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JUNE 21. 1931 “ZI-ihi-ZZFIIQM

FOR FARMERS, STOCK

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NEWSY NOTES

BY AGBICOLA

SOME IIAYFIILLD WEEDS

, 1 received a. weed for identifica-

ttion, which was found growing in

f g heyfieTd sown out last year. It had Igvidently come as an impurity in ;' the hayseed. The flower stalk 1 spygng from a basal rosette of lyrate l legves, the terminal lobes of which 1 were large. The stalk was angular

{and ribbed; about 18 inches high

t and throwing 011 a. number of

I branches carrying short dense race-

meg of bright yellow flowers. Each

tflower has four petals. As it was

ll in full bloom early 1n the month, it

:11; very conspicuous in the hay-

3 field.

; 1t is the Yellow Rocket or Winter

lOress. Barbara; stricta Andrz: it

fie not yet prevalent to any great

Textent, and should easily be kept

Idown by hand-pulling. All weeds

take up room, nourishment anrl

:V.'8.t6I‘, which should go to support

Zsolnething better, v equently (like

1 the Scottish King's freebcoter) "the

iloons are weel awa l "

E A city friend kindly called for me the other morning and I had an enjoyable drive ‘mid scenes and postures new. In the course of the Journey I was surprised to see the prevalence of Sheep or Field Sorrel (“Sour Sab" I have heard some call - it.) One field had absolutely nothing else growing on it. MacSwaine says it is common on poor soil, but this ileld had wheat on 1t last year and wns sown to hay, but the hay was smothered out. It must therefore _ have been good land; and my ex. » periance is that the sorrel will grow on any land provided it is sour or , acid. Lime kills it out.

Another weed that is making headway 1n the hayflelds is the _ Mouse-ear chickweed. This is going

to be a problem worse than the

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1 “mar new PLANT"

I was gratified to see by a note in the "Public Forum" (June 6th) from Mr. H. R. Bovyer, that the Mezereon (Daphne meoercum) ill-s been crown on‘ the lawns at Crapaud for more than half a. cen- tury. It is a pretty shrub both in flower and in fruit and comes like the daffodils, 5.5 the poet ggyg, "be. fore the swallow dares" and "tgkw the winds of (April) with beauty." I saw it first on the Island about iwclliy years ago. in the garden oi gig late Dr. MacNeil, on Pownall

eet. In my bvyhoodb home in

- Old England, we had a bush of

‘Mezeiwil ETOWIHE in the garden,

and this makes it (as you may sup- lme) still a favorite with mo.

Garden and field plants are not " admitted to the flora of any country until they have "escaped" and prov- ed their ilbiiiiy t0 maintain them- selves against the competition of the native vegetatio , without the aid of man. ‘This is quite excep- tional in the most cf cases, and l>°5ilibiy not more than a dozen "Biiclls" have done so here. The , Mezereon is a native of southern Europe (excluding Greece) but was brought to lmglsnd as a garden plant. It escaped and colonized the tomes of the south of England, and t. :0 L! now included in Hooker's lg Flora of the British Isles." This 13h Precisely what happened here, Vials Mr. Meuervy pointed out, and

_, We must therefore welcome his . "lid. the Mezereon, as a new mem- ber c! our Island flora.

ii docs not appear in the late , ‘Mm Miwswbllfs list which was

published about 25 years ago“ That It‘: named 414 wild plants “known

occur in Prince Edward Island.” To the credit of our local botanists all“ b! the kind assistance of Prof. broil. oi Ottawa, that number has "ti" raised to over s50 species, but here still remains much ground to i0 be covereeL

11"" °bii8ed to Mr. Bovyer for

"Vi": me this opportunity to ex-

liiflin the matter, and pleased to

iilld that he, too, is interested in

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A GOOD WORD FOR THE CROW?

A circular from the Publications Branch of the Dominion Depart- ment cf- Agriculture calls attention to the value of the crow as a pre- dator of the- cutworms, which are. as my‘ readers will know to their cost, unusually numerous this year. There is no question that crows, in this respect, are useful; but un- luckily for Mr. Crow he has varied this diet too often at the expenes of the chicken coop for the farmer to look upon him with a friendly eye. Crows, too, are blamed for plund- BTi-"B the nests of small birds, but this does not happen in our district, 1°!‘ whim the Brackles begin to nest they drive all the crows away. The grackles themselves search out and plunder the nests of the smaller birds which feed oncutworms and caterpillars.

Man is seldom the gainer by ‘Vii/Bins’ a. war of extermination likalnst birds: he disturbs that mysterious "balance of nature” which is one of the long results of time and circumstance. Neverthe- less 1i we had fewer bv half, of crows and grackles in our Island, ti? 1 cefiflillly we should have more email birds and they are just, as valuable.

