The Gem state rural. [volume], November 15, 1896, Image 1

About The Gem state rural. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho) 1895-1910

Image provided by: Idaho State Historical Society

                
THE GEM STATE RURAL
NUMBER 3
CALDWELL, IDAHO,, NOVEMBER, 1896.
VOLUME 2.
DANGEROUS WEEDS.
The Law Should be Framed to
Bring About Their Destruction.
Prof. C, V. Piper, of the
Washington Agricultural college,
has this to say, in the Northwest
Horticulturist, about certain
dangerous weeds:
The Canada thistle is easily
recognized by its slender, strict!}'
erect stems, which branch only
near to the top; its narrow, prick
ly leaves, green on both sides;
its numerous small heads of rose
C 4
colored blossoms, and especially
by its white underground creep
ing stems, or 'roots' as they are
usually called. It is mainly by
means of these underground
stems that the plant reproduces
itself and which make it so diffi
These un
or 'roots' are
cult to exterminate,
derground stems
found in no other thistle that oc
curs in this country.
The experience of eastern
farmers and agricultural experi
ment stations indicate that the
weed can be exterminated on up
land best by thorough cultivation
and on bottom lands by means of
4 4
grass crops, which choke out the
thistle. In waste lands the only
practicable method seems to be to
digout the plants in July before
they bloom and then to treat the
'roots' with salt or kerosene,
must be borne in mind that it is
It
useless merely to cut off the stem
of the thistle or to cut up its
'roots. '
The latter process only
as each small
helps the weed,
portion of 'roof' will give rise
a new plant.
In this connection It may be
to
4 4
refer to our weed law,
need of re
well to
which is
creatlv in
O ^
At present it mentions
vision.
but two plants, namely, the Can
ada thistle and the Chinese thistle.
This latter plant, better called the
Spiny Cocklebur, occurs only in
vallevs of Eastern
the warmer
Washington, and nowhere seems
to be a bad weed, though in many
places it has not been disturbed at
A very much worse weed
cockelbur, which is be-i
all.
is the true
ginning to be troublesome in
well as
This weed, as
daisy and Squirrel -
places,
the Ox-eye
tail grass and a number of others,
the Russian thistle and
such as
Spiny Amaranth, which are very
likelv soon to be introduced,
ought to be mentioned in our
weed law. The law would be of
much greater value if it were
framed to bring about the destruc
tion of dangerous weeds as soon
as they were introduced, as well
as to encourage the extermination
of those which are already pests.
A $100.000 Lens.
In a few days the most valuable
piece of glass in the world, says
the Denver Republican, will
journey half way across the coun
try . This piece of glass will have
palace car for itself and will be
watched over night and day by
four men. It will be wrapped in
soft flannel and then bedded in
Then it will be
placed in a fin^ box mounted on
delicately adjusted springs sus
ceptible to the slightest motion.
This box, with its precious bur
den will be placed in a larger box
and packed with excelsior: It
will ride in the very center of the
parlor car, and the parlor car will
be coupled in the center of the
If the train should be
a
curled hair.
train.
caught in a collision the progress
of science will be retarded four
years, and some one will suffer a
loss of $100,000.
That is the value of the bit of
It is only 40 inches in di
is three inches thick in
Mass.
ZD
ameter,
the middle and one and a quarter
inches thick at the edges.
Its
From
205 pounds.
weight is
this description it would seem to
be a very ordinary piece of glass
but if its complete history
written it would require a good
were
sized volume to tell the story.
the important
in what will be the biggest
This glass is
piece
refracting telescops in the world.
It will bring the image of the
moon within 60 miles of the as
tronomer, and a
ding as large as the capitol at
Washington anywhere in the
the scientist will see it.
be able to discern
should
moon
He will not
human beings, however,
there be any on the moon, but
he will know of their existance
