The Lampasas Daily Leader. (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 128, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 3, 1915 Page: 3 of 4
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THE LAMPASAS DAILY LEADER
Bobolink a Common Summer
Resident in Northern States.
EEDS MAINLY .ON INSECTS
Also Devours Many Weed Seeds—In-
accurate Grading Cause of Much
Loss to Western Wool Grow-
ers—Remedy Is Suggested.
(Prepared by the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture.)
The bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird,
is a common summer resident of the
United States, north of about latitude
40 degrees, and from New England
westward to the Great Plains, winter-
ing beyond our southern border. In
New England there are few birds
about which so much romance clus-
ters as this rellicking songster, natur-
ally associated with sunny June
meadows; but in the South there are
none on whose head so many maledic-
tions have been heaped on account of
its fondness for rice.
During its sojourn in the northern
states it feed mainly upon insects and
seeds of useless plants; but while rear-
ing its young, insects constitute its
chief food, and almost the exclusive
diet of its brood. After the young are
able to fly, the whole family gathers
into a small flock and begins to live
Bobolink, Rica Bird or Reed Bird—
Length About Seven Inches.
almost entirely upon vegetable food.
This consists for the most part of
weed seeds, since in the North these
birds do not appear to attack grain
to any great extent. They eat a few
oats, but their stomachs do not reveal
a great quantity of this or any other
grain.
As the season advances they gather
into large flocks and move southward,
until by the end of August nearly all
have left their breeding grounds. On
their way they frequent the reedy
marshes about the mouths of rivers
and on the inland waters of the coast
region and subsist largely upon wild
rice.
Formerly, when fhe^ low marshy
shores of the Carolinas and some of
the more southern states were de-
voted to rice culture the bobolinks
made great havoc both upon the
sprouting rice in spring and upon the
ripening grain on their return migra-
tion in the fall. With a change in
the rice-raising districts, however,
this damage is no longer done.
Co-operative Marketing of Wool.
Serious losses are often suffered by
jthe flock master because of improper
^methods of handling the clip. West-
ern wool growers are paid lower
prices than foreign producers because
of inaccurate grading. In recent
years they have made some ad-
vancement in clipping and assort-
ing fleeces as shown by cleaner
clips being offered for sale in
some localities. In the West some
of the large sheep breeders’ associa-
tions have officially recommended
certain changes in the handling of
wool by the growers. It is estimated
that improper methods of preparing
the wool for shipment cost the flock
master from one to three cents a
round, for the manufacturer is fre-
quently put to an extra expense,
against which, of course, he protects
himself by lowering the price to the
grower.
To remedy this condition, some
form, of co-operation among wool
growers in any given region is urged
in a new publication of the depart-
ment of agriculture, bulletin 206, “The
Wool Grower and the Wool Trade."
The Individual alone can do little to
improve matters, for his clip is like-
ly to be too small to induce the buy-
ers to make any alteration in their
accustomed methods of estimating
wool values. With co-operation, how-
ever, It should be possible to prepare
the entire clip of any section so that
the reputation of its wool would be
enhanced and the growers obtain the
full market value of their product. A
sufficient number of wool growers
should be included In each co-opera-
tive association to enable at least
4,000 or 5,000 pounds of each of the
various grades to be marketed at one
time.
Co-operation will, of course, do lit-
tle good, however, unless the individ-
ual growers follow improved methods
of handling the clip. An instance of
the present low price of American
wool as compared with foreign is
given In the bulletin already men-
tioned. Two lots of wool of the same
grade, one of them from Idaho and
the other from Australia, were pur-
chased by a Philadelphia manufactur-
er—the American at 18% cents a
pound and the foreign one at 28 cents
a pound, before scouring. In the
American fleece the kind of wool that
this manufacturer really wanted
amounted to 86.79 per cent of the
total; in the foreign fleece to 98.96 per
cent. A more accurate system of
grading had given this manufacturer
12 per cent more of what he wanted
than the Americaii methods. In con-
sequence the foreign sheep grower
got the larger price for his fleece.
