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Plowing Contests and Lawn Making. One looking at the accompanying pictures would not think that these were pictures of a “College Field Day,” but such is the case. Last year the School of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota varied a little from the usual field day pro gram, and added two new features to the regular field day sports. The first was a hitching up contest in which both girls and boys took part; THE WINNER OP SECOND PRIZE AND HIS TEAM. THE FIELD OF BATTLE tne other new feature was a plowing contest In which only boys partici pated. Plowing Is not altogether a bad sport either, no matter in what light you look upon It. This waa il lustrated by the participants who proved to the spectators that in order to be a good plowman, one must be somewhat of a civil engineer, as well as an excellent horseman. Plowing as commonly done is often considered as drudgery, and so It is for the thoughtless, careless plowman, who has no other object in view than that of making the field look black. But there is no other farm operation which requires more knowledge to un derstand or more skill to do well, than does the simple art of plowing. The contestants had in mind making a straight furrow of even depth and width, turning it squarely over so as to cover all stubble and weeds. Bach one took pains to start in squarely and evenly and to drive straight out at the ends so as not to leave the least curve. There was no time to dream or gaze about to see what some ons else was doing. All the plowman’s skill and ability were taxed to the utmost. A BIT OF LAWN AT THE LEWIS AND' CLARK EXPOSITION. Hb must set his plow perfectly In the first place. Next, he must be kind to and gain the confidence of his team, for no man can do good plowing with* out the confidence and co-operation of his team. A half day was set ..side for the contest, and all three classes, that is, Che Freshmen, Junior and Senior classes, competed for the prizes. These were, a sulky plow for first prize, a hand plow for second prize and ten dollars in cash for the third prize. These prizes were furnished by one of the leading plow concerns of the United States gratuitously. In scoring, expert plowmen who have been with the University Farm for years, acted as Judges. A standard of excellence was established. Twelve points were given on the "dead fur* row;" fifteen points on straightness of furrows; eight points on in's and out's at ends; fifteen points on depth and width of furrows; ten points on evenness of top of land; thirty points on the covering of weeds, and ten points on the finish. Time was not taken into consideration In scoring. Each contestant was given a strong farm team and a plow. He had to ad* just the plow, device and whiffle tree to suit the condition of the land. He was allowed to mark out his land In any manner he saw fit. The "land” was to be twenty feet wide and three bandied feet long. Henry Mason, of New bMimond, fiflnn., a member of the Freshman dim, took first prize. His seers was 000* GUY ELtIOTT MITCHELL, O. K. Lathrop. of the Senior Class, took second prize, with a score of 81 per cent., and W. I. Peterson, of the Junior Class, third prize, with a score of 80 per cent. The rest of the contestants of course got no prize, but they got something much more valuable. They found that they could plow, and plow right. This conviction will remain with them al- ways, and they will be better farmers and better oltizens for having entered the plowing contest. To many of the onlookers the con test was a revelation. Farmers and farmers’ sons, who have plowed for days and months, never before saw such plowing, and many went home de termined to plow as they saw it done. It has been decided to make this a permanent feature of the annual field day. The greensward is the canvas upon which all architectural and landscape effects are produced. A lawn may vary in extent from a few square feet at the side steps leading to the brown stone front of the city dwelling to the broad acres of extensive parks. It matters little whether the extent of a lawn be great or small, its inherent qualities are the same, and its intrin sic worth is determined by its charac ter and the manner in which It is kept. Green grass is not only of great economic value, but it is also of great aesthetic value. The herbage of the field is the primary dependence of all animal life, and it Is the green color, the sweet fragrance, and the soothing effect of nature which come from well* kept greenswards that make them so congenial to man. Grass is nature’s balm and healing for all erosive scars. Nature abhors rough edges and brok en places, and Immediately proceeds to cover such ugly spots with green grass. Man likes to get his feet upon the soil, but better still upon the eoft ( yielding greensward. Rich rugs and carpets do not give the elastic spring that the well-made and well kept greensward yields. So says L. C. Corbett, one of the horticulturists of the Department of Agriculture, In "Farmers' Bulletin No. 284" just about to be printed by Uncle Sam. Since this pamphlet is free as well as In teresting and Instructive, why not send for a copy to your member of Congress or your Senator. If his sup* ply runs out, Secretary Wilson will send you a copy. In general. Mr. Corbett says, further, a lawn should be beautiful and It should be useful. Its beauty depends upon the contour of the land, the col or the texture of the grass, and the uniformity of the turf. The use of the lawn Is to provide a suitable set ting for architectural adornment and landscape planting. The Soil. The Ideal soil for a lawn is avail able In but few cases where It Is de sirable to establish a greensward. Or dinarily the lawn In which a man Is most Interested Is that Immediately surrounding his abiding place. The sou of this