“A dry May and a wet June," we are told ‘makes the farmer whistle a merry tune." May has been dry enough to satisfy the most exacting. but at the time of writing (June 20) June has only come up W iii-iii year's quantity of moisture for the month. There is just the same amount oi water on our old earth, but like the supply of specie, it is not circulating as it ought. Syria, Arabia. and South Africa are hard hit with drought this year, and so‘ are someparts oi the Can- adian West. On the other hand we read of floods in Britain and on the continent oi Europe.

I have never come across any theory to account for this unequal distribution of water. One observa- tion however. seems to hold good: that is, in about a month after the sun has attained its highest alti- tude in any country, the "dmppy" or "rainy" season commences, alc- cordingly as that country is temper‘- Bte 0i‘ ifflnical. On this natural fact rests the legend of st, swim. ins day. July 1s, with its following ivfiy day! rain, in the Old Coun- try; and the tropical ralnstorms of South China, and the South Seas. In temperate countries the “droppy" season makes the "catchy" weather We Wmlllain of at haymaking.

BlItDS 0F P. E. ISLAND (second instalment)

(oia) American Herring Gull. R. (ll) ' (54) Ring-billed Gull. M. occas- lonally. (60) Bonaparte! Gull. S. R. Com- monest. _ (64) Caspian Tern. M. (one taken at Tracadie). ‘ (70) Common Tern "Wilson's Tern or Sea-Swallow" S. R. Com- mon. _ (71) Arctic Tern, SR. Neither common nor rare. . (77) Black Tern, M. (f) (106) Leachk Petrel. S.V. (109) Wilson's Petrel. S.V. (lfilfiannet or Solan Goose, S.V. (119) Single-crested Cormorant or Shag. SN. (120) Double-crested Cormorant. S.V. (125) American White Pelican V., "accidental." (129) American Merganser, Goos- ander, or Shelldrake SR. (lad) Red-Breasted Mierganser or

QUALITY

lng fruit,

fruit-farm in Kent.

London market.

effecting large

merit.

arresting decay.

alive.

of vasellne.

Shelldrake S. R. (reported by Bain)

(131) Hooded Mergcnser. (Spring and Fall Migrant on Atlantic Coast.)

(132) Mallard Duck M. Rare, Mac- Swain).

(133) Black or Dusky Duck, SR.

the botany of our, Province.

(sometimes WR.) l

lovcAlL.

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fruit belt.

SCIENTIFIC TRIUMPH TO BEN- EFIT CANADA

(From s Special Correspondent) London, June ll

An entirely new method oi stor- invented by British scientists at Cambridge, _ being tried out oommercialy on a

Apples which were put into store in the autumn came out in such good condition six months later that they rellised t1; prices on the

This method is known as storage." i it works out as well 1n practice as in the laboratory, 1t will have the double advantage oi nomies over cold storage, both on capital cutlsy and running coats, and of keeping the fruit 1n better condition.

so fal- it can only be used for certain varieties of apples. Scien- tists have yet to find out whether the principles can be applied to other varieties and types of fruit-

"Gas stores" For Canada?

Canadian ‘scientists are interested in the pcaibilitlel

"gas storage" and are make prellrnisry trials in the near future. One of the first problems will be to fnd whether Canadian Iarieties do as well as’ Brcmleys, Worcester Peal-main, Lane's Prince Albert and the other English sp- ples which thrive ou the treat-

The essence of the method, (which was worked out at the low tem- perature laboratorles at Cambridge helped by grants from the Em- pire Msrketiug Board) is that the work is done by the apples them- selves instead of by the refriger- ator. Fruit, like man, gives 011a gas, carbon dioxidepwllich apple breathes out continuously. A certain amount of this gas acts as a preservative and slows down chemical action in the fruit, thus

The gas ‘molly has the same ef- fect as cold storage-namely, slow down respiration and chemic- al activity. ‘Ibo much of it, howev- er, suffocates the fruit, just as a. man is suffocated if he is buried

to

smeared With Vaseline

All you need to make a "gas store" is a well-built shed with thick walls, and a large quantity

A “gas store," unlike a cold store, docs not need expensive insulation. A refrigerator plant is necessary to lower the temperature oi the fruit when it is first put into store. but after this it need only be run for l. few hours a day. There are two commercial "gas stores" at present in Kent. A lead- ing fruit-fsrlner has mnsformed his cast-house (one of those pic- turesque round brick kilns uud for drying hopawhich are as much part of the friendly Kentlsh coun- tryside asrwindmills are of the Dutch landscape) into a store div- ided into six rooms- He has covered the inside of the walls with iron sheeting and smeared roof and walls

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Farmer With 11 Children ill Remainon the Land A

stores," I wls told, are likely to be put into operation next season.

