The Hereford Brand, Vol. 10, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, June 24, 1910 Page: 8 of 10
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Friday,
m, mo
SURFACE CULTIVATORS
Single Row Surface Cultivators, Double Row Surface Cultivators, Six Shovel Piv-
otal Single Dutchman Cultivators, Go-Devil Disc Cultivators for listed ground, Captain
Kidd High Wheel Cultivators. The kind of Implements that is a pleasure to run.
Guaranteed to do first-class work or our goods. -:-
«•«
-!-
Hereford Hardware HT^Td'
FARMERS IN
BIG MEETING
Paper Read by President H. G.
Hays—Text Given in Pull.
The regular June meeting of the
Hereford Farmers and Truck Grow-
ers Association, postponed from last
week was held Saturday afternoon
at the Court House with light at-
tendance.
Members on program announced
were for the most part absent and
the only subject assigned which was
discussed was that of soil blowing.
The discussion developed the follow-
ing points.
The soil blowing is due to the
physical conditition of the soil at
the time of the winds, due either to
the fact that the grass roots have
decayed, leaving the top soil too
loose, or that the soil by being
narked when too dry becomes worn
by the attrition of the particles until
the grains become rounded or as ex-
pressed by one number, "buckshot."
These particles are easily moved by
the winds and by drifting over soil
which has not started to blow causes
this to "pick up" also. Another
opinion ezpressen was that by follow-
ing the plow too closely with the
harrowl the freshly turned soil is
pulverized too finely and is started
blowing.
The following remedies were sug-
gested.
1. Work soil only when moist.
2. Wait a day before harrowing
when the soil will break up into
small clods and not blow so bodly.
3. Suggestion was made that by
drilling wheat or other crops in rows
sufficiently wide to permit culti-
vation with shovels or other tools
capable of going deeply enough to
throw up a damp earth and break
crust, the difficulty might be over-
come. It was pointed out that blow-
ing land had been stopped by culti-
vation with a corn plow.
The report of the Conservation
Congress was not read on account of
light attendance. It appears below.
Conservation is economy—Wheth-
er it be the prevention of the waste
of our forests, the saving of our coal
the retention of our water power
sites for the people's use, or the
maintenance of soil fertility and the
conservation of water for use either
by irrigation or by improved methods
of soil culture.
There is probably no class of men \
who should be more interested in
the subject of "conservation" than
the farmer for it is a question which
affects him vitally, not only in what
he consumes but in what be produce si
Believing that the Farmers' As-
sociation will be more interested in
those phazes of conservation which
touch most intimately the producing
side of the question as applied to the
farmer. I will confine my report of
the Texas Conservation Congress
mainly to that part ot the program.
The first Congress of the Conser-
vation Association of Texas met at
Fort Worth April 5th and 6th. The
meeting was in response to a call is-
sued by a committee appointed dur-
ing the State Fair at Dallas last fall.
Mr. Ed R. Kone, Commissioner of
Agriculture was chairman of this
committee and was continued as
chairman of the Congress and elect-
ed the first president of the Texas
Conservation Association for the en-
suing year.
The Fort Worth Board of Trade
very generously furnished the use
of their rooms as a meeting place;
but further than tqis the citizens of
Fort Worth did not appear at all in-
terested in either the subject or the
meetings of the congress. Out of
an enrollment of 100 members of the
Texas Association thera were but
three from Fort Worth.
Mr. A. McNair, Agriculturist in
charge of Farm Management, of
Washington, D. C. gave the first ad-
dress which will be of interest to us.
These addresses will all be publish-
in full and may be secured later. I
will attempt to cover only the main
points of interest.
Mr. McNair said:
"The consumption quadruples as
population doubles." From this he
argued the vital necessity of conserv-
ing the farm products.
He divided the subject into two
parts, Chemical and Physical. . The
chemical elements which we need to
conserve are Nitrogen, Phosphorus
and Potash o f these there i s
ample supply of nitrogen in the air,
four fifths of the atmosphere being
composed of nitrogen. This is made
available in the form of nitrates de-
posited by the bacteria which feed
upon the nitrogen of the air and
which live upon the roots of clover,
cowpea, peanut and other logumious
plants. Figured at the commercial
value of nitrates, 15 cents per pound
one ton of cowpea or alfalfa hay
which contains forty pounds of ni-
trates is worth $6.00. Three fourths
of this is saved in the manure. The
manure from stock fed on leguminous
plants is much richer in nitrogen
than when fed upon other feeds.
Legumnious crops should be alter-
nated with non legumnious crops,
else the land will become "legume
sick." The manure in the nitrated
states is worth two billion dollars
more than the corn crop anil fully
half a billion dollars worth is wasted
each year.
The supply of Phosphorus comes
exclusively from the phosphate rock
and it consequently limited. The
exportion of Phosphate from the
United States should be prohibited
by law.
Potash is available in the manures
and the supply is indefinite from
this source.
Physical conservation may be ac-
complished by deep plowing which
forms a reservoir for the water and
prevents soil washing. Plowing un-
der green clover etc and applying
manure increases the humus in the
soil. This is more necessary in the
South where the warm weather ex-
hausts the humus more rapidly than
in the colder climate. At the same
time it is less generally practiced as
nine tenths of the crops in the South
are cultivated row crops. The humus
in the soil also fosters the growth of
the various bacteria which fertilize
the soil.