The manufacturer paid for the im-
ported wool 28 cents a pound and for
the domestic wool 18% cents a
pound—a difference of 9% cents. By
the time shrinkage, “off sorts," etc.,
had been deducted, however, the
cost per clean pound to the manufac-
turer of the wool he wanted was 41.32
cents for the American fleece and
44.69 cents for the imported—a differ-
ence of only 3.37 cents.
The bulletin suggests 15 rules for
the wool grower which, it is said, no
one can afford to neglect if he is at
all solicitous of the reputation of his
clip. These rules are:
1. Adhere to a settled policy of
breeding the type of sheep suitable
to the locality. o
2. Sack lambs’, ewes’, wethers’and
all buck, or very oily fleeces sepa-
rately. If the bucks or part of the
ewes or wethers have wool of widely
different kind from the remainder of
the flock, shear such separately and
put the wool in separate sacks so
marked.
3. Shear all black sheep at one time,
preferably last, and put the wool in
separate sacks.
4. Remove and sack separately all
tags, and then allow no tag discount
upon the clip as a whole.
5. Have slatted floors In the hold-
ing pens.
6. Use a smooth, light and hard
glazed (preferably paper) twine.
7. Securely knot the string on each
fleece.
8. Turn Backs wrong side out and
shake well before filling.
9. Keep wood dry at all times.
10. Make the brands on the sheep
as small as possible and use a brand-
ing material that will scour out
11. Know the grade and value of
your wool and price it accordingly.
12. Do not sweat sheep excessively
before shearing.
13. Keep the corral sweepings out
of the wool.
14. Do not sell the wool before it
Is grown. $
15. When all these rules are fol-
lowed place your personal brand or
your name upon the bags or bales.
CABBAGE STORING IS SIMPLE
Cheaply Constructed Bank or Hillside
Root Cellar Is Only Shelter
Needed—Keep Place Cool.
(By K. A. KIRKPATRICK, Minnesota
Experiment Station.)
Cabbage Btoring is rather simple
and easy. The shrinkage is small. A
cheaply constructed bank or hillside
root cellar, or a basement under al-
most any farm building, is the only
storehouse necessary. This should not
be too dry and should be a place
which could be kept at a temperature
of about 40 or 50 degrees in the early
part of the searon. This is often ac-
complished by opening the doors to let
in the cool night air and closing them
to keep out the warmer air during the
remainder of the day. Later, of course,
the doors must be kept closed contin-
uously.
In storing, most growers place the
heads in a cellar with all leaves and
roots attached. Many market garden-
ers have a better,plan. They cut off
the stalk as though preparing the
heads for market, hut leave two or
three rough leaves to protect the more
tender parts. They then pack In or-
dinary cabbage crates and rack these
crates up, leaving a gangway every
third or fourth tier for air circula-
tion.
This work is not particularly diffi-
cult, and will certainly pay the grow-
er well if it increases the selling price
of his production eight or tenfold. For
the last few years, it has been market-
ed and harvested at from $5 to $7.60
a ton. The purchaser has stored it
and sold It during the late winter for
$50 or $60 a ton.
Fattening Wether* for Market.
The wethers intended for the fall
market should be taken from the
flock, put by themselves, and fed lib-
erally until they are so fat that an-
other week's feeding will not add a
pound.
Use Axle Grease Liberally.
Axle grease is cheap, so do not wait
until your axle gets dry before giving
it grease. Besides, it Injures the axle
to let it get dry, and makes double
and treble work for your horse.
INTRODUCING THE DASHEEN, NEW EDIBLE
■ ■mi ' ii
One of the Dasheen Corms, Which Are Forced for Their Shoots.
The dasheen, a comparatively new edible, threatens the supremacy of
the potato. Jt is being cultivated in Florida with much success and with
much profit to its cultivators, says the Fruitman’s Guide.
The dasheen stalks grow to a height of from four to six feet The plant
has shield-shaped leaves, not unlike elephant’s ears. Each hill of dasheen
contains one or two large spherical corms, which grow to five pounds in
weight; round them are developed numerous tubers. Both corms and
tubers are like the potato in composition, but they contain less water. One
plant will produce from four to ten pounds of tubers in good rich soil. Both
corms and tubers have an agreeable nutty flavor, and are easily digested.
