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.