immediate locality is, In general, greatly modified because of building operations or necessary grad ing. The soil with which one has to deal, therefore, is seldom a normal soil of the locality. In general, it is a portion of the surface soil mixed with more or less of the subsoil which has come from excavation, in making the foundations of a house. The ideal soil for grasses best suit ed for lawn making is one which is moderately moist and contains a con siderable percentage of clay—a soil which is somewhat retentive of mois ture, but never becomes excessively wet, and is inclined to be heavy and compact rather than light, loose, and sandy. A strong clay loam or a sandy loam, underlaid by & clay subsoil, is undoubtedly the nearest approach to an Ideal soil for a lawn; it, therefore, should be the aim in establishing a lawn to approach as near as is possible to one or the other of these types of soil. In many localities it will, how ever, be very difficult to produce by any artificial means at one's command a soil which will approach in texture either of the types recommended. Our efforts, nevertheless, should be direct ed to attaining as closely as possible these ideals. Preparations for the Lawn. Since the lawn is intended to be a permanent feature of the decoration of a place, its endurance or span of life is of utmost importance. In gen eral, grass seeds are small and the surface seed bed for the reception of these seeds need not be more than 1 inch in depth; but since the grasses, as they become established, send out long, lateral feeding roots, it is nec essary that the area containing the available food for these plants should be amplified. This object can only be attained by deep cultivation and thorough preparation of at least 8 to 10 inches of the surface soil. The soil to this depth should be made rich and should be put into an ideal condition for the development of plant roots. The mechanical operations of pre paring the soil can be carried on by the use of the modern plow If the area is large enough, or by spadlnc if the area la small. The seed bed should be thoroughly and frequently stirred, so as to grind the soil par tides together as much as possible for the purpose of reducing them to a uniformly fine condition and to lib erate plant food. Cultivation shoul l also have for Its object the destruetlon of weeds which may interfere with the establishment of the lawn or which may be detrimental to it after it is once established. After the soil has been thoroughly plowed or spaded it should be carefully fined by harrowing or raking, after which it should be thoroughly compacted by the use of a lawn or field roller and the surface again loosened bf the nee of n steel- t'opyrlchtad. by Pnn nmnmmaow A 00. ON LARGE ESTATES THE AUTOMOBILE LAWNMOWdR IS A PICTURESQUE ADJU NCT toothed rake or a fine harrow. After the seed bed baa been thor oughly and carefully prepared and the grass seed scattered in appropriate quantities, according to the kind used, the surface should be given a careful raking or rolling if the area Is dry. If showers have been frequent, rak ing after the seed has been sown will suffice until after the graKS has reach ed a height sufficent to be clipped by a lawn mower. Prior to clipping the grass with a lawn mower, if the ground was not rolled after seeding, a heavy lawn roller should be passed ov er the surface in order to make it as smooth as possible. After the grass has an opportunity to become erect it should then be clipped with a mow* er. What Fertilizers? Since the .lawn is a permanent fea ture, it Is hardly possible to make the soli for the reception of the lawn too rich. Stable manure which has been thoroughly composted and rotted and which is as free as possible from de trimental weed seeds Is undoubtedly the best material to use In producing A LARGE LAWN IS EASILY CLIPPED BY HORSEPOWER. the desired fertility of the soil. Forty to sixty loads of well-decomposed sta ble manure are not too much to use upon an acre of land designed for the greensward. Where auch stable man ure is not available the next best plea to follow Is that of plowing under green crops, such aa clovers, cow peas, soy beans, and similar plants. The land should then receive an ap plication ef about 1,000 pounds of lime to the acre, and at the time of preparing the need bed 600 to 1,000 pounds of fine-ground bone, together with 300 to 500 pounds of a high-grade fertilizer upon each acre. The fertil izer may contain 3 per cent nitrogen, »> to 8 per cent phosphoric acid, and about 8 per cent potash. After the lawn has been established and it has gone into "winter quarters,” it is well to give the young grass a mulch of well-decomposed stable iqan ure, which shall not be heavy enough to disfigure or mar the lawn, but should be so fine and well decomposed that it will be carried beneath the surface of the grass by the rains and snows of the winter, leaving very lit tle rough or unsightly matter to be raked off in the spring. If this is not desirable, after the greensward has passed through the first winter it should be treated to a top-dressing of fine-ground bone at the rate of 1,000 pounds to the acre. The Kind of Grass. Kentucky blue grass is undoubtedly the great law'n maker for all that sec tion of the Atlantic coast region north of Washington, D. C., and for the Al legheny region as far south as north ern Georgia. Blue grass thrives best in a comparatively retentive, strong soil where there is an abundance but not an excessive amount of moisture, rpon soils of a lighter character in this region, in localities where preci pitation is greater, such grasses as red top, Rhode Island bent grass, creeping bent grass, and white clover are more to be relied upon for lawn making than blue grass. Redtop, Rhode Is land bent grass, and creeping bent grass all have the same ability to make a compact and