Piig€ Sixteen 



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THE I. A. A. RECORD 



December, 19} I 



Red Fox Deserves 



Some Protection 



Come!! Professor Says Reynard Does 

 Not Merit Bad Reputation 



The red fox should be given protec- 

 doii as are skunk, coon, mink and other 

 fur animals, before he goes the way of 

 the passenger pigeons and other ex- 

 tinct forms of wild life. His good 

 habits far outweigh his bad traits, says 

 W. J. Hamilton, Jr., of the zoology de- 

 partment at Cornell University. 



Generally, he says, the fox is not so 

 black as he is painted. In analyzing 

 the stomachs of more than sixty foxes. 

 Dr. Hamilton finds that the principal 

 foods of the fox are meadow mice; 

 ground squirrels; fruits, especially ap- 

 ples and berries; insects; and other small 

 forms of animal life. In only one stom- 

 ach did he find chicken feathers or bird 

 remains. A cat, he says, puts the fox 

 to shame as a bird killer. Without ques- 

 tion Reynard does take a bird now and 

 then as the occasion demands. But 

 what of it, when he eats about 600 

 medow mice in a year and keeps cot- 

 tontails in check? 



Young Like Kittens 



In late March or early April the vixin, 

 or she-fox, bears four or five young. 

 For their arrival she utilizes some wood- 

 chuck hole or enlarges a rabbit retreat. 

 At the end of four or five weeks the 

 young are large enough to come out- 

 of-doors. They have woolly coats quite 

 anlike those of their parents and romp 

 and play much like kittens. The mother 

 is never far oflf and at any indication 

 •f danger an alarm sends the young 

 tumbling into their retreat. 



The brood grows rapidly and is fed 

 by both parents. Young woodchucks, 

 meadow mice, an occasional small bird 

 or butterfly is brought to them, often 

 alive. The young tug and worry their 

 victim and get an early training in 

 hunting in this manner, he says. By the 

 end of summer the young are grown, 

 and the den is a mass of bones and fur, 

 some feathers, and oflfal from their food. 

 The young scatter when cold nights 

 come in the fall and are capable of 

 having young before they are a year old. 



Deserves Keen Reputation 



The sharp, shrewd looking muzzle, 

 the quick eye and the erect ears give the 

 fox the characteristic expression of 

 acuteness which it does not belie. Many 

 tales are told of the cunning and crafti- 

 ness of the fox in eluding pursuit by 

 men and dogs. Reynard has been 

 known, when hard pressed, to jump on 

 the back of sheep or cattle which are 

 stampeded, so they may carry the fox 

 some distance before he jumps off and 

 retreats safely. 



NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEET- 

 ING OF ILLINOIS AGRICUL- 

 TURAL HOLDING CO. 



NOTICE is hereby given that the 

 annual meeting of the stock- 

 holders of Illinois Agricultural Hold- 

 ing Company will be held on Wednes- 

 day, the 27th day of January, 1932, 

 at the hour of 11:00 o'clock a. m., 

 at the Faust Hotel, Rockford, 111., 

 to elect directors, receive, and, if 

 approved, confirm the report of the 

 board of directors of the company 

 for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 

 1931, and to consider and, if ap- 

 proved, ratify and confirm all the 

 acts and proceedings of the board of 

 directors done and taken since the 

 last annual meeting of the members 

 of the company; and for the trans- 

 action of such further and other 

 business as may properly come before 

 the meeting. 



Dated at Chicago, 111., Dec. 1, 

 1931. 



GEORGE F. TULLOCK, 



Secretary. 



Build Factory at Ames 

 To Test Use Farm Wastes 



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Proper Seed Storage 



Increases Corn Yield 



Factory-scale experiments will be 

 conducted in a factory at Ames, Iowa, 

 by the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture with a view of developing com- 

 mercial utilization and finding a more 

 profitable outlet for various farm by- 

 products, including corn stalks, straw, 

 oat hulls, rice hulls, cottonseed hulk, 

 and other similar materials. 



Stressing the need for this work, Dr 

 W. W. Skinner, who will have charge 

 of the experiment, said, "The farmer 

 has to raise about V/z pounds of waste 

 material to every pound of grain he 

 produces. This represents a loss of fer- 

 tility and brings on an immediate prob- 

 lem of disposal. The cost of collecting 

 such materials as corn stalks and straw 

 is very great and one object of the fac- 

 tory-scale experiment now being started 

 is to determine whether by additional 

 chemical treatment we can produce 

 value in excess of this cost." 



Dr. Skinner stated that the small-. 

 scale laboratory experiments of the past 

 have offered little opportunity for the 

 solution of the problem. The recent 

 Congress appropriated $75,000 for this 

 work. 



The seed corn storage houses at Var- 

 na, Granville and Henry will be open 

 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 

 afternoons during the season for seed 

 selection, announces the Marshall-Put- 

 nam Farm Bureau. 



The Farm Management Department 

 of the University of Illinois has found 

 that corn yields may be increased tw» 

 bushels per acre where the seed is prop- 

 erly stored and not allowed to freeze. 

 Proper storage and testing will give an 

 average yield of five bushels more per 

 acre. An increase of only 1 1^ bushels 

 per acre will pay for the service of stor- 

 age and testing. 



Corn Price and Pen Rent 



Public Forests Will Pay 

 Their Own Way: Wamen 



Public forests in a densely populated 

 state will more than pay their own 

 way, according to Dr. George F. War- 

 ren, Cornell economist. They regulate 

 the flow of streams and protect the 

 water supply, as well as provide for 

 hunting, fishing, and recreation, and 

 improve the appearance of the state. 

 None of these uses interferes with the 

 growth of trees for timber products. 



It is unfortunate, he says, that large 

 areas of excellent forest land, that were 

 never well adapted to farming were ever 

 cleared. Abandonment of these treas 



In the last issue of the RECORD " 

 there appeared a statement which im- 

 plied that commission firms are re- 

 sponsible for present pen rent, corn 

 prices, etc., at the stock yards; that 

 commission firms are charging $1.30 a 

 bushel for corn fed. 



It should be understood that tht 

 stock yards company, not commission 

 firms, fixes the cost of pen rent, corn 

 prices, etc. The price charged on corn 

 includes delivery to the different pens 

 and alleys in the stock yards. The 

 packer and stock yards administration, 

 U. S. D. A., has authority to regulatf 

 such charges. ■ 



In 1929 the Land O'Lakes Creamery 

 handled $52,500,000 worth of dairy 

 products; the National Cheese Pro- 

 ducers Federation in 1930 $11,886,102 

 worth of cheese. The Dairymen's 

 League Co-operative Association of 

 New York in 1929 handled more than 

 $89,000,000 worth of milk and dairy 

 products; the California Fruit Groweri 

 Exchange the same year shipped fruit 

 valued at $104,900,000. 



began about fifty years ago and it has ' 

 continued at an increasing rate. Fortu- 

 nately the conditions which make land 

 imdesirable for farming often make it 

 excellent for forestry. 



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