M HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Editorial Page of Home and Farm Magazine Section Timely, Pertinent Comment Upon Men ana Affairs, Jiouowing wo irenu 01 worm owb; Suggestions of Interest to Readers; Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought. TO ADVKUTISKHS. Advertisers in tills locality nlio Wi to fully cover nil sections of Oregon mid Wash lugton nnd a portion of Idaho will apply to local publishers for rates. (icnernl advertisers may address C. 1i. llur ton, Advertising Manager of Orogoii-Wntlilng-ton-Itlnlio Fanner, Oivgoulan Hulldlng, Port land, Oiegou, for rates and Information. TO ItlUDKHS. Headers nre requested to send letters and articles for publication to Tin; Kdltor, Or egon Washington - Idaho Farmer, Oregonlan Ilulldiug, Portland, Oregon. Discussions ou questions n n d problems that hear directly on the ngt cultural, live stock and poultry Interests of the Northwest, mid on the uplift and comfort of the farm home always nre welcomed. No letters treat ing of religion, politics or the Kiiropeau war me solicited, for the Oregon-Wasliliigton-Idnhn Farmer proclaims neutrality on these matters. Comparatively brief contributions ai-o pre ferred to long ones. Send us also photo graphs of your livestock and farm scenes that you think would be nf general interest. Wo wish to tnnko this magazine of value to you. Help us to Oo It. AFTER SIX MONTHS. AFTER six months of the world's great est war, several factors have heen definitely determined. Germany's marvelous military machine failed in its march to the gates of Paris because of the stone thrown in its intricate mechanism by little Belgium. The damage was far from permanent, but the halt was long enough to allow the allies to prepare for a firm resist ance. For the past two months the change in the battlo lino of Central Europe has been comparatively little. The two mighty ifrmies, with a battle front of more than 1200 miles, have swayed one way and an other, but little momentous advantage lias boon gained by either side. The Gormans have failed to break through the allies' lines; the allies have been able to do little more than to check the Teuton onslaught. Russian and German remain clinched in the oast. "Winter is on and an aggrossivo campaign has apparently been abandoned by both sides until Spring. Kitchener is buy preparing his army of 1,000,000 men; Jo f fro is calling on Franco's last reserves; Wilhelm is preparing to launch many more well equipped battalions; Nicholas is sending hundivdsjof thousands of men to the fron tier. "When the snow melts and the warm winds of Spring dissolve the chill that now wraps the bodies of the soldiors in the field, the titanic conflict will roeume ou a more enormous scale than heretofore. Will the ability of Gormany to equip the best-trained nrmy in the world .prevail against the millions of determined fighting men of the other groat nations? a huge fortune left him by his father. Ho eouldn't do it. At 00 the effort had made him worn and world-weary; before he was 113 he had tasted and tried every sensation within his reach excepting death; so in des peration he shot himself. His was what I'd call a life of rcnl hardships. Distinctly n state of mind, you'll notice, lie had the abundance which 1, and others like me, are so thankful for when we earn it, but he found it too much for him. A man is master of the abundance he really earns. It's his. If he hasn't mastered it that way, it's likely to master him. That onn,'t content him and when contentment is left out any life be comes a hardship. "There, I think, is the honest philosophy of it. I might say a lot more about it, but to pile up words would only befog my point. You'll understand what I'm driving at. The sum of it is that farming is a great lifo for' a man, because, if he is built that way, it lets him road his title clear to a supremo contentment. It's hard work yes; but there's a great difference between hard work and hardship." THE FARMER'S HARDSHIPS. IX that most excellent book, "An Old Farmer's Letters to His Son," the father, W. R. Lighton, writes his-boy, who is away at the agricultural college, about a lot of things connected with a farmer's life. Among many other things, he talks to his son about what are called the "hardships" of a farmer's Jifc. Hero is what he said. Noto the fine spirit in which it is said : "It has always been tho fashion to speak of tho life of u farmer as a hard life. That's as you make it. Hardship isn't a state of facts; it's a state of mind. The man who takes joy in his work, who finds content ment in it, makes no complaint about his hardship. The man, of all men I've known, who suffered most of hardship was a fellow who lmd nothing in tho world to do but to contrivo ways of spending tho income from ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. ST. VALENTINE was a Christian martyr who was imprisoned, tortured and be headed during tho reign of Emperor Claudius about 270 A. 1). Emperor