The cook can serve a dasheen in the same way that she serves a po-
tato, and she can also prepare the blanched shoots, forced from the corms
in hothouses, as she does asparagus. The leaves, when tender, will take
the place of spinach. Perhaps the dasheen will be a familiar vegetable in
our markets before long. >,
HARVESTING IN SOUTH
Suggestions for Handling Crops
for Hay or Straw.
Best Results Obtained Where Wheat
or Oats Are Cut In “Milk" or
Very Soft Dough State—Guard
Against Bad Weather.
Methods of handling wheat and oats
vary widely in different localities. In
the South the harvest is In Borne ways
differently conducted than in the
North. There are, however, a number
of operations which farmers almost
universally have found to their advan-
tage. Where the neighborhood in
which wheat or oats are grown is so
far distant that threshing machines
are not readily available, farmers
have found it more feasible to cut the
wheat and oats either as hay or to tie
the crops into medium-sized bundles
to be fed as straw.
Provided the wheat or oats crop is
intended for hay, best results are ob-
tained where the crops are cut in the
“milk” or very soft dough stage. The
stalks will be mostly green, or just
beginning to show signs of ripening
below. After cutting, the oats or
wheat should be cured, and handled
exactly as any other common grass
hays. If conditions are favorable, the
hay will have a bright green color, but
if cutting is delayed until the grain is
in the full dough stage, the hay will
be dry, hard and bleached and the
feeding value diminished.
If it is intended to feed the grain In
the self-binder cannot be used the cut-
ting may be done a little earlier than
otherwise. The grain, shocked in the
manner already mentioned, should be
left in the field until it is thoroughly
cured and then threshed without de-
lay. If no threshing machine is avail-
able at once, the grain should be
either stacked or stored in a barn dur-
ing the interval.
On small farms where storage space
is not abundant it will probably pay
the farmer to sell the grain as soon as
it is threshed. With the exercise of a
little co-operation he may arrange with
the neighbors to make up a sufficient
quantity to ship out as a carload. If
the straw, the cutting should be put
off until the grain has reached the
hard dough stage and most of the
stalks have taken on a yellow color.
Under favorable weather conditions
the grain will cure sufficiently for
storage purposes in six or eight dayB
If put up in carefully made round
shocks of nine bundles each, Including
one cap bundle. Near the coast, where
frequent rains are to be expected at
this season, grain should be put in
small shocks, containing only six
bundles, and left uncapped so that it
will dry out quickly after a ram.
In the case of oats it is also possible
to dispose advantageously of the crop
by shipping It In bags to grain brokers
or feed dealers in nearby towns. When
this is done, however, it Is of great Im-
portance to have the oats cleaned and
of uniform quality. One hundred-
pound bags are probably the most sat-
isfactory. When these are shipped
into another state the federal law re-
quires that the net weight of grain In
the bags be marked upon them. Each
bag should contain the quantity indi-
cated by the marks on the outside;
that is, if the bags are marked ”100
pounds” they should contain 100
pounds of grain, actual weight
HORSE IN DEMAND IN SOUTH
Diversification Creates Market for
Mares to Breed to Jacks for
Plantation Motive Power.
While the demand for horses from
army buyers has not brought the
prices up to the expectations of many
owners, the horse grower should not
despair. There is a new market and
& permanent one opening up in this
country. It will not be dependent
upon the war-whims of European na-
tions. The South is beginning to feel
the need of more farm power. The
one-mule-one-horse day of agriculture
in that section is passing, Bays Farm
Progress. The South as cotton grow-
ing area might get along with the
one-horse system, but a new South
taking up diversified farming wants
more power and this means a demand
for more mules and more horses. The
southern Btates are going to be big
buyers of mares in the next few years.
They will want the mares to breed to
jacks to furnish plantation motive
power and these buyers are going to
want mares in large numbers.
Come war or peace, the horse de-
mand is going to be steady and strong
for a long time. The South is not go-
ing to change over from the one-mule
system to the tractor. The tractor
will follow the big teams and these
must come first
Profitable Root Crop.
Ten tons of roots per acre—about
the amount that can be grown on land
that will yield 50 bushels of corn to
the acre—is not a profitable crop, but
20, or even 25, tons may easily be se-
cured under good management, and
will pay well.
Attacks of Impaction.
