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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1928)
THE OREGON STATESMAN FARMING AND INDUSTRIAL MAGAZINE SECTION The Slogan Pages are Yours: Aid in Making them Helpful to Your Wonderful City and Sevti on BIST NSuEttBn imsesiiiitiiv ITqbif SALEM Eo THE STATESMAN dedicates several pages each week in the interest of the fifty-two to a hundred basic industries of die Salem . District. Letters and articles from people with vision are solicited. This is your section. Help make Salem grow. THE SALEM DISTRICT HAS A BOOM IT PROMISE irv LEGUMES th; b MUCH Already Thousands of Acres in Grimm Alfalfa, and the In crease for This Year Will Likely Be as Much as Fifty Per Cent We Produced Last Year in This District About 100 Cars of Vetch and About Seventy-Five Cars of Red Clover Seed White Blossom Sweet Clover in Increasing Acreage Here, and We Grow a Number of Other Legumes There is no brighter spot in the general development of the Salem district than our boom in legumes. We have already in the Salem dis trict several thousand acres of Grimm alfalfa. There is likely to be as much as a 50 per cent in crease in the acreage devoted to this crop each year. Also, we have a Hungarian vetch boom. And in all the clovers, this -district is going strong. There la nothing transpiring in this district that gives better promise . of In creasing general prosperity than our boom in legumes. It means more and better dairying, more swine breeding; a continuance of our already very healthy poultry industry boom: and it means the addition rotation of crops and the building up of soil fertility and that means everything in the way of a solid foundation for agricul tural thrift and well being, and wealth. Lead Country in Vetch Nearly all the vetch seed In America is grown in the Salem dis trict. In 1922 pur people shipped about 100 carloads of it. In 1923 the sales of our growers dropped down to 60 to 65 cars; on account of an unusual amount being cut for hay: But the acreage was larger in 1924 and the shipments went up to around 75 cars again. There was a short crop in 1925 in most districts, owing to the long dry summer sea6on, but even so, there were some good yields, and the shipments ran to nearly the total of the year before; perhaps to 65 cars. In 1926 there was a fair crop, about the same as for 1925, and last year we harvested about 100 cars, and shipped about 75. There are 15 to 20 cars on hand yet. but they will likely clean up before the next harvest. Our dealers ship vetch seed to New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and other eastern distributing points. They have always supplied Califor nia with nearly all of her vetch sown there in the orange groves as a cover crop. It ateo makes up nearly all the cover crop used in the hop yards and in the prune orchards of this section, and in all other fruit plantings. Big Acreage Red Clover In the production of red clover seed, the Salem district has for years been a leader. In most years, there have been shipped 60 to 75 cars which at around 20 cenbs a pound ran to 15000 to $6000 a car or a total of $300,000 to $450,000, a year. Some bad crop years for red clover rather discouraged part of the growers; but they took heart in 1923, and put out more than ever. H. O. White, of D. A. White & Son, Sa lem, leading seedmen and dealers in clover seed, are the principal buyers and shippers. The severe winter freezing made a normal red clover crop in this district for 1924 impossible. Our growers got more than a 25 per cent crop. There was a shortage of red clo ver eeed in this country in 1925, and the prices were high, running 26 to 28 cents a pound. Not morel than a 25 per cent crop was raised here that year; about 20 cars. Hot weather cut down the yield in 1926, but about 40 cars were shipped with high prices to the growers; 28 to 33 cents. Last year our red clover seed made numper crop about loo cars About 25 cars were lost, due to wet harvesting weather. ! But about 75 cars were shipped, and the product brought the growers 25c a pound, or about $8000 I car total, about $600,000. A tidy sum. Much Vetch Money The prices received by our grow ers for their vetch seed have run around 3 to 3 cents a pound ordinarily; away below the price of red clover seed; but the pro duction of vetch seed is three to four times as high to the acre as red clover seed. The Salem dis- pounds of clean vetch seed to the j acre; in rare cases very muchi more even as high as a ton to! the acre. In 1925 they received' 4k to 5 cents a pound for their1 vetch seed and in 1926 5 to 5; cents. Last year they realized aj to 3 cents a pound. j There is a small acreage of crim- Lr . , , , . son clover also raised iu the sa- vetch found in Greatest Extent of Acreage, More than Half POLK CLAIMS GREATEST PROPORTION OF FARM LID DEVOTED TO LEGUMES seed. A good" deal of this seed is trict growers turn off 700 to 1200 THIS WEEK'S SLOGAN DO YOU KNOW that Salem is the center of a district in which the legumes do wonderfully well ; that no country can grow better red or sweet clover, or better vetches or field peas; that Grimm alfalfa does well here; that the orchardist may grow here the finest of cover crops in legumes; that the dairyman may grow the best legumes for his uses; that the bee keeper may raise sweet clover and the other legumes for bee pasture to his heart's content that, in short, the farmer of this district now has the knowledge in his noodle of the great value of the nodules on the rootlets of the legumes; and that he is using this knowledge for his own good and the good of this district in general; and that we have a very healthy and most hopeful and beneficial boom in Legumes? lem district. Other Iognmes Produced Our growers produce a con stantly increasing acreage of the white clovers; the Alsike, Sweet, White Dutch, Bokhara (or White Blossom or Honeyi plovers, etc. This is very important on account of the fact that bees can work on white clovers, and they need it for late bee pasture. With plenty of late5 bee pasture, this will be the greatest bee country in the world. The early honey flow here in the largest known, excepting in south ern Oregon. All fruit growers must have bees for pollination purposes, to insure their crops. The Hubam clover bloom, so marked in some of the states east of the Rockies, has eo far taken only a small hold in this district. This is one of the very best of the honey clovers giving good bee pasture for a very long season; right up to frost. It also makes a very fair hay crop, though it grows too high for general uee as a cover crop in our orchards. Also Hairy Vetch We are also producing here the old-fashioned sand or hairy vetch. A good deal of new