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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1917)
a 5 Slattern Near tfie Nor thP9te. 2y7Tc3n 6. Carpenter ? i t - s THE SUNDAY OIEGONIAX, PORTLAXJ); JANUARY 14, 1917. til 7 '(Copyright. 1917, by Frank G. Carpenter ST. MICHAEL.-On this little inland of St. Michael, situated in Bering Sea, several thousand miles from Eeattle, 60 miles from the mouth of the Tukon River, I write of the army of Alaska. St. Michael is one of Uncle Sam's military reservations. The whole island has been set aside as a military outpost, .and its chief buildings are those of the soldiers. It has large bar racks, a hospital, a canteen and a drill room. It has several cottages, the komes of the officers; and, apart from these, down on the harbor, are a hotel, a few stores and some houses occupied by the traders who buy and sell furs and live off the soldiers and trappers. A part of the population is Eskimo, but, all told, it does not number more than two or three hundred, and these people live here year in and year out. The island is especially dreary In Win ter, when for six months or more it is locked up in snow and ice and when it has practically no communication with the outside world. It is different In Summer. Just now the country is as green as any part of the United ' States. As we approached the shores in our steamer, St. Michael rose like a green mound out of the water and, with its American flags fly ing, it seemed a fortification guarding the ice-locked golden caves of the North. Our boat came into the bay and docked at the wharf. St. Michael has the only good harbor near the mouth of the Tukon, and a number of river steamers were lying at anchor. All the ships that steam down the yukon end their voyage at St. Michael, Jfodern Pc 33 r Few farmers take the Interest .In poultry keeping that they should take. This is a great mis take. The prospects of profits from this branch of livestock keeping are excellent. In 1910 there were 6,361,502 farms in the United States. Fowls were raised on 6,585,02 of these farms. " EI PROFESSOR JAMES B. MORMAN, Former Expert for the United States Department of Agriculture. THE number of fowls kept on farms was 295,880.190. J,'The "production oi eggs. However, was reported ror only 4.833.759 farms, and the number of (owls kept on these farms was given as Z73.255.924. The eggs produced num bered 1.457.385,772 dozen. Since ' the males were reported in the number ' of (owls, the estimated average production of eggs per fowl of farm flocks in this country was placed at about six dozen, cr 72 eggs per fowl, a year. The average price received for the eggs was 19.3 cents per dozen. The iotal income from the sale and use of eggs on farms was about $1.15 per hen a year. If the cost of feed should be estimated and deducted from this in come it would show a very small bal ance of profit for the farmer or his wife. The figures are equally startling when the value of the fowls themselves Is considered. In 1909 the total number of fowls raised was 488,468.000, and their value was $202,506,000. This would give an average value to farm fowls of 40 cents each, which would indicate either a very small type of fowl or an exceedingly low price. Since the whole- .. sale price that year ranged from 13 to 18 cents a pound for poultry, it would chow that the average farm fowl is not a very promising product for profit. Census statistics have been brought together to show what was being done by farmers in the line of poultry keep ing. But the progressive farmer is be coming alive to the situation. Free farm range is an economic advantage over the confined poultry yarU It is much cheaper to raise poultry on farms than under city or suburban conditions. From many years of experience in rais ing poultry, it is nay belief that poultry keeping offers an opportunity to farm ers for a steady cash-Income at all sa sons of the year. When many, other , and to this port come the steamers from Seattle -before going to Nome. "Leaving the ship, I strolled through the settlement. It -has a hotel of fairly good size, three or four stores, a post ofTice -and some warehouses;- TTiere- is also a blockhouse that was builtby the Russians, who used this 'place to support their claims to the mighty ter ritory darined by the Tukon. The blockhouse is now deserted, but inside it may still be seen a half dozen can non which were left by the Russians. Some of the guns even now look out of the portholes commanding the harbor. N ' The military force at Fort St. Mi chael consists of about 56 soldiers. Its commander is Lieutenant W. F. C. Jep son, who came to Alaska two years ago, at the close of his service in the Philip pine Islands. Lieutenant Jepson has his wife with him, and it was at his home, a pretty little six-room cottage, that I talked with him about