Will It Work in Canada? But many problems still remain for the scientist. Althollsh the store is completely sealed, winds have a marked eifect on the atmosphere inside. A strong wind seems to drive away the carbon dioxide. Gas stores scientists say, should be plac- ed in sheltered spots.

Canadian growers, however, have another problem; will “gas stor- age" work for Canadian varieties? So far, most of the apples common- ly grown in Canada and the other Dominlons have not been tested. The British Department of " ' tiiic and Industrial Research has built, with money from the Em- pire Marketing Board, the largest experimental cold storage research centre in the world. This is the Dltton Laboratory, at East Malling, in Kent, where these and other problems connected with fruit and vegetable storage are to be tack- led-

Pear Problems

They also hope to experiment with gas storage on other kinds of fruits. Pears for instance, ale not- oriously dimcult to manage in cold store, and gu storage may alter the whole pear situation by enab- ling the delicate fruit to be held over without damaging its quality, and by cutting down the present heavy loss from wastage.

The flavour oi an apple is close- ly connected, scientists believe, with certain volatile products which it gives off in incredibly mlnutc quan titles. They are attempting to is- olete these substances, condense them and find out just what gives a Cox's Orange Pippin or a Jon- athan its distinctive taste. Then, hope, more will be known about whether gas storage can be used extensively to improve and cheap- en storage of Canadian and other Empire apples.

Sales Of Beef Increase

Official Grading of Beef Under Government Supervision Proves ‘ Popular

Figures issued by the Department of Agriculture at Ottawa show an increase oi nearly ao per cent, or

. 590,000 pounds in the volume of

beef. omcially graded and branded under government .supervision dur- ing the month of April last. The total for the Dominion for March was 1,109,857 pounds, and for Ap- ril 1,983,022. It 1s interesting; to observe also that of the April tot- al 1,883,247 pounds graded "blue brand and 049,770 pounds "red brand."

During the period under review the volume of "omcially branded beef" reported from Ontario rose from 470,470 pounds t0 726,285; while theyolume reported from Quebec rose from 178,160 pouds to 305,000 pounds About the same ra- tio cf increase was reportedJrom the three Prairie Provinces and from British Columbia.

Under the supervision oi the Beef Grading Service of the Do- minion Department oi Agriculture the two top grades of beef are id- entified as to quality for the con-

with a thick layer. of vcseline. Tile stores are as nearly airtight as it is possible for them to be. They hold, in all, about 12,000 bushels.

No Wastes!

venience oi the consumer. The grade designations are "choice," id- entified byi a‘ red brand, and "good" identified by e. blue brand. These brand marks are applied in such a way that they show on every 1m- portant retail cut when received

1 watched thousands of baskets. from the store. use}, containing a bushel, beinl During the first week of June taken out and loaded up for mar- there was a decided falling of! in lret. The apples were in tip-top the demand for beef 1n the Pro- condition. Thcy ION Iii lrlmilfl Vince of Quebec, and a consequent Seedings, which is the most im- drop in price. This 1| attributed by portcnt variety of hmglish apple the packers and observers of the and comprises about three-quarters cattle market to the three-day fast of the crop in the south-eastern consequent to the demise of I-Iis

Late Ibninence, Cardinal Hnuleau,

"There is not more than 2 to of Quebec. At this time of the year 3 per cent. Install." the grower beef and other masts have to keep told me. "This 1| something like "moving," and when for any reas- half the usual amount." The correct concentration of esr- price is the usual incentive to keep ‘bon dioxide is shut 10 per cent. things going.

and the temperature should 'be kept steady at 4i or 42 Farenhcit. ulor interest turns from the more During the winter it is often un- substantial i090. such as beef, to necessary to run the refrigerator lighter foods. With the return of for days at a time. The exact pro- cooler weather and another school portion of CO2 in the stratosphere 1n any oi the chambers is shown ,on a dial outside the stare. If itlhilii quality beef suitable for grad-

cn tbs public stop buying a out in

With the coming of summer, pop-

‘yur, however. the demand for beei ,wi11 recover. A steady supply of

rises too high, a ventilator u open- [ins and branding u in sight, and ed to let some more air in. but tbs Canadian housewife will be no one enters the store, once it is able to buy with convenience and

sealed in October. i111 it is opened definite assurance as to quality‘ up 1n tbs spring. Two an "geswbeashewanisbeef.=

BREEDER

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Gas. Attack On Fruit '0 Storage Problems

t e’ NEW BIITIIII ‘INVI ON WILL IMPROVE Al!’

.. ._.._-..........-..

