THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



231 



to increase the average cash income. The commit- 

 tees that have these matters in charge should, 

 therefore, be regarded as quite as important as 

 those which deal with business questions, and they 

 should receive the same support from the entire 

 community which they are endeavoring to benefit. 

 The result will be a community spirit which, in its 

 way, is capable of producing as valuable results as 

 the national spirit. In fact, patriotism, like charity, 

 begins at home that is, in the neighborhood. 



This is an age of prevention. Meat 

 Protect inspection is one of the greatest of 



Your Home all disease preventives. It is one 

 Meat which a great many farmers now 



Supply ignore, so far as the supply of meats 



in their own home is concerned. 



They are not only losing many dollars, but are 

 spreading disease by ignoring the possibilities of 

 good which meat inspection affords. 



Recently there was received at the Department 

 of Veterinary Medicine, Colorado Agricultural Col- 

 lege, some meat samples from hogs which a farmer 

 killed for home use. Upon examination of these 

 samples, was found an immense number of tape- 

 worm cysts (so-called measles) which, if taken into 

 the body, would cause tapeworms. 



Another instance: Farmer killed seven hogs, 

 keeping three for home use, using heads of same for 

 head-cheese. The other four hogs were presented 

 for inspection at the college, where upon examina- 

 tion, tuberculosis was found in all four heads. Upon 

 knowing this, the head-cheese at home was immedi- 

 ately discarded. 



These instances show the average condition of 

 danger in rural life, from some of the farmers not 

 taking available and proper precautions in having 

 meat inspected. 



When animals of any kind, including poultry, 

 are killed on the farm for home consumption, if 

 possible it would be well always to submit the 

 carcass at the time of slaughter for inspection to 

 a graduate veterinarian, in order that if there, be 

 any disease among live stock as tuberculosis, tape- 

 worm cysts, etc., the farmer's family, also his live 

 stock, could be protected in time so as to prevent 

 the spread of disease, also from further pecuniary 

 loss. 



Want me to join a gold mining company? 

 Nope!, A good live potato association suits me bet- 

 ter. Good potatoes are as good as gold. 



The grunting of contented hogs in a pasture is 

 better than the jingling of money in the pocket. The 

 hogs keep growing, the money keeps going. 



Every farmer needs fuel ; every 

 Your Wood farm needs fertilizer ; and every 

 Lot; Money, farm woodlot needs improvement. 

 Fuel, Why not kill all three birds with 



Fertilizer one stone? By judiciously planned 



thinnings the condition of the wood- 

 lot can be greatly improved : the material removed 

 in the thinnings can be burned as firewood, and the 

 wood ashes left are so rich in potash as to make a 

 valuable fertilizer. 



The woodlot is, perhaps, the only farm crop 

 to which the farmer has not considered it necessary 

 to devote any care. His grains are sowed on care- 

 fully prepared soil ; his vegetables are cultivated, 

 and his fruit trees are pruned and sprayed ; his 

 forest trees alone are left to look out for themselves. 

 This is the more remarkable when it is taken into 

 consideration that any labor expended on the wood- 

 lot not only improves the final crop, but ordinarily 

 pays for itself as well. No detailed technical knowl- 

 edge is required for the work, all that is necessary 

 is the exercise of common sense. 



It is obvious that the trees in any woodlot are 

 not all of equal value. Some are taller, straighter, 

 thriftier, and of species which yield more valuable 

 wood than others. It is also obvious that there is 

 a constant struggle going on between the trees for 

 light and growing space. The object of thinning 

 is simply to give the best trees the advantage in 

 this struggle by removing the poorer ones which 

 interfere with their development. 



First of all, defective trees should be removed. 

 This includes trees attacked by inserts or fungi 

 (conks), trees with fire-scarred butts, with tops 

 broken off by wind or lightning, and in general all 

 trees which are unthrifty from any cause. Next 

 come the trees of poor form such as very crooked 

 or very branchy ones, which are interfering with 

 the growth of better formed neighbors. And finally 

 are the trees of less valuable species, such as dog- 

 wood, ironwood, and hornbeam. These not only 

 take up space that might better be occupied by 

 such species as oak, hickory and ash, but also, as a 

 rule, produce seed more abundantly and so repro- 

 duce themselves at the expense of more desirable 

 trees. 



While the wood removed in these thinnings is 

 frequently of no value for other purposes, it can 

 practically always be used to advantage for fuel. 

 In this way the work can be made to pay for itself, 

 particularly when the future use of the wood ashes 

 for fertilizer is borne in mind. The essential point 

 to remember in making such thinnings is that the 

 woodlot is a tree society, in which the best trees 

 should be given every chance to attain the greatest 

 possible development by the removal and utiliza- 

 tion of the unfit. 



