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About Willamette farmer. (Salem, Or.) 1869-1887 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1876)
g, tjwifc ftfspysy jt) -vf - -v $3.00 per Year. Vot the TVlllaroetio J-armor. Cn Mixed Farming. In your number of Fob. 411), some of your correspondents wish to le inform ed if mixed farming, or raisings vari ety of crops, could bo made retirtmeru tive. Tills questional am aware, re quires enreful study, practice, tul ob servation, and no system of theory far ming can rcai'h it. II will say first that in all locations atulim-dities of soil, all varieties of grain are not "adapted; henee-will not be remunerative; forin-.statn-e, if the land is low or on the wet order, wheat will not fill where oats would make a heavier crop. Then, again, on dry gravelly land Client does well, and oat urd barley would be scarcely half a crop. Itighl here let mossy it requires a thorough, practi cal farmer to. be a competent judge of what is best adapted to put on the dif ferent soils, and .ir: ike the farmer the most clear profit 'P'jr acre. Hut again, thort are wills that are well adapted for nil -varieties of ,. 'grain, mitt that is a rich, deep, dry, rather sandy black soil. Such a Mill-will bring nearly nil ciiinl equivalent. For instance, vc may look back for the las.t fifteen-years, we:f:iid that cats mid barley have beeiii sis'ircniunerati vein whe.it. The samu with corn, it being one dollar per bush- Hiill the time, isyiTl 01V llie-:ollji.lrte- t-cribc almVe, I can safely raise from thirty to forty bushels per acre, which would pay better than either wheat or oatx. Again, let us examine the price nf the different kind-, of grain for the last fen years in Lane county. The av-, erage price for oits has been about fifty tiveicents jier bushel, barley about six ty two. wheat seventy five, so in tak ing the average price per bu-hel, and the .. vertigo yield per acre, 1 consider tho .profit from all nearly espial, but at the present time there is more call for oats .than any other kind of grain, sell ing now for seventy five cents per bush el, and wheat about seventy one, so I consider a clear profit of five dollars per acre was made last year by raising oats. The writer has always advocat ed a mixed farming, hence at the pres ent time have a quantity of oats for sale, so we seo it is nol best to raise wheal ..alone, and neglect other varie ties, which has been nearly done for the last two years. Again oats are the best feed for horses, therefore .we should raise u .plenty for that purpose and have some to sell. Barley, corn and pota toes can till be raised and made as pro fitable to. fatten hogs. At the present time I find in Eugene beans selling at Jive and nix cents per pound, potatoes at one dollar per bu.-hel, onions, etc., at k good price. And some of these are not raised here, but are shipped from California. This is wrong. Here, again, coiue- the practical knowledge of kiiDwJiitfiiJue right quality of soli to raise them u th.it will make them as treuuiueratlve to the farmer as other productions, in the fanners that .kve .Away from the, river bottoms, out mi the good, dry .sulls in .the Willamette valley. It will not pay them as well to raise those articles as it will to raij wheat, oats and barley. J lence, should not raise any more than they want for their own use. Hut there is a class of former? In Oregon that .should raisoall l lies ailicle.