Mature horses of a greedy disposi-
tion, if allowed to run to alfalfa
racks at will, may eat too much and
suffer attacks of impaction. Draft
mares heavy in foal, and taking but
little exercise, not infrequently suf
fer attacks of this nature.
Starting With Alfalfa.
“If you have never grown alfalfa
start in with a small area until you
know about the crop.
GREAT EMPIRE’S FLAG
COMBINATION REPRESENTED IN
THE GERMAN BANNER.
Council Appointed to Select Suitable
Emblem Had a Hard Task—Prus-
sian Delegates Finally Set-
tled the Question.
When the present German empire
was established by uniting the sev-
eral German states Into one realm,
the question arose as to what flag
the new empire should fly. As it
happened, each state wanted its own
special standard adopted, and no two
of them were alike, though as a gen-
eral thing each was composed of two
colors; thus Prussia had black and
white, Bavaria blue and white, Sax-
ony green and white, and every other
state, no matter how small, possessed
a flag.
When the great German empire be-
came an established fact, naturally
it was necessary to adopt a banner
that would be distinctive, and include
all the states, as every government
insisted on being represented, A
council was appointed to take charge
of the whole matter, and the diffi-
culty it encountered in coming to a
decision will be better appreciated
when it is remembered that there
were at least 40 combinations to be
made, if all were to be satisfied with
the arrangement.
The larger states, the kingdoms,
proposed that their flags should be
united and thus form the national
flag, but the delegates from the small
principalities objected so Btrongly to
the ignoring of their claims to recog-
nition that this plan was voted down.
Another proposition was that all the
smaller states should be represented
on jack or corner of the flag, and have
a series of stripes, each repre-
senting the five cities of larger
states. This was also rejected as too
cumbersome an arrangement. Again
it was suggested to have each state,
large or small, represented in the
body of the flag, a method of por-
tioning out the surface in squares,
so much to each state. This in-
convenient and inartistic plan was
also rejected.
The Prussian delegates, however,
next prepared a combination of col-
ors and, of course, black and white
were not cast aside. The idea was to
adopt a flag composed of black and
white and red, as this latter had
always been considered an imperial
color. The other kingdoms objected
fiercely to the predominance of the
black and white of Prussia over the
blue and white and green and white
of Bavaria and Saxony, but the Prus-
sian delegates found allies in those
from the smaller Btates, who, recog-
nizing that there was no hope of
having the flags of their own little
states adopted, felt willing to have
the claims of the larger overbearing
states ignored, as well as their own,
so they voted with the Prussians,
and the. black, white and red was ac-
cepted.
Then again, the smaller kingdoms
Insisted that each should keep its
own flag to fly at the head of its
own particular contingent in the
army. This proposition was voted
down, as it was decided it would
give valuable information to an
enemy as to the number of troops,
a great mistake in war times. An-
other proposition, that^ of hanging
black, red and white Btripes parallel
to the staff, was decided adversely,
on the ground that the red, white
and blue stripes of the French flag,
being hung in that manner, the two
flags might be confused in the midst
of battle. This ended the question,
and the Prussian flag, with the ad-
dition of the imperial red, was adopt-
ed as the national standard of tha
whole German empire.
Half a Billion for Candy.
Five hundred millions of dollars is
spent every year in the United States
for candy. This startling figure is
given out by the Pan-American union
at Washington, strangely coincident
with the assertion of the Navy league
that exactly the same sum is needed
to give this country a navy which
would place us in second place among
the sea powers, the New York Mail
remarks. In other words, if we
stopped eating candy for one year
and donated the savings thus accumu-
lated to the 'national treasury, con-
gress would not have to make any fur-
ther appropriation for a naval in-
crease.
While the figures are not at hand,
one may be Justified in speculating
upon the size of the army that might
be developed if the nation’s chewing
gum money were diverted from its
present channels. No doubt we could
becbme the military masters of ail we
survey—but think of the degeneracy
which the Jaw muscles of the nation
might suffer in consequence!
There are many soothsayers bat
Nw prophets.
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Vernor, J. E. The Lampasas Daily Leader. (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 128, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 3, 1915, newspaper, August 3, 1915; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth906857/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lampasas Public Library.