by the evidences of their handi
If the moon has great
mountains or large rivers or lakes
this piece of glass will show them
for the first time in the history of
craft.
the world.
• Not only will .it
the wonders of the moon,
discover
but it
will reveal thousands of unknown
things about the other heavenly
bodies. It will mark one of the
greatest steps taken in astronom
ical science since the invention of
the telescope by the Holland spec
tacle makers, Jansen and Liffer
sciem, away bock in 1600.
This piece of glass is the 40
inch lens for the great telescope
given by Charles T. h erkes to
the University of Chicago,
will be set up in the observatory
built on the shores of William
Bay, Lake Geneva, Wis.,where
It
the atmospheric conditions for
tronomical observations are more
favorable than those on Lake
Astronomers in all
as
Michigan.
parts of the world are eagerly
awaiting the adjustment of the
lens to the telescope. This will
be accomplished within the next
month, and before the end of the
year it is believed that enough
will be discovered to completely
upset all of the present studies of
the science.
Sheep Growing in Oregon.
In the June number of your
Michigan writer
a
magazine,
to think that the wool
seems
grower of the West ought to be
able to get along without protec
tion as he gets his range free.
He is badly mistaken as it costs
about 75 cents per head to run
The herding, feed in
us
sheep.
the winter, shearing
tending in the summer, all
For the last few
lambing,
camp
costs money,
vears it has taken all the wool
and wether lambs to run a flock
Our section
and come out even,
of the country, Malheur county,
to be noticed in the
never seems
magazines devoted to
have a good sheep
vast range of
hills, the lower
papers or
sheep, and
country
we
too—a
bunch
covered with browse,
and other varieties of
ranges
sweet sage
scrubby brush that sheep do well
on in the winter. The valle}s
produce alfalfa—from two
crops—and all kinds of
vegetables and fruits.
to
three
Hay is
• w>
We feed in
cheap—$3 P er ton.
the winter,
practice of starving stock in the
winter is past,
abundance of cattle and sheep
principally
We have raised
The old barbarous
We have an
and our buyers are
from the East.
the stock sheep here for Mon
tana and Dakota, No blizzards
in our sections, the winters are
mild, but snow generally stays
on the ground for two months.
We lamb in April, shear in May,
and start our sheep to the moun
tains by June ist. Have plenty
of game—mule-deer, antelope,
elk—and coyotes by the thous
ands .
bleak hills the shepherd lies,
watching his flocks which sport
the green below,
poor occupation with no protec
tion to the poor devil.—L. W.
High on the bare.
L 4
And its a
j 5
Napton in American Sheep
Breeder.
Keeping Cabbage Over Winter.
In answer to numerous inquiries
the following method described
by J. A. Kirkmau, of Grand
view, Tennessee, in Practical
Farmer, is recommended for
trial. He says: An excellent
way for storing cabbage for win
ter in a warm climate is to dig a
trench six feet long, set the cab
bage in the trench side by side,
leaving the heads above the
ground, shoveling the dirt to the
roots of the first row; dig a
after
4
are all transplanied as above,
build a rail pen around them,
cover over the top with plank and
good supply of hay or straw.
This wav vou mav uncover the
top and cut out heads any time,
and such as are decaying may
easily be found. I have had
white cabbage in March, kept
this way.
Clean out the rubbish from the
orchard and burn it.
harbors dangerous insects. Also
protect your
rabbits and sun scald,
wait until the damage is done.
a
This stuff
tree trunks from
Don ' t
The second annual meeting of
the Idaho State Horticultural so
ciety will be held at Boise, Janu
ary 19, 20 and
*1
21, 1S97.
The Rural Northwest says that
are selling in I
California apples
Portland at $1 to $1.25 per box, I
This is due to the |
wholesale.
almost total failure of the apple
I
many parts of
crop this year in
Oregon as well as in the north- I
west—a very unusual thing. T. hat |j
paper says it will take many car I
loads of eastern apples to supply I
the local demand.