-, and they urn living on .soil? (that are exactly adapted to the-e articles tt ml will jwy thttti lietter to raise, thuir either wlieatoroat;'. These farinewarc-llvlngon the river bottoms. ,:?uch hi the Columbia, Willamette und all the ftinall streams emptying into these. The soil being 'ery ricii, deep, mellow and consider ible sandy, which unites ir Imld vuoNturusomuch better Lthun the dry uplands during our dry wmmern. Hence, ooiug wen unapieu for all kinds of vgotables they should raise a large aurp.'u1, and at onco put a 'op to Importation of aiyof thesa ar ticles into our state, which would save a vast amount of mciey. and I vo no doubt hut they woulu' rocelvo as much 3ftt for the capital ! out as auy A Four-Page Supplement With the otherclass of farmers in Oregon. Xott, Mr. Editor, I am in favor of a mixed running, whenever the quality of soil will admit of it. lint, let ine say in conclusion, to every farmer in Oregon, that, t'l be more successful, Jie must lnarn by experience to be a competent judge of the soil he cultivates, and know what it is best adapted for, and raise only tko productions that will be most remunerative. Gi:nr.ni: Hklsiiaw. Eugene City, Feb. i!, 187(5. Mixed Farming. Ed. Far si eh: I see in the Fob. 4th number of your piper,a communication over the signature ofJohn J. Cook.ask ing what variety of crop-! can be rais ed on the farm that would make mixed farming pay. Now here is a question of great'importanco to farmers ol this ivalloy, and I wish I were able to nil nwer it as it ought to be answereli. It" wo are really reduced to wheat and oats as the only paying crop that can lio produced in this valley, then indeed we are obliged to operate in a very nar row track; but, Mr. Editor, 1 am in clined to think better things of the future prospects of Oregon fanners. 'I have heard it said ever since 2 first began farming, which wa-i about twen- 2TA vmin turn, rlinr hi-v V!iM ihn fnrfrhi.t -tl .----- -, ---.. - ... ' ..w -.. a........ from market who had nothing -to sell. nnl there Jamie tKing vjas ULWsLvejwlun.ttrML-4rvVeita"tefWten would do well toHioFnftinjrdraiKtthafTOons'eetf t'VSn, ,Hmslbt: It afier nW jiis that.thero is a home market as well as a foreign one, to bo supplied; a fact which is very apt to be overlooked, and tho consequence is tint very. often the common necessaries of life become warce and sell high, and sometimes the verythings that farmers can raise She easiest are tho mo4 scarce. Why '.' Because they tire overlooked in the tendency to run eagerly after special ties. Now a thorough system of mixed farming -will correct all this. For in stance, if the farmer raises wiieat, oats, beans, barley, and corn, in places where that crop can be grown, also hay, pota toes, apples, pears, peaches, plums, and imrk, mutton, and wool, butter, and "gs, 'y these crops he can Use all his land both pasture and field, to good ad vantage, and supply home with almost everything needed in tho eatable line. When grain has a good price, sell it; but when it gets so low that the farmer loses money if lie takes the price offer ed, and pork and bacon sell well, turn as much of it into pork and bacon as he can, and sell that. In short, when grain, fruit, and vegetables are too low to pay, convert them into anything else that you can that offers a paying price. While vou make some one crop your principal one, have a surulus of all the-e other crop?, .so that when your neighbor come? lo you and asks if you have tills or that, to soil, you can bo en abled to siy, yes I have it, how much do you w.mt ".' L. B. Jui.sojf. Marion County, March -Mi, 1870. II, II. Uii.riiv'H I.LOiUKt:. On Saturday eeniuu; Hon. H. II, Uillry of Silem deliver ed at the H iplUt tUniroli the loiirth lecture of the Idtirary rsmise, IiuvIiik for ilia subject, 'ri.e loiubi of Hurled Citi-.