St. Mi chael and his life here. He tells me the climate is not at all bad, although in the Summer the winds are sometimes so strong that they almost blow the flowers out of the ground. The island is treeless, and this is probably due to the wind. The Lieutenant tells me that the "Winter is the pleasantest part of the year. He gives vivid pictures of life in the Arctic when the thermometer falls far below zero and the glare of the sun on the snow is almost blinding. During that season he takes long trips with his dogs to visit the various sta tions. Last year he made one of 200 miles, in a dog sled, to Old Woman Mountain. He had to sleep out in the snow, but he' did not suffer as much from the cold as when stationed - at lines of work are at a standstill on the farm.-pcrultry -keeping offers a means of- profitable labor, especially during the Winter season. I wish, therefore, to give a brief chapter out of my own experience in raising poultry for eggs ana meat. Selecting a Standard Breed. Experts in our agricultural experi ment stations maintain that the ordi nary farmyard fowl is not the most profitable type of fowl to keep. In stead they recommend some standard breed. Leghorns, Plymouth Rocks and others have many advantages over the mon grel fowl which belongs to the average farm .flock. Among these advantages are: (1) better results In breeding: (2) more opportunities for selling hatching eggs at a higher price than eggs for table use; (3) uniformity in color, size and shape of eggs, and (4) a better appearance of the flock gen erally. The most Important advantage of a standard breed is the opportunity for Improvement. The farmer not only has a good flock of fowls from which to make a selection, but he can always find some other farmer or poultry keeper with the same breed of fowls, with whom he can exchange males or females for breeding purposes. One of the first objects in successful breeding of poultry is to maintain the vitality of the flock. " This is done by infusing new blood into the flficks. In 1906 I had a few pullets which began to lay earlier than others. I be gan by putting these early iayers by themselves. By keeping a record of the eggs laid by these pullets during winter i round that some of the pullets were better layers than the older fowls. This was not the only' feature. Breeding from early layers mated with the best males was found to produce pullets which laid more eggs than the parent fowl. This led ma to taxe more Interest in the poultry side of farm work. The result was a large Increase in egg production in Winter. Records of egg production from my flocks have been kept since 1907. Be sides the pleasure of keeping accounts, there is considerable satisfaction ' in knowing that the flock has been profit able, and that there has been a steady Increase in profits as a result of Ira proving the flock by careful breeding. Reaults la Egg Production. For the sake of comparison, let as take the egg production of a flock of 50 fowls in 13.67. Tbo number Pj eggs iulIfu Culture P'ort Lincoln, near Bismarck, In North Dakota. . I was interested lrt Mrs. Jepson's de scription of her housekeeping arrange ments. She saysthat- most of-, their supplies are canned goods from the out side, but they have also wild fowl and reindeer from St. Michael. The rein deer meat is as sweet and as juicy as a tenderloin steak. They have plenty of fish, and the Eskimos bring fish and berries to the house for sale. One of the chief troubles of the housekeeper Is the servants. The day I called Mrs. Jepson had expected an Eskimo woman to do her washing. The arrangements had been made the day previous, but 10 o'clock came and no washerwoman appeared. She was sent for. She came and worked from 11 o'clock until 3. The washing was then half done, but the girl said she had to leave, and that she could not come back on the mor row, as she had to pick berries. I am told that the Eskimos do not care enough for money to work steadily. The other day a fisherman whose nets were full, could not get the Eskimos to help him pull them out of the water, although he offered them half of the catch. The Island of St. Michael Js under military rule. The storekeepers, trad ers and others live here merely at the will of the Army, and the commander makes the laws. No liquor is allowed to be sold and everything is under Army regulations. The soldiers look well and happy. They have comfort able quarters, and what with their drilling and rifle shooting, they are kept busy. They rise at 6 o'clock in the mornirrg, except on Sundays and holidays, march to their breakfast- at 6:45, and nave . dinner at noon. The m?Ss call for supper is sounded at 5:30, amT"tTte- call to. quarters at night is at 10:45! Tbb .axe-sounded af'lj P. M., when all lights must go out. " I stopped for some time at Fort Gib son, Uncle Sam's