Mr. MdNair not only gave a very
instructive paper but he paid close
attention to the other sperkers and
brought out pertinent points by en-
telligent questions.
Mr. Avery Turner of Amarillo
read a paper on Irrigation in the
Panhandle. He advocated the build-
ing of lakes by every Panhandle
farmer. An ordinary windmill will
furnish four or five acre feet of
water per year for irrigating gardens
trees and small patches of alfalfa.
In private conversation with Mr.
Turner he expressed the opinion that
irrigation direct from wells is not
practical, first, on account of the
coldness of the water, second, be-
cause the water has not become
aerated by exposure to the air and
and has no bacterial growth in it,
third, because the volume is not suf-
ficient and will not enable the irri-
gation to flood his land quickly
enough. He recommended the build-
ing of earth reservoirs an acre or
more in extent to store the water as
pumped from the wells. Mr. Turn-
er suggested the purchase of the
Palo Duro Canyon by the govern-
ment, it's survey by the state and
that it could be made a reservoir for
storing irrigation water.
Mr. Jas. C. Gipe, Secretary of
the National Conservation Associ-
ation representing Mr. Gifford Pin-
chot its President, read an interest-
ing paper explaining the aims of the
National Association and the neces-
sity of conserving our resources.
The names of Pinchot and Roose-
velt received hearty applause.
Mr. J. Lewis Thompson, Pres. of
the Southern Yellow Pine Associ-
ation told us at the present rate of
cuttiug the timber supply of Texas
will be exhausted in 15 years time ;
that one year's supply is wasted by
Texas lumbermen each ysar by
wasteful methods of cutting and that
we are importing lumber even now
trom Japan. The Thompson Lum-
ber Compauy now employ a profes-
sional forester to assist them in
scientific lumbering.
Mr. A. Miller Todd, Government
Engineer of Vicksburg, Mississippi,
told us there are 3,500 square miles
of overflowed land in Texas. In the
lower Mississippi Valley in 1883
there were 39,000 square miles of
land overflowed. In 1903, although
the river was 10 inches higher there
was only 3,000 square miles over-
flowed, the difference being due to
work undertaken by the government.
We were also told that the Miss-
issippi basin is being lowered by
erosion at the rate of one foot in
5000 years, due largely to the cut-
ting off of forests and the breaking
up of sod lands.
Mr. John S. Kerr of Sherman on
the subject of Horticultural Conver-
sation said that in the Grand Valley
of Colorado, three million dollars
worth cf fruit was saved by raising
the temperature of the orchards 9
degrees by the use of smudge pots,
and that in the citrus belt trees
which had been kept growing during
the summer were not injured by
freezes the following spring.
Probably the most gratifying in-
cident during the congress was the
interest manifested in the address
given by our fellow townsman and
honored Vice-President, Judge L.
Gough who told the congress what
he has often told us, how to con-
serve our soil moisture. This ad-
dress was listened to with the great-
est interest. A great many questions
were asked and the Judge received
hearty applause when he left the
floor-
Prof. Chas. H. Aloord of A. & M.
College gave an address illustrated
by a steropticon upon the subject of
"Silos." Prof. Alvord told us hew
to conserve our feed by storing in
silos. He said that the greatest
feed value was in the grain when it
is in the dough state. When grain
is cut at this stage and made into
ensilage it is all digestible. It loses
only 10 to 15 per cent of its feeding
value as ensilage. As dry fodder
it loses 50 per cent through the
chemical change of the starch and
sugar into indigestible cellulose.
The silo should not be too large
o r the ensilage will decompose.
Size recommended to 14 feet in di-
ameter and 25 to 30 feet high. Such
a silo will hold 100 tons. At the
A. & M. College a silo of this capa-
city held the feed from 9 acres of
crop and fed 100 head of cattle 100
days with the addition of one pound
of cottonseed meal per head each
days ensilvage is especially recom-
mended for milch cows and for feed-
ing cattle, hogs and horses. A wood-
en silo to hold 100 tons will cost
from $'200 to $250. A concrete silo
is better but more expensive. An
ensilage cuttes which blows the en-
silage 30 feet into the silo costs $100.
Prof. Alvord recommended plant-
ing sorghum, corn and cowpeas in
the same row, the cowpeas run up
the stalks and all can be cut and
handled with a corn binder. In pri-
vate conversation with Prof. Alvord
be stated that the silo would be ad-
vantageous in the Panhandle owing
to the variety of fodders we can pro-
duce; but that the difference in
value of the ensilvage over the dry
fodder is not so great owing to the
(CONTINUED UN PAGE NINE)
Wanted!
I want 2 or 3 sections of good land in Deaf Smith
or Castro counties. I want to put in a good 20-acre,
well improved place at the edge of Hereford and some
other properties as first payment on the land and I
will assume or execute Vendors Lien notes for the re-
mainder, if the time and rate of interest suit. Want
unimproved land. Do not care whether it is even
fenced or not. Land must be priced right and the
title must be perfect. See me next door to postoffice
uext week.
J. N. Russell
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Elliot, A. C. The Hereford Brand, Vol. 10, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, June 24, 1910, newspaper, June 24, 1910; Hereford, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth253559/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Deaf Smith County Library.