-." Tfo bullae was well Ulled ith an attentive and appre- iiihuvm aiulieuce. Mr, Ulfr'n lec.tire w-ih ilecidndly the nest of iliennur-e, and one ol the min-t interthtin' w e have ever li-"tenod to. I'ne Mibjaei is h prvlit!" one and the Itc'ure .sl.oued an ex eni-ive research into its inyi-to-nous depths by a mind CdpiibU, of contpro neudii(c it Itnrunam-u. He Mrried his nearer- lo the ruins t.f ihe ono UHKnllioent lilb?ff itie old worht ind extiuiiioil Irom the bnrnd I etm many iniens'Iu faein, and aIioaIhc that thi-reareriiiiiheren in Ameriot that m-ty xuine day ol)r up hidden treasures to throw light, upon lis earliest history. This us, we lwllive. Mr. Udlrv'a tirut atteraDt iu the lecture field and he actuated himself nun creuii. l'.uyene unnru. Ev?ArKi. Three prUont-rM coi.lined Iu the MulUiuuiah county Jail nude their ehcaeoo MomUv evening, by dlaini; a hole through toe rouiiuaiion wan. tnetriiama are ran iii.l.Sbeparda'on, Frank Walunn and William Utirke. Shepardion is on" of tho man arrest ed b'r ttu uiall robbery fur which Tbouip kliif, JJramlette andivhera arrt now sorvioK h I'Sb Ki'ints3 Iu toe Penitentiary, and It lw P'o'ulde a hut;9 reward will be otTared for hti rtckp tu re, JiQiM Fudge, wille croMini; tbe Touchet new WtlUl'irg, but week, hd hU team en Uugled, ad before b- coild extricate tbem, botu Uqt.'s, t!u at J500 mm drowued. T3ir &(bi SALEM, OREGON, MARCH Taxes. Editor Faimiiui: Taxation Is a subject thalitiMrcM.s us nil, and at nearly all bae had their Kay, In rpard lo It, J mi will pleas-e pardon me loriiov having mine; tud It' my lenro of any accote-it, you aro welcome to OiPiu, ami it they urn not, you are welcome lo iIumii anyhow. In the first nl.ica f consider oir eyslem of ost-H.-winpfiiropony a m-jro farce. Not but what our Assessors areas competent, and elllciunt, hh can bo 'found, but ousto'in has made Uio nvmkoi, or procure loo MrouK for our Awse-sor, and ptn-baps all combined to ruinody it. The law Is Tory rxplli'lt, tlmt properly shvll be nHessed at ii h:Iim1 cash value Tint N pUIn onoupli sitnple epouh nnd jul iinoiiKh tor anybody. To nsesH, tneaiiM ifnipprnNe to lis the valuo of anything. And to appral-p, or Ok the valueof imythlnt;, I cnnsidri- li indlspoiiHdbly neces-arj' that the Assosvor niuil iea the projorty, whether real, or pergonal. The cutom of owr Assessor, la about an lollops: They start out on Ibrlr round of du'y, and to every taxpayer they meet, whether at home or tdiroad, they propound ipimtiotiM similar to the f.dlowint': How taittih land do you own, Hint how much of It Wpnilrin? How maty hornen? and are Ihey AineriiMti? and how -niueti are they worth? How mauy rows? are they American? and how amch are theiy worth. And ao on to the end of tho chanter. They don'tseootie hundredth part of tho personal property, llllt raklt rim nH'llflr'w wnrd-fnr O In nuirltr nr inllew away, -ind oven If ihey ito we it, lake no notice of its liuproveinentN in the ivay ofballdintr", f'enset', dltohew, or whether it Is in a hfuh hUte of O'lltivatlon'or not, but aesess prairie, at po much pel acre, and brush land as mune oMitr prkte. Spiff Mr. Kdiror, it is, nbslou to any one who has traveled much, that iiro firms may aii.jiln each o'lier, of tLo uno number of acres, of equal amount -of prairie, aud yet one farm will oell lor twica ah much an tho other, simply bee uise it -Is worth twice as ruuoh, because of its coudl'l.m.. 1 under NtRiid the cuHlom is, to HKfis real estate at about, one liaf tin actual wish value, hut as fr as I have observe!, they Unn'i osiesa at over one third, und iu many Instances, not ovtirono Jourtli, its bcUmI-chhIi value. In Oregon, we hirluu-ly fee1, aud tee, the effecta of too Juro laniiH, cf-uiilnp eparsohoale msuts, J't-w, small, pvoily attended alioolf, jKior roads, iV" , Ao. Nov, Mr. IClltor, my plan .for a partial remedy of this evil Is, j-.M- mc thk uw. .Vsoh property at it lu-tnal ecuL value, and then, if Mime of our laod monopjljats are not willlii!; and arixmus li Mill cono OT their real estito, and rndu''i tuiir uu uib.tr of acroa, and let in the mm, civilize Ion, and. Improve- j uieuts, l nhall be very uiiih mlHlakdu. And a?