108 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



was compared with, that from trees left unsprayed. The average yield 

 from the sprayed trees was seven bushels and from the unsprayed trees 

 2.5 bushel per tree. The sprayed fruit sold for $1.75 a bushel and the un- 

 sprayed to $1 a bushel. The cost of spraying, including the chemicals used, 

 all the labor connected with the work, interest on the investment in a 

 spraying outfit, was only 53 cents per tree. Thus there was a net gain from 

 spraying amounting to $9.20 per tree, and a total net gain from the spraying 

 of the 2,940 trees of $27,048. Can you afford not to spray under such con- 

 ditions? This demonstration certainly argued that it is a shameful 

 waste to allow apple trees to go unsprayed, and what applies to apple 

 trees applies with equal force to other fruits. 



The grain grading exhibit, put on by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, was of great practical value to those who saw it. Palph 

 C. Wright, federal grain supervisor at Minneapolis, who was in charge 

 of the exhibit showed hundreds of farmers how, under the new federal 

 grain grading rules, wheat and other grains are tested in determining the 

 grade. Most of his work was confined to the weight per bushel of wheat. 

 He had a test kettle and other apparatus at hand and showed the farmers 

 how to obtain the correct weight. He explained that the wheat to be 

 tested must be put into a funnel, the bottom of which is just two inches 

 above' the top of the kettle. The bottom of the funnel must have an 

 opening one and one-fourth inches in diameter. From this funnel the 

 wheat must be allowed to run as fast as it can through this opening into 

 the kettle and the kettle must be allowed to overflow. Then the top 

 must be struck off with a piece of wood having a round edge and it 

 must be struck off with three strokes, each one covering part of the 

 bucket. Striking off the grain with one stroke of the sharp scale beam, 

 as is usually done at country elevators is not permissible for the rea- 

 son that it gives too low a weight. Improperly striking off the top of 

 the kettle may lower the weight per bushel as much as one pound. 



Another thing to which Mr. Wright called attention in his demonstra- 

 tions was that in sampling a load the wheat should never be taken from 

 the top because when a load of wheat has been hauled from five to eight 

 miles over country roads the heavier kernels have settled to the bot- 

 tom and the lighter ones have been crowded to the top; therefore, if the 

 test is made from the top wheat it will not properly represent the entire 

 load. The sample should be taken from about three places in a load 

 with a regular sampler that can be shoved clear to the bottom of the 

 wagonbox. 



The new Iowa Fleece Wool Growers' Association showed its business 

 acumen by being on the grounds with a splendid exhibit of wool samples 

 illustrating how wool is graded before it is sold to the woolen mills. The 

 more important grades of wool were shown and the approximate price of 

 each, based on the present market, indicated so that any one interested 

 could get a fair idea of the difference in good and poor wool. Attention 

 was also called in this exhibit to the wide difference there is in the shrink 

 of wool. Some of the fine wools that carry a good deal of oil shrink as 

 much as 67 per cent in scouring, while medium wools shrink from 40 to 

 50 per cent. 