military post on the lower Tukon, and I also" saw the sol diers at Haines, or Fort William H. Seward, which is the military station for Southeastern Alaska. There is an other station near Valdez, and there was formerly one at Eagle, not far from the boundary of Canada. I visited the post at Eagle on my way from Dawsonto Fairbanks. It is now aban doned, and the buildings are in the hands of one or two soldiers as care takers. tioing on down the , great river I stopped at Fort Gibbon, at the Junc tion, of the Tanana and the Tukon. This military post is one of the most important in Alaska. It is in the verv heart of the territory, about, half-way between the international boundary and Nome, and almost midway between the Arctic ocean and the Pacific. Fair banks, the terminus of the Government railway, is several hundred miles up the Tanana Valley. Fort Gibbon was established In 1898, and the next year congress set aside 38,000 acres of land there as a military reservation. The post is on the southeastern corner of the reservation. It adjoins the town of Tanana. which, next to Fairbanks. is the most important place in' interior Alaska. It is estimated that it cost something like $1,000,000 to clear the land and erect the buildings for the laid that year was 3996. From then on there was a steady increase up to 1914, in which year the egg "production was 8014. For the 10 months, ending Oc tober 31, 1916, the number of eggs laid by the same sized flock was 7877. By systematic breeding there was a steady increase in' the egg yield. For tne nrst lour years arter iov, tne aver it SINGLE-COMB WHITE LEGHOR5S. WHITE LEGHORN hens easily lead all other breeds as layers, and this Is one of the reasons why 90 per cent of all egg farms are stocked with ' this variety. They are small, active hens, producing equally well in confinement and on range. The eggs run high" jn fertility and enormous hatches of hustling chicks are turned but with regularity from the incubators on the big commercial poultry points. .The chicks are hardy apd tiye. gcpwjriy apd feathering rapidly durjng thf fjrs eight weeks. They are xTJC P"oPuJa aj: this age for small broileca an4 it is .the practice 09 large pammefpial "jjiants t aarJLe '5 HI V 1 post, and that It costs $500,000 a year to maintain It. The post now has about 150 men. In cluding the officers and soldiers of Company B, of the Fourteenth United States Infantry. It has a nospnai corps, a signal corps and a quartermas- t a r,mn. All r It K n 1 1 A ti GT are steam-heated, a large central plant being maintained for the purpo ltained for the purpose. It I tias a gas-lighting plant, but It is now planned 10 -install -eiecmcity, ana me engineers .are--etimaLlii!i "tne CcJst" T5f such a plant. The soldiers at Fort Gibbon are nusKy. and healthy. They do not object to their stay In Alaska,vand manage to keep themselves "in gaod spirits Sum mer and Winter. They have a gym nasium, amateur theatricals and mov ing-picture shows. They play baseball, and have two. good teams; which have matches once a week when tne weatner is good. They have also a band, and a part of theirregular exercise Is prac tice shooting with rifles. The Government has now five mili tary posts in Alaska, and Its force con sists of about 1200 officers and sol diers. These men not only guard the territory, but they operate the cable and telegraph service, make and super Intend the roads and trails, and have the control of all river and harbor im provements undertaken by the Govern ment. In the past they did a great deal of police work; but just now their chief business is the maintenance and operation of . the cable and telegraph system. The Army telegraph is the only one in the territory. It consists of about 50 stations, of which ten are wireless. There are 40 telegraph of fices and more than 1000 miles of land lines. The submarine cables are about 3000 miles In length, and they connect the territory . with the United States proper at Seattle. The cable goes to age number of eggs laid was 6429, or an average annuaf increase of nearly 37 per cent. During the years 1914 to 1916, inclusive, the Increase in eggs over 1907 was more than 100 per cent, with practically the same number of fowls. Care in breeding, therefore, has its effects in more prolific laying. The weight of the fowls can also be Increased. Cenatts reports show that the size of the average farm fowl is small. To increase the weight of fowls by careful breeding is to lay the foun dation for more profitable poultry keeping. ' A few simple principles of selection in breeding are as follows: Vigor and health in both males and females are necessary in successful the greater portion of the cockerels at this age," turning the pullets out on range. . " - Single Comb White Leghorns are large producers of good-sized white eggs", very desirable in New