deep sward, as in the case of blue grass. In fact, under certain conditions redtop and the bent grasses are able to make a softer, although not a more permanent, turf than does the blue grass. Upon the light soils found in the States rout'll of the latitude of Washington, D. C.. white clover forms an important feature in lawn mixtures. In general, because of the varied conditions of shade and moisture ex isting upon a lawn as the result of trees, shrubs, and architectural ob jects, mixtures are more desirable than pure grasses. The different de grees of shade and moisture maintain ed in the soil which result from the presence of trees, shrubs, and build ings afford a variety of conditions un der which a single species would not produce a uniform lawn. Harvesting by Gas Light . An interesting trial made In Eng land on a farm near Biggleswade, shows that fields can be so illuminated by acetylene gas that harvesting may be easily carried on at night. In this test two mowers, each cutting a six foot swath, were employed and a field of 15 acres was mowed In three hours and 3G minutes. A gasoline trac tion engine furnished the power. Romulus Has Perplexed* \ Old Romulus took sick one day, and In a little while it looked as If his end was near. The minister was sent for, and came promptly—a stout man, done up in one of those religious waistcoats without any buttons down the front or any opening at the neck. The minister said to Uncle Romu lus: "‘ls your mind at ease, brother?"* " ‘Yes sab/ answered the old man. “‘Are you sure there’s nothing troubling you?* the minister went on. •If there le, apeak up. Don't be afraid. I am here to help and comfort you.' “ 'Dey la one ling, jee one, aah,' laid Romulua, 'Dat 'plexes me.' •• ‘What le It my brother? 1 the min ister murmured. " 'Ah kalnt o' de life & me make out, aah.’ said the old man, 'how gits yo'aef Inter dat dere vest.’" There are four prosperous Americas Mormon settlements in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Mysteries of the Ages, During that wonderful and mysteri ous period, popularly spoken of as “before the ice age,” in other terms, the pre glacial period, nature expressed herself with a lavish abandon of which we can form but a faint idea. The primeval rivers were mighty tor rents, instruments of stupendous meta morph ic energy. In their work of erosion and dissolving, vast quantities of gold were freed from conlining em bedment and deposited along their channels. Through untold ages, per haps, this work of uncovering and depositing—Nature’s prehistoric gold mining and storing—continued, or until that particular formative cycle was completed. Then the earth passed into the travail throes of more ener getic formation, as expressed in vol canic and glacial action. Fierce vol canoes sent forth their molten streams, filling up ravines and gorges, creating new elevations aud depressions, and burying deep under layers of volcanic debris, the old river bedtf, the evicted waters of which laboriously wrought out new chunnels for themselves. Fol lowing this storm time came a season of comparative quiet in which the newly located streams were permit ted to take up again with diminished force the old work of tearing down, dissolving and dropping the freed gold along their channels. In some in stances old beds were crossed and broken into by the new streams and additional de(>oKits mingled with their uncovered treasures. At last came the long winter of glacial action, from which the earth emerged transformed, with little of the primeval surface left save the giant redwood forest region. Such, briefly summarized, is the geo logic record, as read by modern sci entists, of the changes that immedi ately preceded our own period. Pos sibly, certain giant trees of the Cali fornia redwood parks which have swayed in the Pacific Ocean winds for thousands of years—at least their own ancestors—might have observed from their undisturbed abode the stupen- { dous changes in progress at their very i doorway. Had they the gift of speech ' they could reveal, as no other living thing could do, the state secret* of j Nature, including that of the burled I rivers. While no reliable method can at present be given for the detection of the presence of added vegetable colors In general It la necessary that special testa must be made for special vege table colors. The bulletin gives quite a number of simple methods for detec tion of artificial coloring matter which may be bad on application at the De partment of Agriculture. Sheep act as beasts of burden In many of the ranges of the Himalaya Mountalna Each animal la capable of carrying from seventeen to twenty five pounds, and lives entirely on way aide herbage tmmm page-wire Made by the basic open-hearth process in our Steel Mills. Moneasrn. Penn sylvania. 11 as double the tensile strength of common fence wire, the springi ness of a high grade spring wire, ami is used only in the manufacture of Page Pences and coiled springs. Ask for "A Trip Through Our Mills.** It tells how Page-Wire is made; how it differs from common fence wire ami why it is stronger and better. Sent free by return mail. Write for it to-day. Page Woven Wire Fence Co., Box 935. Adrian, Mleh. A magazine for the Millions flci-»(«rf to Industrial, Agricultural, Commercial Development and Homemaking The Heat ItO Cent Maaaalne In America Do you want to Improve your circumstances? Do you want to know abont the onor. tunitira awaiting honest enterprise and amliition t Do you want hints on the imnravement of home surroundings t Do you want delightful .entertaining, Instruct l?e, beauffiHly nius trated reading for the home circle f All these and more you will And It! •• hitv " OUR OF IKK Pill in the coupon below, cut out thin entire advertisement and send to us with M cents for ape year’s subscription. 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