Claudius had instructed Arteritis, who had a blind daughter, to persuado St. Valentine back to paganism. St. Valentino is said to have cured Arteritis' blind daughter and thus con verted Arteritis to Christianity. Tho custom of sending valentines had its origin in a heathen practice- connected with the worship of the Goddess .luno on the same day as the birth of St. Valentino. Many a man owes his happiness in this life to the pretty little custom of sending valentines. We may bo a little old-fashioned, but we still porsist in believing that the custom should be encouraged. Any custom and every custom Hint tends to warm the heart by bringing out tender memories and sweet emotions should be welcomed. BOOSTING PROSPERITY. JUST now the awful conflict in Europe is creating an extraordinary demand for the products of the farm, but at the samo lime it is closing a market for the products of countless city factories and clos ing tho door of opportunity to thousands of honet working men. These idle men cannot buy food the product of the farm as busy men can. They must have work now if they are to continue as good customers of the farm. Wo are in tho habit of saying that tho people in the towns and cities would starve to death if it were not for the people on tho farms and it is true. We are in the habit of saying that the people on the farms could live if they were entirely cut off from all cities and towns and that is true. Hut the merchants and manufacturers and office men in tho cities and towns on the one hand and the farmers on tho other are part ners in the- gigantic enterprise of modern civilization. Any injury to one partner hurts ' both. Short crops on tho farm cause hard times in Ihe cities and towns. Poor business in tho cities and towns reduces the prices for tho products on the farm. If every person living on tho farm in this country would spend an extra $10 with tho merchants and manufacturers in tho cities and towns during the next thirty days i would put thousands of idle men 0 vJr nnd bring joy to thousands of homes. You arc planning to spend sonio of y0llr extra profits from your grain and livestock You arc going to buy new clothes or build an addition to your house, or buy new ruej or build a new Darn or a now fence or buy new machinery. You will keep the money moving and it will soon come back to you in better prices for farm products. SEED CATALOGUES. NEXt to tho old family alntnnnc, wed catalogues arc associated in memory with tho most important conts olithe farm in our boyhood days, but look at the difference, in that day a seed catalogue was a very ordinary-looking pamphlet, There were no attempts to make it attractive with colored plates and other embellish ments of tho printer's art. Now the average seed calaloguo "is a thing of beauty and a joy forever." It it attractive in appearance and its conlcnbj convey to the purveyor njuch information that is helpful and inspiring. Anything that encourages gardening is n blessing. Tho seed calaloguo not only lauds old-time favorites, but it brings before us n large list of novel ties nnd new varieties for the field, orchard and garden. It is n very dull and stupid person Hint refuses to got enthusiastic over an attractive seed catalogue. THE APPLE CROP. THE apple crop of 101-1 is probably the largest ever produced in the United States, being estimated at 2VJ.000.000 bushels, as compared with M.'i.OOO.OOO iu 10111; about 2:15,000,000 bushels in 1912; 211,000,000 in 1011; 112,000,000 iu 1910, and 1-10,000,000 in 1900, as reported by the census. . These figures represent the total "agri cultural" crop and should not be confused with figures representing estimates of the commercial crop, which comprises only the marketed portion of the total production. In 101.T the commercial crop was estimated at 10 per cent of tho total agricultural produc tion. The census report of UG,000,000 bushels in 1909 is the basis of yearly esti mates of total production, being used in con nection with crop reporters' estimates of percentage of a full crop produced each year. Does tho world grow bolter as it ngesf Tho story of Demetrius, of ancient Athens, suggests a negative reply. He was besieging Rhodos, which possessed the great paintings of a mastor artist. The citizens told him that his military operations against tho district where tho paintings -were endangered them. Demotrius declared that ho had as lief de stroy the portrait of his father as injuro the picturo by Protogcncs, and nt once shifted his assault to another quarter. Fancy mod ern masters of tho art of war being so con siderate and self-denying! A defeated candidato for Congress in Massachusetts reports that ho "received nothing, promised nothing, expended noth ing ami got nothing." Oh, yes, ho got "the hook." California police have .taken pictures of the footprint of an escaped burglar. At any rate they are on his tracks. Rumors of more troublo among the yel low men. "Wonder who is Cochin China 1 iA U ji.