Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: University of Florida
Newspaper Page Text
VOL. XXXIV N*. 37. RAPE FOR DAIRY COWS. By John M. Scott. Florida Agricultural Experiment Station The dairyman who has had experience in feeding dairy cows knows that there is nothing quite so good as fresh pasture grass to produce a heavy flow •of milk, and at the same time to make the best quality of butter. But grass is not available all the year. Hence he must provide a suitable substitute, or the profits from his herd will be reduced. In providing a suitable substitute for grass, a number of things have to be considered. First, will the feed substi tuted produce the desired effect ? That is, if you are feeding dairy cows, will the substitute for grass produce a heavy flow of milk? Second, what will be the effect on the animal ? Third, will the returns be greater than the cost, or not? How to Feed Rape. —Rape may be pastured or used as soiling crop. If pastured, some care must be exercised at first, until the cows become accustom ed to it. When cattle are first allowed to pasture on rape, there is danger of bloating; but this can be easily avoided by first feeding the cows a little hay or grain just before turning them on the rape. In other words, do not turn the cows on the rape to pasture when they are hungry. When first turned on pasture, let them graze for only a few minutes the first day —say ten or fifteen minutes; the second day allow them a few minutes longer, and so on until the cows become accustomed to rape. Another difficulty found in pasturing cows on rape is that it may cause a disagreeable taint in the milk. This may be overcome by using a little care and judgment in feeding. If the cows are allowed to pasture on the rape, only before and after milking, for about an hour, and at no other time, very little, if any, difficulty will be found. Amount Produced Per Acre.—Rape is a crop well suited to Florida conditions, and is excellent for feeding dairy cows, as it will produce many tons of good nutritious feed per acre, at a time of the year when such feeds are scarce. The experience of this Station in growing rape has shown a yield of 27,200 pounds per acre. This result is only based, it is true, on one year’s crop. Many of the northern states re port yields of from 30 to 50 tons of green forage per acre. No doubt there is plenty of ground in Florida capable of equally good returns. The Dwarf Essex variety seems to be suited to Florida conditions. Sow the seed any time in September or October, in drills twenty-four or thirty inches apart, applying a liberal application of fertilizer, and giving about two cultiva tions to keep down the grass and weeds. Seed may obtained from any good seed house. For further information regarding preparation of the soil and planting, see former issue of this paper. Editor Florida Agriculturist: When one gets where one’s hobby becomes the all absorbing topic of con sideration, everything that relates to that hobby receives the most careful attention, and the lover of the garden, must sooner or later become a bird lover too, for in the study of the best Interests of his garden, he at last comes to learn that it has no greater friend and server than the bird family, and when one comes to learn the vast amount of insect life that birds destroy in just one day of their little lives, the wonder is that the government of our country does not espouse their cause, and fix a punishment for their slaugh ter. Our government spends thous ands of dollars every year, experiment ing to find out the best way of com bating different kinds of injurious moths, weevils and scale, but it never seems to enter the heads of those same wise men, that the greatest assistant and benefactor they can get to assist them in carrying on their warfare against pests, is the humble bird for whose great service is exacted a small consideration, (in proportion to the great benefit derived), in the shape of a fruit toll. In the last ten years, many tests have been made by men who know how to perform such experiments, to deter mine just what and how much a bird eats in one day of its little life. In the stomachs of those that were examined, sometimes a hundred worms and bugs, and seeds of noxious weeds were found. I am sorry that I have not at hand, at the present moment, a table to refer to, giving the names of the various birds examined, and the l r —•— V * ‘ ( ., life > ••"iv l ! n * * •°'\ y ' V * '' ’ V f rv B %■ . Jacksonville, Fla., Wednesday, September 11, 1907. OUR BIRDS. A FAMILIAR SCENE IN FLORIDA. contents of their stomachs, as they were recorded and given to the public. In the fruit districts of our State, a relentless war is carried on against our feathered friends, and a story I heard recently from a lady living near Lake land, regarding the destruction of our sweetest singer, the mocking-bird, is the incentive for this article. The la dy told me that she had heard a man say that he had shot forty of them in one day. His reason for the slaughter was, that they destroyed s*ch large quantities of his strawberries, that he was compelled to kill them to protect his interests. There is no doubt but that the little fellows eat a great many, ripe berries, but if they were wise enough to cut them from the vine, and carry them off for their feast, the grower would not know that his crop was short; but as the berries are left on the vines with tell-tale nibbles in them, the man gets to observing the many nibbles and straightway he is horrified by his tremendous loss, and decides that his crop is sadly depleted, and he must protect himself, so he takes his gun, and it looks as if our little garden-friend stands a show of complete annihilation, unless reason comes to the rescue, and protects him by law. Do we not owe our little friends something in the way of keep, for the great service they render us, in preying on the destructive insect pests that constantly menace all vege tation, especially here in the south where we have no freezing cold weath er to decimate the ranks of the ene my? In my own garden, the birds peck my ripe tomatoes, and if I were (Continued on Page 2.) CAMPHOR FARM LOCATED. Land Being Cleared for Trees Near Bartow. The following, from the Courier-In formant, shows that the business of growing camphor is beginning to take hold of the people. There is no doubt that any one who has suitable land, unoccupied, cannot find a better or more profitable use for it than to set it out to camphor trees. The Courier-Informant says: Some weeks ago the Courier-In formant announced that Mr. L. Wal ter Weed, representing a company formed in Washington, .D C., for the purpose of cultivating camphor trees on a large scale in this state, with the ultimate design of producing gum camphor in marketable quantities, was prospecting in this vicinity with the view of locating such a farm near Bartow. Mr. Weed returned to Bartow last week and is now actively engaged in carrying on the work of establishing the camphor farm. He has secured a section, 640 acres, of land, known as the “Hancock place,” near Lake Garfield, thirty acres of which is 'be ing cleared and fenced and put in condition for setting the trees, which will be done without delay. This part of the work is in charge of J. B. Pylant, which is a guarantee that it will be thoroughly and intelligently done, and that there will be no fail ure on this score. Owing to the fact that much of the seed planted last winter failed to germinate, Mr. Weed has only suc ceeded in securing about three thou sand plants, but he is scouring the country roundabout for more, and will probably be able to add largely to this number before the present sea son’s planting is finished. It is understood that the agricul tural department at Washington is in terested in this experiment of Mr. Weed and will give it every encour agement in its power. That it will prove a great success no one who has observed the luxuriant growth of the camphor tree in this section will doubt for a moment. We hope some day to see camphor farms as numer ous and as profitable in this section as orange groves are now. <• • - ■■ What would our people think if the law provided for a fine of SIOO for any *ne guilty of selling 1 a spoiled egg? The new lowa pure food law is very strict, and one of the provisions make it a SIOO fine to sell a bad egg. The farmer who brings in a lot of eggs that are over ripe and sells them at fresh egg prices cannot plead that the “children gathered them up and may have accidentally put in some that were not very fresh.” Any kind ofan old tried out egg will not count any more in the state of lowa. - Volusia Countv Recrd. Established 1874.