Show Powel Powerful ful Allies laid Aid Fal Farmer in Battle Against Jugs Bugs Infection and Erosion Experiment Stati Stations ns County Agents Fight Crop Destroyers How the farmer fares in his never ending battle against in- in insect insect sect pests weather disease erosion and the thousand and andone andone one other hazards farm life is heir to will largely determine how well he succeeds in meeting Uncle Sams Sam's ever increasing ever increasing call for more production of foods dairy products fibers and fats Luckily the farmer has his own army navy marine corps coast coastguard coastguard guard and air force to battle and vanquish ish his enemies Who com com- comprise comprise prise these armed forces The agri- agri agricultural agricultural cultural exp experiment stations and the extension services of his state land grant colleges The way these services help the farmer to combat any production troubles old or new that come his way is described by M M. N. N B Beeler eler in the current issue of Cappers Capper's Farmer The trouble which meets a man manat manat at any dawn or in the dead of night may be as old as Bangs Bang's disease brought to America by Cortez in 1521 or Hessian fly introduced into the colonies by German hirelings during the Revolution writes Mr Beeler It may be as new as late potato blight in the Red river val val- valley valley ley or the attack of European corn borer in Illinois Trouble may be ns as persistent as bindweed smut codling moth or boll weevil as complicated ed as malnutrition originating in r g EROSION though slow and unspectacular lowers land productivity tremendously This Kansas field too steep to terrace was planted with corn in 1942 There was no protective covering sown on it Wind and andrain andrain rain scraped another layer oft off the already thin topsoil in the spring of 1943 Land like eke this should be in pasture poor soil as evident as a grass grass- grasshopper grasshopper hopper scourge as mysterious as baby pig disease as commonplace as labor shortage as rare as foot and mouth disease as little as ants in in the kitchen as big as a corn com complete management and production program Assistance Is at Hand Band But whatever the difficulty help helpin in most cases is no farther away than the county extension agent or orthe orthe the land grant college Mr Beeler points out Potentialities for trou- trou trouble trouble ble can be appreciated when such an every day animal as the hog is sub sub- subject subject to more than 60 afflictions Poul- Poul Poultry Poultry try may succumb to anyone any one or a combination of 89 The Indiana experiment ex- ex experiment station lists 18 common of corn within that state in the category of of- diseases And an Ohio report credits these same dis- dis diseases diseases eases with a bushel yield I reduction in a single year This damage is in addition to losses from borers chinch bugs ear worms grasshoppers aphids root lice and anda a host of other insects Continuing experimental projects are reported by the Arkansas sta- sta station station tion in combat with a few enemies of cotton such as wilt boll weevil seed destroying diseases aphids leaf worms boll worms red spider flea hopper root rot and just plain soil poverty Any says Mr Beeler can count a dozen profit and taking life afflictions of his flock but there are at least 36 miscellaneous ous diseases and 40 internal para para- parasites parasites sites besides foot rot sore mouth scab ticks pregnancy and lung diseases Furthermore the U. U S. S depart depart- department department ment of agriculture year book for 1942 devotes pages to diseases and pests of cattle and explains there are arc 70 or more species of bo- bo bovine vine infesting tapeworms and round round- worms Books have been written about the ailments of horses and mules The insect fungous virus and nutritional troubles of crops plants and foods are legion How the army of scientists from the land grant colleges has fought and won battles for the farmer against these and other adversaries forms a fascinating tale Make Seed Germinate When Iowa farmers reported sweet clover seed didn't germinate proper proper- properly properly ly ly the state agricultural experiment station discovered the cause was hard seed and made a that corrected the trouble That was 30 years ago and was the forerunner of many more modern devices and methods the most recent of which is a process by the Fort Hays Kan station for waking buffalo grass seed Then there was that matter of down in New Jersey Sounds doesn't it But it has an earthy connotation to any who has lost 20 to 60 per cent of his flock The New Jersey station found an inoculation that protects the birds bird from this disease A shortage of spraying machinery threatened the crop