. The Economy of Mach ine Production In Agriculture

The Royal Bank of Canada is to be congratulated for putting before its clientele and others who are interested in the modern trend of Agriculture, the scholarly essay with the above title. Scholarly, but not academic, for it is thoughtful and eminently practical as times now go, and if one docs not altogether sentimentally a g r e e with some of its conclusions, it 1s well that the author has introduc- ed to us c. subject which is claiming more and more of the world's at- tention.

The genesis of the essay may be briefly stated. For the past four years the Royal Bank, in order to stimulate the study of the economic problems of Canada, has offered an annual One Thousand. Dollar Fellowship, for in lieu thereof a Cash Prize of Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars) to any graduate or under-graduate of a Canadian Uni- versity, for an essay on certain prescribed subjects. The prize for 1981 was won by Mr. Andrew Stew- art of the Manitoba Agricultural College, with the essay whose title stands at the head of this article. In passing, it may be stated that the subjects for the competitions oi 1932 are put before students 1n a. short preface.

The essay quite naturally divides- itself into' two parts. Firstly, a his- toric account of the gradual me- chanizaticn of farming operations. and secondly, a consideration of the tendency of further mechanization to develop e. sort of "farm-factory" 0n which greater output is; attained at decreased cost. 8nd where the human element is reduced to the

In 00051508110 With the 811C‘ cessful operation of the enterprise.

The historical section presents in a. brief though entertaining form the various attempts made by man. through the ages, to lighten what at first must have been the severe drudgery of his annual labor. We are taken into all lands. in all times: and the author has put an immense amount of research into his task. The plough, first fashion- ed from a forked stick, must be, he thinks, the greatest mechanical ad- vance in those early times. Just be- fore the Christian era iron plough points were added. and the Roman naturalist, Pliny, even describes a wheeled plough. To overcome the arduous labor of harvesting by sickle, 8nd later by scythe, the Gauls in the first century (accord- ing to the same writer) used a header of the combing type, and this appears to have been in use in the fourth century, but gradually fell into disuse and was forgotten almost to our own times.

Notuntil the lalter decades of the

seventeenth century, when the needs of a. growing urban popula- tion forced the pace, did agricul- ture look round for labor-saving devices, and begin that movement which has lasted-and with gather- ing force-to our own day. At this point our author has introduced a chapter on "Colonial Agriculture" full of curious bits of history. which will bring home to readers the many and great disadvantages against which the hardy pioneers of our race had to contend. Hand tools they had, but the only agri- cultural implements were the “plough, harrow, and wagon, and they were still of a very primitive nature." Such a state of affairs could only exist, however, as long ls farming remained under a "self- sufficing” economy.

The nineteenth century saw agri- culture transformed from a "self- suificing" to a commercial basis. There was an increased demand for agricultural commodities, increased transportation and faculties for marketing them, and many factors which stimulated their production. New machines were invented and old machines improved, to take care of the increased pr-’ "m and agriculture became mechan- ized and ccmmercia-lised, with, how- ever, the individual farm still main- taining its place as the unit.‘

But of late-and here we enter upon a consideration of the second part of the esslW-"there is a growing tendency to enlarge the area operated as a unit." This of course does not greatly affect our own province, yet even here I notice a change. It is nearly a quarter of s. century 88o when I first pro- pounded the question "what is the minimum acreage upon which a farmer can maintain himself by his own exertions?" and received as reply "fifty acres." If the quea- tion were put today, the answer would be "one hundred acres"—the result of a higher standard of liv- ing, l-nd the increased ability to do by machinery what was then done by hand. In the wider spaces of the

Canadian west, and in the United States. the tendency to operate

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bines with a. cut, of twenty feet are in use on some farms: and these require two men only to each outfit. The armies of men formerly called rip to take the Canadian harvest have dwindled to a. mere fraction of their original numbers. e The average cost of a combine in Western Canada is found to be $2,300; the zo-rt combine (the larg- est yet made) is $3,000. To this must be added the cost of the trac- tor. Such high initial costs require a very large acreage of operation to be handled, with a hope of profit For Kansas it has been suggested that the economical unit for mech- anized farming would cost from $50,000 to $200,000, (capital invest- ment in land, equipment, and live stock): and this expenditure is be- yond the means of the vast major- ity of individuals. So that "corpor- ation" farms, like that of the Campbell C. F., in Montana, have been inaugurated, and their num- bers will increase as time goes on. In conclusion the Russian adven- ture,--the Five-Year Plan-ls brief- ly sketched. Just as the leaven of the French Revolution has pro- foundly affected the political life of the world, s0 it will be found that the Russian Revolution will leave its mark on the economic life. And though these changes will not for a very long time affect our fortunate little province, yet the wise man will seek to know the signs of the times by securing this little book for study and reflection.