Sevier County Farm Bureau News, 1920;

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SEVIER COUNTY, UTAH
Volume 3
JUNE, 1920
Number 6
FEDERAL FARM LOAN RANK OFFICIALS VISIT SEVIER ASSOCIATIONS.
Sevier County was given a visit on
June 23rd and 24th by three members of the Federal Farm Loan Bank
of Berkeley, California, namely: R.
T. Evans, L. M. Marton and L. R.
Martineau. These men are making
a tour of the districts in which the
Federal Farm Loan system is being
used by the farmers in order that
they might get better acquainted
with the conditions under which their
bank is loaning money.
The first day was spent at Monroe
and vicinity, looking over the farms
where loans had been made and also
farms that have made applications.
The second day a visit was made
over the district served by the Richfield Farm Loan Association. Secretary J. F. Ogden and County Agent
Holmstead made the trip over this
section with the bankers and were
kept busy answering questions pertaining to the general farming conditions and practices used by our
farmers.
The visitors were very well pleased
with the conditions they found in Sevier County, and in their opinion not
a single loan had been made to the
farmers in this section without careful investigation on the part of the
local organizations. The only criticism they made was to the effect that
some of the farm houses, barns and
equipment were not being kept up
in the way of repair and painting as
well as they should be. As one of
the men remarked, that a hundred
dollars spent in paint and fixing up
would make a thousand dollars in
appearance and comfort to the owner.
Mr. Evans informed the writer that
the little trouble the bank was having at present would not interfere
very much with the future activity of
the system, and that in a short time
all  applications  would   be   taken   up
and passed upon and the money
turned over to the applicant. The
system is a good one, so we can expect some little interference with it,
but that will only help strengthen the
weak features and make this loaning
system a still better one for the farmers.
ALFALFA WEEVIL SPRAYING.
This has been a very discouraging
year for the alfalfa weevil in Sevier
County. There has been war against
them all during the month of June
and from reports as to the hay crop
the war has been successfully fought.
About 3,500 acres of alfalfa has
been sprayed with calcium arsenate
in Sevier County, and 90 per cent of
it at the time when the maximum
number of the worms were feeding,
thus killing them in that stage. The
fields which have been treated are
yielding practically the same as in
years gone by when the weevil were
unknown. Redmond, Salina and Aurora fields are producing parasites in
sufficient number to reduce the weevil very materially. In gathering up
the weevil cocoons in these fields, out
of every ten cocoons, seven will contain parasites. From Aurora south
the parasites become fewer as the distance increases. The parasites are
increasing very rapidly and gradually
following up the weevil. Perhaps it
will be but a few years until the weevil will become extinct due to natural courses. Let us hope so, but until that time it will be necessary to
practice the control methods we have
now.
No actual data as to yields per
acre on sprayed and unsprayed fields
have been collected at this writing,
wherefore actual results as to yields
will be published later. To date the
reports have only been made from
general appearance of the hay before
and after spraying, but they have all
been very favorable.
KILLED "WHITE TOP" BY SPRAY-
ING.
Considerable has been said about
killing weeds with poison by applying
it in the form of a spray, so in order
to prove that such can be done,
County Agent Holmstead assisted by
3. G. Clark, of Richfield, made a demonstration on the latter's lot on June
22nd.
A small spray outfit, consisting of
a hand pump, which was donated by
the C. W. & M. Co. of Richfield, distributing boom of four nozzles two
feet apart, two small cans containing
the poison solution, and a light wagon upon which the equipment was
mounted, made up the sprayer. The
poison used was sodium arsenite, prepared by'the U. S. Mining & Smelting
Co. of Midvale, and was diluted in
the proportion of one to fifty. This
solution was sprayed over the "white
top" as a fine mist spray under 80
pounds pressure, and just enough to
thoroughly wet the leaves of the
plants without the solution dripping
off.
At this writing, which is one week
later, the "white top" shows the results of very severe treatment. The
entire patch has the appearance
which is characteristic after a long-
continued drought. There is not a
green leaf to be found where the poison solution had come in contact with
the plant. About two applications of
this strength solution will kill the entire plant, roots and all. It is impossible to wet every portion of the
weeds at one spraying, therefore, it
is recommended that two or three
light applications be made a week or
so apart.
County Agent Holmstead is planning on giving a demonnstration in
most parts, so look for announcements to learn how to kill weeds.