing on Ehe same land is in extreme ex-treme danger of infection. To prevent the spread of this disease dis-ease Dr. Frederick advises that all young cattle, from six months to two years old, be vaccinated. For vaccination vacci-nation blackleg vaccine is recommended. recom-mended. This may be obtained locally lo-cally or from the government, where no charge Is made. It is absolutely, useless to vaccinate with salt peter or tobacco. Good wishes are as effective ef-fective in preventing the disease. If a community would practice vaccination vaccina-tion with black leg vaccine consistently consist-ently for a period of from four to five years, blackleg would be unheard of in that district, unless it was imported. import-ed. Kernels. Malone farmers report excellent crops of alfalfa, with good seed returns. re-turns. Cows should have water, not colder cold-er than well water, three times daily Cows that are brushed daily justify in milk production, the time taken for this purpose. There is a greater danger to Utah soils in over-irrigation, than in lack of water. Surface irrigation encourages encour-ages sub-irrigation; the latter source of moisture should be reckoned with in calulating water requirements. Any one skeptical of the "dry farm" proposition, should visit the country to the north of Milford Reed, Malone and the territory surrounding sur-rounding these points. Also a visit to the VanFleet "dry farm," just to the west of Milford, would convince the most doubting of the Doubting Thomases, that this valley, wet or ' dry, is a splendid agricultural region. : Avoiding the Potato Rot. Utah potato growers are annually losing large sums of money through the careless digging and storing of their crops, according to Dr. George R. Hill, Director jjf the School of Agriculture Ag-riculture of the Utah Agricultural j College, who has spent several years studying potato diseases in the West, j Dr. Hill states that he has seen whole carloads of potatoes spoiled by dry-rot dry-rot before reaching their destination. This disease, which appears in potatoes pota-toes both iif'storage and during shipment, ship-ment, is due to a fungus known commonly com-monly as a wound parastie. This parasite cannot enter a healthy potato pota-to under normal condition, but must find access through a broken skin. Wherever the parasite enters will appear ap-pear an area of dry rot. The obvious method to pursue to prevent this disease is to harvest the potatoes without bruising them. While some types of potato diggers are more apt to cause bruises than (Continued on Page 7) (Continued from Page 2) others, most damaged skins are ; caused by digging the potatoes while still green. The skin is then easily bruised and will slip. Dr. Hill reports re-ports that often times 5 0 per cent of the whole crop from a field of potatoes pota-toes will be damaged because tile potatoes po-tatoes are dug too early. Under sue',; conditions the losses are very heavy. Harvesting should be postponed until un-til the potatoes are fully ripe. If the rows have been well ridged there will be little or no danger from frost. -After harvest, if the potatoes are not to be disposed of immediately, they should be stored in clean, well ventilated pits or cellars. In pits or cellars where potatoes have been attacked at-tacked very extensively by dry rot the fungus is so prevalent that even healthy potatoes are affected, the parasite par-asite gaining entrance through the breathing pores. There is also great danger from dry rot and other fungus diseases if potatoes are stored in moist cellars or pits, or in storage places in which potatoes have been stored for a number of years without the cellar or pit being cleaned and disinfected. Direct sunlight, where I available, acts as a wonderful disin-ectant. disin-ectant. Where not available the walls and floors may be sprayed with a so- j lution of formalin or mercuric chlo- I ride. |