acreage of this vetch is sown in the fall. It will not winter kill. It is aphis proof. It is one of thebest of all vetches for a cover crop. We are now selling a lot of vetch seed, and it hae been bringing as high as 10c a pound with ready sale for cover crops; going to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other eastern points. Onr Alfalfa Boom There is a large new acreage in the Salem district-of alfalfa; some has been produced here for 20 years and more; of the common variety. But there is a boom on now in the new Grimm alfalfa and Salem district; farmers have out many acres fit It, and the indica tions are that they will have many thousands of acres. Seedling is beginning now, and will last throughout this month, and per haps most of May. The new acre age in this district in 1926 and '27 ran to. over 3,000, and there is predicted a 50 per cent increase in acreage for this year. Canada field peas are grown here to a small extent, mostly for hog feed for "hogging off." They make a good crop for this pur pose. Alfio, the production of soy beans has been tried here, on a small scale with success. Former ly only southern seed could be had. But of lateIichigan seed is being secured here; two new va rieties, and some seed from Can ada. Hnngarian Vetch Room Hungarian vetch, through the initiation of the Oregon Agricul tural college, has in the four or five years come into great popular ity in the Salem district. It is aphis proof and frost proof, and it thrives on white sour land. It makes great hay and silage and! Is an excellent cover crop. It has so far, in this district, outyielded our common vetch. A number of Hay Crop being of Vetch and Oats Red Clover Nearly Doubled; Great Cows Aided by Clover and Vetch Taking the Lead Also in Grimm Alfalfa Using Much Lime Le gumes for Chickens Legume Feeds Grown on Lime Soils Probably Prevent Sterility of Dairy Cattle Editor Statesman: A greater proportion of farm land is probably devoted to le gumes in Polk county than any other western Oregon county. This is due to the type of farming and the fact that nearly all of the county is readily suited to their production. Large areas are de voted to the clovers and vetches, and in the last three years con siderable plantings of alfalfa and some of 'sweet clover have been added to this already large acre age. Vetch is perhaps found in the greatest amount of acreage of any legume in the county. This is due to the fact that more than half of the yearly hay crop is oats and vetch, and in addition as a result of recent demonstrations in their value, large acreages are being seeded each fall among the prune orchards and other tree fruits for the purpose of cover crops. One phase of vetch culture has been neglected, and that is in the pro duction of seed for the eastern and southern markets, but in other respecLs Polk county raises large acreages. Most of it is corn- cars of the Hungarian seed are shipped out by our growers each year. The future of Hungarian vetch for this district looks big. We are also growing somejur ple vetch, for the California trade; on contract, mostly. This variety is used for a cover crop in the oiftnge orchards of that state. The "White Blossom" There is one outstanding among several important developments taking place in the Salem district in the field of legumes. The growers in the Salem dis trict are calling the clover for merly known as the Bokhara the "white blossom sweet clover," and ,the acreage of this clover has been growing fast. The "white blossom" is a bien nial clover, though it persists long er than two years for some grow ers here, so they report. It is a wonderful pasture and cover crop. It has done marvelous things as a pasture crop for C. T. Gilbert & Son, Shaw, for W. L. Creech. a neighbor, who each have ten acres in this crop, and for others all over this section. The "white blossom" is something of an acci dent here, because it was origin ated in central Asia and first appeared a few years ago as a result of the recession of the flood waters of the Willamette on the farm of Mark Savage, on Brown's Island, near Salem.. It is a great bee pasture. Salem is surely coming along wonderfully well as a legume cen ter. This means great things for the city and section, in a thousand wayi. mon vetch, with considerable Hungarian in some districts. Red Clover Nearly Doubled The legume of perhaps second importance is red clover. Red clover is grown for the tripie"Fr--pose of hay, seed and pasture. Its first summer it is pastured by sheep, and also the following spring. Then it is either clipped or let go for a hay or seed crop as the owner may desire. During the past two years the clover acre age has been nearly doubled in Polk county. This great increase has probably been due to a rather favorable price for seed, the need for more sheep pasture and the realization on the part of many farmers that a legume in their ro tation is necessary to maintain their yields of cereals. Make Great Cows Clover and vetch have for years played a large part in the success of the dairymen of Polk county. The excellent feed from these two legumes stored in the hay mows of Polk county have made possi ble some of the greatest world's productions of any county in the country, not to mention the part they play as pasture crops. In the last two or three years the sale of red clover seed pro duced in the Willamette valley has been seriously curtailed be cause of the prejudices in the Mississippi valley against our seed. This prejudice has been based on the contention that it is not winter hardy and not resistant to the anthracnose found in the blue grass belt. To recover this market and regain the confidence of the farmers of those states a united effort is being put on by the county agents of the state and the farm crops department, Ore gon Agricultural college, to estab lish disease resistant strains here in the Willamette valley. In this connection the county agent's of fice at Dallas has arranged with Wm. Riddell Jr., Laird Lindeman and S. H. Robison to secure seed of the anthracnose resistant strain and get a start of it here in Polk county. These are three of the most successful growers of clover in the Willamette valley, and their progress with this new strain will be watched with inter est. Messrs. Riddell and Robison have used the same strain of red clover to the present time for a period of twenty to thirty years. Grimm Alfalfa Grimm alfalfa is one of the out standing developments in the le gume production history of Polk county. Starting in about three years ago, the first attempt was Instituted by the county agent 's office for the general production of this crop on all farms her where it could be consumed. In years gone by production of al-