ClOp of certain Penn Penn- Pennsylvania Pennsylvania sylvania potato growers in 1942 The state college extension service met that threat by organizing 50 spray rings to serve 1500 farms and pro pro- protect protect acres An average of 30 farmers used each machine In- In Increased Increased creased production was estimated at bushels So the story goes One of the troubles that plagues farmers on the plains is poisoning of cattle by wheat pasture The Oklahoma sta- sta station station tion investigated and recommended recommend d da a remedy which included feeding a little dry roughage The Kansas col- col college college lege not only discovered a success success- ful treatment for leg blackleg in calves in 1914 but through extension it so increased the use that dosage costs declined from 50 to 10 cents This station likewise introduced copper carbonate treatment of bunt smut of wheat sorghums and millet When the New England coastal hurricane damaged 10 to 75 per cent of trees in farm orchards the exten- exten extension extension sion service of Rhode Island Con Con- Connecticut Connecticut and Massachusetts worked out a rehabilitation program that saved thousands of trees Control Fever Tick Colorado potato growers were faced with an infestation of bacterial ring in 1938 The station found a remedy Cattle fever tick had pre pre- prevented pre pre- prevented vented development of cattle rais- rais raising raising ing in Louisiana up to 1936 Exten- Exten Extension Extension sion workers and animal husbandry researchers led the fight to stamp it out Missouri had in mn s t r 3 4 1 t r GRASSHOPPERS and locusts are among the worst scourges in many farming regions 1888 the investigation in cooperation cooperation tion with Texas which made control of Texas fever feve tick possible A mysterious livestock disease ob- ob observed observed served by Marco Polo in China more than years ago which afflicted army horses at Fort Randall Neb was explained ined only in 1931 The trouble is caused by feed grown on soil containing selenium The South Dakota station has announced con con- control control and remedies The list of achievements is almost endless Substitutes for pyrethrum have been produced by the Dela- Dela Delaware Delaware ware station Beginning in 1900 the West Virginia station worked out the free fly date for controlling Hessian fly Tennessee discovered and in- in introduced introduced to replace scarce as an insecticide Mon Mon- Montana Montana tana instituted the feeding of io- io iodized salt during pregnancy to pre pre- prevent prevent vent goiter losses of newborn new pigs lambs calves and colts Nebraska checked the potency of commercial serums offered in control of swine erysipelas with resultant standard standard- standardization standardization of effective protection By breeding a wilt resistant cot cot- cotton cotton ton strain the Alabama station saved the growing cotton industry of the southern part of the state Purdue experiment station in Indi- Indi Indiana Indiana ana has produced a new Hessian Hessian- fly resistant wheat New York has announced a new organic spray which kills late fruit blooms ma reduces the hand labor of thinning and induces annual bear bear- bearing bearing ing in varieties which normally pro pro- produce produce duce fruit every other year Develop Resistant Borer Corn Com The Ohio station has demonstrated ed that milk fever can be greatly reduced by feeding four ounces of irradiated yeast daily to cows for four weeks before and one week aft aft- after after er freshening Another Ohio sta- sta station station tion project was the development of resistant borer corn hybrids Experiments at Pennsylvania and elsewhere disclose that fowl paralysis sis which caused a loss lossin lossin in 10 poultry states one year can be controlled by selective breeding and culling But lest any farmer get the no- no notion notion tion that the scientific research job has been completed and that he can get along without it Mr Beeler suggests that he remember just one wheat menace rust Ceres was a stem rust resistant variety distributed by North Dakota in 1926 he points out By 1933 it occupied acres But certain certain tain physiologic races of rust in- in increased increased creased and laid it low Then the Minnesota station brought out Thatcher in 1934 It spread to 14 acres in the United States and Canada by 1940 Now Thatcher is on the way out because of sus- sus susceptibility susceptibility to leaf lea rust But the Min Min- Minnesota Minnesota station announces New hatch out yielding Thatcher by 36 per cent for three years to be released in 1944 mn a aa aR a R h hK hr r K r 6 Y CHINCH BUGS ruin millions of bushels of corn every year as do cutworms army worms and other pests many of which are difficult to control |