Tork and other markets where the demand for etrers Is strong and prices highest. Ex cepting in a small minority the hens do not sit. The eggs, therefore; must be hatched and the chicks reared by other breeds or by artificial means, and the commercial egg farms are usually equipped with mammotn lncunators capable of hatching fropi 1000 to 30,000 eggs each anj large brooder bouses -where many thousands of chicks are reared at one lime. Sitka and E'-agway, and It reaches every Important port from Ketchikan to Seward, the southern terminus of the new railroad. There are wireless sta tions at Nome. Circle and Eagle oper ated by Army officers, and also at Val dez, Sitka. Cordova, Kodlak Island, y'-o.. iuicn nai uur a.nu i lui.ui 'ana, opertea Dy me navy uepwunenu The land lines are all under the Army, aTia They make t possible jto reach the wtltsnTS-woTldf rom almost any part of Alaska, " .The construction of these telegraph and cable lines was undertaken as a military necessity; and it seems to' be a mistake .of the Government in that it Is now trying to operate them at the expense of the territory. The lines were first begun In 1900 and up to the present time they have cost In the neighborhood of tZ. 000.000. The cost of operating them is something like $100,000 per year, but this does not In clude the pay of the officers and sol diers who act as telegraph agents, and certain other Army expenses, which some of the officers of the Government say should be charged to this account. The real expense is nearly $500,000 a year; and a large amount of this is borne by the territory. As a result, the cost of messages is excessive. The rate from Fairbanks to Seattle is 33 cents a Word; and. as the minimum message is 10 words, this makes it cost $3.33 to send the shortest tele gram out of the country. If one would send this telegram beyond Seattle, he must pay the usual telegraph rates from that point to the place he wishes to reach. The rates inside the terri tory vary according to distance, and dispatches range from 25 cents upward. It seems to many of the people here that the Government should reorgan ize its telegraph charges. They say that it should look upon this country breeding. Next, the form of the breed ers should be considered. For Increas ing the size of the chick, birds with long bodies, good width between the thighs and long breastbones should be chosen. These traits are transmitted, which' Is the basis for larger hens with a greater proportion of meat. In 10 years I have been able to increase the size of my fowls nearly 50 per cent. From the standpoint of meat produc tion this increase in weight Is very Important." All kinds of meat. Includ- On poultry farms of any size, especially those that make a business of day-old chicks and custoni' hatching,the Incubator cellar Is the most important building. In next week's article . there will be a design of an Im proved type of cellar, with com plete Instructions for building It and estimating the materials required-. ing poultry, are very high In price. The minimum estimate of poultry produc tion is about 900.000,000 fowls a year. On the basis of an increase In weight o( lli pounds per fowl, this would mean an annual Increase of 1,125.000.- 00 pounds. " On the basis of 20 cents a pound, this Increase in weight would mean about $225,000,000 a year in the pockets of farmers and poultry raisers.. Making Profit. It must be remembered that the pro ducing power of a flock of farm poul try is not limited to eggs and meat alone. The value of poultry manure must not be overlooked. It contains three essential plant-food elements in about the right proportion of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. But this is merely an Incidental source or in come in poultry keeping. The meat side in egg production Is over; hens can be sold for table use. Cockerels can also be made to yield a handsome profit. In hatching chicks to maintain -the number of fowls de sired for laying purposes, about half the number' are usually cockerels. If hatching begins early, the cockerels can be fitted for a broiler trade. These bring a high price and good profits. Later cockerels can be fitted for a roaster trade. . The best cockerels should be selected for breeding on the farm or for sale as standard-bred birds. The dual-purpose breeds that Is, fowls which are good layers and make good table birds-re especially adapted to the making of profits on farms. 