OCR Text |
Show Farm Notes Conservation, Nutrition Soil erosion and depletion, which cause lack of proper food values in many of the crops grown in this State, are a vital concern of D. L. Pearce, chairman chair-man of the Agricultural Committee Com-mittee of the Louisiana House of Representatives. People are no stronger, physically and mentally mental-ly than the soils which produce their foods, he asserts in an article ar-ticle in the March issue of Farm and Ranch Magazine. " Mr. Pearce's own farming operations op-erations at Oak Grove, Louisiana, Louisi-ana, bear out his assertions that the soil conservation measures will control soil depletion. On the two farms which he operates, he has limed and spread phosphate phos-phate whenever soil tests showed show-ed these elements lacking, and has added nitrogen by growing legume crops. The effects of. the conservation methods show up in last year's average yields of cash crops Cotton made 27 bales on 25 acres. Corn made about 25 bushels to the acre. Sweet potatoes po-tatoes averaged 226 bushels an acre; Irish potatoes 55 sacks; oats 45 bushels; and hay yields around 2 tons to the acre. "Our soils, now that we handle them the right way, produce j well," says Pearce. "I give a lot of the credit for the prorpcrity we are enjoying to the soil-improvement work that has gone into this farm." Purebred Livestock Imports More than 32,000 domestic animals were imported into the U. S. during 1946 and certified for pure breeding, the Department Depart-ment of Agriculture reports. This was 27 per cent more than in 1945. The animals included 27,067 cattle, 3,101 sheep, 1,192 swine, 902 dogs, 139 horses, 3 goats, and 2 cats. Leading breeds certified v.'ere: Cattle Holstein-Friesians, Ayr-shires Ayr-shires and Jerseys; sheep Suf- folk, Southdown and Hamp-' shire; swine Yorkshires, Berk-shires Berk-shires and Tamworths; goats Anglo-Nubian. Most of the animals were from Canada, but 10 other countries, including the Island of Jersey, were represented. The shipment of 74 cattle from Jersey was the first since the war. Foot-Mouth Disease Plans are shaping up for put-1 ting into effect the cooperative "program to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease in Mexico and to prevent its entry into the United States. A Mexican-United States Agricultural Ag-ricultural Commission has recommended rec-ommended that a joint office be opened up immediately in Mexico Mexi-co City, under the administration of a director a Mexican citizen appointed by the Mexican Secretary Secre-tary of Agriculture and Livestock Live-stock Industry, and a co-dhector a U. S. citizen appointed by the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture. Agricul-ture. A joint administrative board and advisory committee have been proposed. Assurances were given the Commission that every possible assistance would be given the Mexican authorities in locating in the U. S. supplies and equipment needed in connection with the program. USDA To Purchase Dry Milk To protect farmers against a further price decline, the Department De-partment of Agriculture has announced an-nounced that purchases of nonfat non-fat dry milk will be made on the open market at 10 cents a pound for spray process and 9 cents for roller process. Both types must be U. S. Extra grade in export containers. Market prices for the product doubled during the war and early 1947, but declined during February. Prewar prices of nonfat non-fat dry milk returned relatively little to farmers for their skim milk. Government purchases will assure an outlet for supplies in excess of needs for established domestic or export uses. The supplies sup-plies will be available for sale to foreign governments, for foreign for-eign relief uses, and for the School Lunch Program. They will also be available for domes tic markets if demand is sufficient suf-ficient to use the supplies at prices above support levels. Results of Research Here are examples of agricul-ural agricul-ural research reported by the Department of Agriculture that each year have repaid dividends many times over the total cost of the investment: Hybrid corn research covering 30 years cost the Federal Government Gov-ernment $5 million and the States the same amount Last year the Nation collected a dividend div-idend of at least $750 million. Livestock improvement. But-terfat But-terfat production increased, under un-der test. from an average of 215 pounds 40 years ago, to 339 pounds per cow for the million cows in dairy-herd-improvement associations. At an average price of 50 cents, this increase I of 124 million pounds of butter-' butter-' fat yearly adds more then $60 million to income of dairy-herd-improvement association mem- bers. Average production for the remaining 25 million dairy cows has increased by 30 pounds during dur-ing the same period as a result of good feeding, management, and improved breeding stock. This 750 million pounds of but terfat adds as much as $375 million mil-lion a year to dairy farmers' income. in-come. Control of hog cholera research cost about $50,000. It has been returning dividends for nearly 40 years at from $10 million to $15 million a year. Grasshopper Control. In 10 years, 1936-45, grasshoppers destroyed des-troyed crops valued at $400 million. mil-lion. During the same period, Federal and State cooperative control measures saved crops worth $600 million at a cost of less than $25 million. DDT, used in ridding cattle of flies saves an estimated $10 million mil-lion a year for owners of beef and dairy cattle. Penicillin research costing $100,000 made large-scale pro-1 j auction possible during the war. I n There is no way to measure the ft value of dividends from this re- jj search; it has saved thousands 5 of lives. Nearly $2 million worth 6 of agricultural products are us-( us-( ed annually in producing peni- cillin worth $100 million. j To Guard Soil Wealth ? A panel of speakers in Chi- 9 cago discussing agricultural con- & servation recently concluded 5 that: o American agriculture, can't go p on absorbing losses caused by soil erosion, j) The Nation already has lost one-quarter of its arable land and is in the ; process of losing another quarter. Sound nutrition based upon sound agriculture is essential to national well-being. Continued neglect will invite a return of the dust bowl. The panel speakers Included Dr. H. H. Bennett, SCS chief; Dr. Jonathan Forman, of Ohio State University; Walter E. Christensen, editor of the Omaha Oma-ha World-Herald, and Louis Bromfield, author. They spoke before a meeting of the Friends of the Land Society. "Continued neglect will invite a return of the dust storms," declared de-clared Christensen. "It will permit per-mit the angry winds and hungry rivers to continue the devastating devastat-ing process of removing the few inches of topsoil in which our civilization has its roots. Conservation, Conser-vation, on the other hand, can anchor the soil and rebuild it." |