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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1882)
86 THE WEST SHORE. May, 1 88a bucket. Hi rule was to feed the soil ind feed every aniniHl to full measure of appetite. , INCOME FROM HIS ONE ACRE. The milk product from each cow per year delivered to families was $100, viz. : two tow one year; $200, one cow tix months? $50; one cow sold for $50; eggs sold, alK)t.t $35.00; pork salted for family te, five hundred and fifty pounds at eight dollars per c wt., $44.00. V eg ctablcsand milk for family use, per year estimated at $50.00. Whole amount of income from one acre of land thus well tilled and fertil ized, $429. Outgo in cash, $105; net gain in cash and food, $324. The ex pense in labor is not estimated, but is offset by board, by growth of young Mock and increased value of land. THIS EXPERIMENT IS NOT EXCKP TIONAL. That acre is no better than thousands of acres in sight. Its income is no greater than any neighbor can make from his land. Multiply the net income by ten acres and we have 13,240. Count $ l, exx for labor of one man and one or two children on ten acres, and he will have 2,240 net for his year's work on hit land. Results of this kind can be gained on hundreds of ten-acre farms in Western Oregon and Western Washington. When men scratch over one or two hundred acres of these best lands to raise fifteen to thirty bushels of wheat per acre, and exhaust the soil but never enrich it, they re not model farmers. When they aim to keep stock, herds or flocks, but fail to raise a food supply, trusting to native grasses, they are not model farm em. When they allow cattle, horses and sheep to live out in winter's chilly storms and icy rains without shelter or sufficient food, they must expect poor animals. They forget that food is both the material of growth and of heat also, Hurc w chilly storms subtracts heat and wastes both food and fat, while warm shelter saves food and increases fat. In a word, good farming demands good Kheds and barns filled n nay and gram, and cellats fille, witn root crop.. Good lands must a! be fed with ih , ". wmcn nav .-vx" w.murawn irom them. Lands .rci.Kewell.hlledbUr.es. Depositscan ..-naui vj crops of all kind, but cy musi be returned in ki,t so well spend your fnoney and think As you j ...... r;Vi cnils and have it, as to spena yuu. ..v.. think you have them. DEPLETION. The mineral ingredients of red clover 1- .e it nnnnds in everv hav fltnnuni lu iuu. thousand pounds taken from the land. If these arc not returned in tne manures the land will speedily be exhausted. The mineral elements of wheat nerry .U.,,o.,fl amount to 103.47 in one uiw' pounds. The mineral elements in wheat straw amount to 104.36 pounds. The amount taken from the soil by berry and straw is 207.83 pounds in a thousand. TESTED SOILS. Farmers in Western Oregon and Washington have taken off ten to twenty crops of wheat and straw from their farms, sold the wheat and burnt the straw heaps, and returned nothing to replenish the soil. It is not strange that the harvests have become less and less per acre, and more liable to rust, which is due to a lack of the mineral element in the soil. This long succes sion of crops proves how rich in all the mineral elements these basalts are. It proves also the value of rotating crops It gives the reason why clover pastures ploughed in every three years are nat urally fertilized thereby. The waste lands of Virginia' were restored by clover, pastured and ploughed in. This case shows that dairy farming is a necessity for the land, as much as for the owner's profit. The manures of the yards are annually returned. It shows also that all kinds of ashes mixed with manures, should be returned to the lands and to the fields. 1W should follow the cereals. A variety of wuu nun a greater auunuance will be raised and will support larger flocks and ucius, arui give them more than double value. Ten acres well tilled and fer tlllzeo (1a tko 1. r r.-. - "u n ui uiiy acres as now cultivated. CHANCE FOR NEW COMERS. The intelligent emigrant is invited to uuj mcse worn out farms, and by good sense onrl 1 . . J 6""" . .,, niaKe model payin mi inn oi mem. Knur .. j ik.V.C:.T!.w,h "a,arger income ....... ... noic section now pays. a triFvhitFriver. nlte nvrr ran l. i...ilr n "i , .. uc "uiniuuy named he garden valley of Washington Terri tory, not i nn. f, ;t .b .: ern but for :,. k:;i . ' "00!'uo.r m climate hn.H- U" ' ewtivatwn. It mem I "unwge ot early settle b -v, yiitucai tarmeri, and shows the result, in most bases, of careful and intelligent husbanding. i most cases, we say, tor there are to be found among all classes of society anil callings drones and slovens. White River Valley commences at the mouth of the Duwamish river and ex. tends for a distance of twenty-five miles uo White river, which is tributary to the Duwamish at the junction of Black river; White and Black rivers forming the Duwamish. The average width of the valley is about five miles, most of which is fine bottom land, susceptible to the highest degree ot cultivation. There are few, it any, large bodies of land owned by one person, like in CalU fornia. The expression of " Land-grab-ber," so common in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Santa Clara valleys of (Jalitornia, are not applicable to the farmers of White river, although there is one who owns as much as eleven hun dred acres, but we believe that is the largest farm on the river. It is the property of Mr. Alvord, who, we are informed, cultivates a large portion of it, and is a practical farmer, doing all in his power to, not only use his own land, but by example encourages others to do likewise. The increase of acre age in hops for the last two years will average about 25 per cent., and the total will reach about 200 acres, with an average yield of two and a half tons per acre, and should the prices for the coming year be good the farmers will reap a rich harvest. The cheese factory at Langston's com menced active operations on the 1st of May. When the factory was started, which will be three years ago next No vember, the farmers bound themselves to furnish the milk of a certain number of cows' for the full period ot three years at 85 cents per hundred pounds, and some will not be sorry when the first day of next November arrives, as they think they can do better. A proposi tion has been made to the farmers to organize a joint stock company, and purchase the factory and run it them selves. Whether they will do this or not, has not yet been decided on, It is said by many in the valley that the fac tory has paid net, since its commence ment, six thousand dollars per year. One of the greatest necessities at the present time is a railroad. The uncer tainty and slowness of steamer travel is sorely felt, and all agree that if a rail road was built, as designed by Mr. Villard at present, from Lakeview to Seattle, it would enable them to sudpIv the city with many articles of produce that are now allowed to go to waste for the want of proper facilities to move; and they think if the road was built that picnic and hunting parties would find, their way up the river, but as travel i now it would censume too much time. The prospects of every part of the val ley are good, and its industrious citizeW 'are, as a rule, well latisficdi .