'In raising fowls for either eggs or meat." the farmer has ah advantage over the commercial pdultry raiser. The wide range Yowls have on farms for many months of ' the year, which en ables the fowls to gather natural food AS 5N 4 f 1 f as a developing proposition rather than as a" commercial one. Alaska has all told not more than 50,000 white peo pie, scattered over a territory almost three times as large as Germany or France. ' The telegraph system is nec essarily expensive, it has been built as a military necessity and is used as such, the business of the people being subordinated to it. A military mes sage, however trivial, takes precedence of a' business message. In many of the foreign colonies be longing to England and other coun tries there is a mixed minimum rate fpr 10 words to any part of the terri tory. This should be so m Alaska. No ten-word message should cost more than 60 cents, and nearby messages not over 25 cents. It may pay as a de veloping proposition to give a com bined telegraph and cable rate of 50 cents for ten words from any part of Alaska to Seattle, with a night-letter rate not to exceed that amount. The telegraph charges here should be ar ranged much the same as the mails, whereby a two-cent stamp 'Will carry a letter to any part of our country This Is especially bo in Alaska, where the mails are necessarily slow, and the telegraph Is the only means' of quick communication. During my stay at Fort Gibbon I had a talk with a young Army officer who is now in charge of the telegraph lines and wireless stations of the valley of the Tukon. I refer to Lieutenant L. T. Mason, who has served in the Philip pines and elsewhere, and who, for the past two or three years, has been the chief signal service officer In that part of Alaska. Lieutenant Mason's district - covers many thousand square miles, reaching all along the Tukon from the Canadian . boundary to Bering Sea and including Nome and the Seward Peninsula. A large part of this territory is periodl- at practically no cost, gives the farmer a big advantage over his competitors in the poultry field. The farmer can produce eggs and table fowls much cheaper than can poultry keepers who have to purchase all feeding stuffs. These advantages the farmer should realize, especially as both eggs -and poultry are now high in price and are likely to remain so. Let me show the profits i have made from a small flock during the past two years: ' 1914. 1915. Income $346.31 $368.38 Expenditures 126.28 146.03 Profits .....$220.03 $222.35 The Secret of Soeeeaa. The secret of success In making poul try profitable Is to maintain the health and vigor of the fowls. If I were asked to state briefly the first principles of poultry success on farms I would give these rjolnts: First The selection of a stanaara utility breed of fowls. Second The selection of the Dest layers only for breeding purposes. Third Good houses and proper care. especially in Winter. Fourth The selection of the largest and healthiest fowls for breeding. So far as I can se there Is no rea son why the farmer couia not easily carry out these rules. They need not interfere with other farm work, it is not always advisable to leave the care of the poultry entirely to the women on farms. They have other duties to per form. If our farmers will give a little more attention to the busy hen, they will find that she adds very materially to their,!ncome from year to year. OREGON MAN SAW LINCOLN (Continued From First Page.) their families to work in behalf of their beloved leader. Both parties had com panies of boys and old men. wide awakes' they were called, to light up the gigantic parades. The lightbear ers wore coats and hats of black oil cloth and bore oil-burning torches. "Subsequent to the Chicago conven tion. I attended the Illinois State Re publican Convention at Springfield. All trains from every part of the state were overcrowded, and from the sur rounding counties farmers and their entire families Journeyed to the capital In prairie schooners, camping in the broad fields outside the town. I accom panied Colonel Jack Miles, a native Kentuckian, who had entered business at Galesburg. to Springfield. I had been a fallow student of his son and daugh ter at Lombard. He had been a client at different times of Abraham Lincoln, and he told me he would be honored to introduce me to the future President. We went early to the Lincoln home and X -was presented by Colonel Miles to cally visited by him. Last Winter ha took one trip of several thousand miles, traveling by dog team over the ice and snow. He first went to St. Michael, near the mouth of the Tukon. vand thence over to Nome. On his return he went up to Fairbanks and from thence to Eagle, near the Canadian frontier, and then drove down on the Ice of the Tukon to Fort Gibbon. This trip took more than four months, and the whole of it was on sled or on foot. During the Journey to Nome Lieutenant Mason used a sled only, and later had a combination of a toboggan and sled. The difference between the two Is that a sled has run ners, while the toboggan has a flat bottom which slides over the snow. His team consisted of seven dogs, and ha had only one man along with him. During my talk with Lieutenant Mason I asked him how he stood