- J remarked at the beginning, tl'iat our wlioli wyswun o assesslaij nrfipsriy Is a farce, anil might j.iat aavelf b'4l'peiited wirti ciulioly. li cyry niu tnintuhiosu property nd vwear tfrttii i orMucu, und an union prupei'y would bt leiuruwl, aa at prtwiuf, aad thereby' tuve u Snfildert bla oipenne. l.ASO iWM:H. Mara n Co., March, ISTrt.i From Uraatit3. Pijviilwo.v, On), m'mV, '70 Unirm Ka m'.h: I am, t . believer in plnt'.i.dikDi, aud, on toe' co- 'HiystrTinost emphatically n dla Iwlinvnr; jut I lo-niht wj ne.saea h pBriorinaiiir r you yr truly wouderlul, and bounjlhlu; hlch I cannot account fur: A young ium,( bnM 'lUlue I will omit at present, waa iliu'j rfurmer) you could blindfold him, and th hfd'ouie thing, or even think ot aomet lug-, and then take hold of hU hnud, aud b( voulj go aud UuJ it. He dooa noC knew ,w) t b4 htiut Ingfor until ho llnds it, 1; i will do the mmu thiiij: with any peraoi j . II thai I re quired of tbe persou hidinxtbi article, U to keep his mind on that oe hlpif, ail the time. ' This power Is something shk i be baa but lately discovered, and be da n it praUnd to kiiov what it la. He aaya hat. Juat a anon aa tbe person takes hold of t it, ud, ka feel aa though aouietblng wa pttlif ; bla band, and he follows It. In tola cane I kuowr It waaii htiabua;, aa I taated him myself. While t operator was ab,ont from the room I bUI i Irad'i dollar In another person's boot, aal vrbun lb per former came Iu I took bold of bla wriat and, to my utter suu lab meat la HHt riabt dowu ibe fellow' boo: after I' Tbla W aomethloa: we csan t sndaraland. and we would Ilk to bvt aaane mm ha eoMt'axplalntouir t , X. Farmer this Week i fa&Blmm-l) a V 17, 1S7G. Froliitlii! Western Farm Journal, Dca Mohio, Iowa. A CHRONIC DI80RGAKIZER. When Kx-Secretnry Oarretson hid adieu to Iowa, koIiik to Oregon, us he Mid, to recuperate his shattered liealth, we sincerely wished him well, and ex-rei-ed the wish that he would, in that favored climate, be restored to full physical vigor. We had no reason to hopo for useful work from him, in the Order, but we did hope that he would at least remain so far quiet, and profit by pint experiences, wherein he hail nhown great liability to commit errors, ar to remain, in a degree, passive anil harmless. But now comes the Wii.i.ami.ttt. 1'AHMimof Dec. U1, with nearly two columns of correspondence, touching his movements in his old role of "Organ Maker." The Wili.ami:tti: Kaumkk is tin old established paper in high standing, anil has, from tho beginn ing, been a faithful and elllcient worker in the cause, of the Order of Patrons. The correspondence referred to is made up, first, of a long drawn out cir cular sent out by Garretson to leading members of the Order in Oregon, couched in the same terms as were the circulars sent out from his oflicij here, when the idea of publishing another jiu per was conceived, only he applies the lash a little more freely than he did then. A copy of this circular sent to John Miutn, a leading member of the Order, in Oregon, is published iu full iu the WitjjAMirm: Fakmki:, togeth er with the reply of Brother Minto. This reply contains some whole-onm advice to X. w. Q. very applicable to rraowti is ubnlft Srr-rtTOntftSgtelrr Oregon. The following are twitd the. poim.s mane ov uromor iunuo: i.st, "that tho Order does not need 'the paper which N. W. (i. proposes to, place before them." 2d, "that to encourage a strife fur the patronage of the Order in that direction, is a sure road to di vision rather than unity." This reply brings out the fact that the paper which X. W. (3. propo-e.s to edit is owned by lirowu tv Stewart. pub lishers of the Sfatc'it Jiijhl,. fictiwrttt, 3lr. Brown being State' Printer. Brother Minto further savs: "And here penult me a few remit ''k upon the wonls l have Italiciseil in your cir cular. J rea I a crack of the whip be tween the lines there to which I, and the generality of old Oregoiiiiuis, uiv unused. Putting the best construction uon your language, f do not think