the Intense cold. He replied: The weather was not bad. and we made it a rule not to travel when the thermometer fell to more than 40 de grees below zero. We slept either in the roadhouses along the way or in a camp tent which we carried with us. We- could usually make an Indian hut or a road station every night and, as a rule, we got along well." "Is there much of Alaska that can not be reached by telegraph?" No. None of great importance. We have now lines along the Tukon, ex cept between Kaltag and Kotlik. and we have recently put in a radio sta tion there. The upper part of the Tukon is covered by the radio, or wire less. We have about 1200 miles of yne, I should say, in this district. "What kind of telegraph operators do the soldiers make?" I asked. "Very good, and they seem to like the job. The most of those we have now have been for some time In the service. They get extra pay and usually stay for their full term of four years. Some would stay longer If possible. As for me. I would rather be in the active service of the army. But It Is all In the day's work." "Is there any difference In the ease of sending telegraph messages in Alaska over that of warmer countries?" "I think not," replied Lieutenant Ma son, "as far as the telegraph lines are concerned. As to wireless messages, they are more difficult to send on ac count of the static electricity in the air." Next to the telegraph the most Im portant work of the War Department in Alaska Is the building .and mainte nance of the roads and trails. Prac tically all of the wagon roads and sled roads of the territory have been built by the government, and two or three million dollars have been spent in this way within the past 12 years. The appropriations of Congress , for road building now amount to something like $100,000 per annum, and. ln-addition to this, about $200,000 more is annually gotten from the Alaska fund, collected in licenses and other fees. 65 per cent of which is set aside for road build ing. The roads and trails are nnder the direction of Colonel W. P. Richard son, an officer of the War Department, who has long served in Alaska. At present there are 862 miles of wagon road, 617 miles of sled road and mora than 2000 miles of trails. Road and trail building la the crying need of the territory, and it will grow In importance when the railroad from Seward to Fairbanks is completed. The roads will be needed as feeders for the new railways, and It Is only by good trails that prospecting can be carried on. The Canadian government is said to handle its road matters much bet ter than we do. It stands ready at any time to build wagon roads to any new mining camp if the output promises to pay. The roads of the Tukon ter ritory are better today than those of Alaska. Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln and their children. Lincoln shook hands with me and immediately expressed his appreciation of a reception at the hands of the Lombard students on the oc casion of a debate at Galesburg be tween himself and Stephen A. Douglas. He had a great many admirers among the Lombard students, and at the time of the debate the students had present ed him with a silken banner. He asked me about the political situation In my district and touched on general phases of the coming election. "When I first saw Lincoln I thought he was the homeliest man I had ever seen, but after he had begun to talk, after his eyes lighted with that anima tion for which he was famed. I forgot his long, rugged face and his huge, un gainly figure. Something about him seemed to draw me to him and inspire a confidence and love' Terrible Itching Pimples On Face and Neck. Completely Healed By Cuticura "I broke out on my face and neck wfth red pimples. My face was sore and red, and the pimples scaled over leaving red spots when the scales came off. The it chingwas terrible and my face was very bad. This lasted about six weeks. "I was treated but with no help. Then I used Cuticura Soap and Ointment. The pimples began to dry up, and the itching and burning seemed to be pass ing away, and with three weeks' treat ment I was completely healed." (Signed) Miss Neilie M. Bozorth, 1014 E. 22d St., N., Portland, Ore., Oct. 24, 1916. Cheap soaps, harsh soaps, coarse, ' stronglymedicated soaps are responsible for halt the skin troubles in the world. They make little irritations into great ones. Stop the use of all doubtful soaps. Use Cuticura, and no other soap, for all toilet purposes. Help it, now and then, with touches of Cuticura Ointment applied to any redness, roughness, pim- gles or dandruff if any appear. Cuticura oap has also proved most valuable for all purposes of the toilet. It is a pleas ure, not an effort, to use these pure, sweet and gentle emollients. - For Free Samples by Return Mail address post-card: "Cnticufa.Dept.U, Boston.' Sold everywhere.