the measure oi tny devotion to the ngnciil tuial inteiests, to which I have devoted thirty-one years of my life iu Oiegon, is to bo gauged by the alacrity 1 may hhow to co-operate with you." Tho Order in Oregon is fortunate iu having a man occupying a Ki-itioii of influence, ready to meet so bold an ad venturer as X. V. Oiirrefsnn, and It N apparent that his Itching to inflict a newspaper upon the Order In Oregon, win meet its just reward. Tho Wcxtem tftrm Journal, from which tho above was taken, is the old established farmers' paper of Jowa, and ono of tho official Orange papers of that State. It is ono of the largest and most ably conducted of Western agricultural papers, and from which we take more matter than from almost any other for republication in the V i Mi a m i:tti: I-'a km in:. Australian Wheat. Xoktii Y.XMiiiM,, March (!, 1S70. Kiinoit Fa km i:k : In your last issue I have read with much interest the cor respondence hut ween Mr. .J. (Jaston and Mr. George Bclslmw, touching dif fei'ent variolic of wheal. In (ho re ply of the latter I understand him to say that the Chile Club and tho wheat extensively raised in this country, and known as Australian or White Austra lian, aro one and the samu wheat. In this I can assure Mr. Belshaw that ho Is mistaken. In this county there aro many kinds of Club wheat that exist In name. I can call to mind the Little Club, Big Club, Chile, and Australian Club, Full, and Spring Club, and also what now appears to be two varieties of the Australian which 1 would not consider properly a Club wheat at all. How many of these exist in reality I am not able to ay, but my personal ob servation enablos me to speak only of the three varieties, tho common Lltt'e Volume VIII. Number a. Club, the Cliilo Club, and the white Australian. On the farm of Hon. Leo Laughlin, near Xorth Yamhill, I saw last seasou these three varieties growing sido by side, and assisted to harvest tho Held when ripe. Thero was a very marked difference, not only In the growth of the different varieties, but also in the appearance of the grain after thresh ing; especially was the latter tho case, on comparing tho Australian with eith er of the Club varieties. There is but slight difference between the grain of tho Littlo and Chile Clubs, tho latter being rather whiter nod a Utile larger grained, but when growing green the difference is.vory marked; tho Little having a very deep green color,, while the Chile has about tho color of grow ing oats: a palo gieen. Any person would readily have pronounced the two pieces wheat and oats respectively. The two ripen about the same, ami there is but slight difference in the heads when ripe; the Chile being a lit tle tho largest. I could not state as to tho yield, but am of the opinion tint the (inference iu tills respect was little if any. Of tho Australian wheat, as 1 said before, there appears to lie two kinds; but lam of tho belief that they have been one and the same wheat, the difference, which Is ijulto percopU-Lble-liolnir onlv.the result of illflereut ir eul t i viiTioii. JjTTtli nr.Vo)el1.yffilf!ltR-f.' varieties. The one w;C introduced into, this county by H. K. Stewart, of Xorth Yamhill, and purchased of Mr. O. Dickinson, of Salem. After the flr-l year this wheat was sown in the fall which improved the appearance of the wheat. Since then, it has been sown both as till and spring wheat; but gen erally seed bus been saved from that sown in the fall. Tho head isnuuh longer and larger than any Club head I ever saw, and though very closely filled, has but little of the Club appear ance. Ihe grain is alo larger man that of any Club J have seen. The straw is not at all like that of the Club, and N ipnto soft and inclined to straw- tall if left standing after it Is ripe. The grain or this wheat Is largo, white, and plump; much tuoro so than the origin al, which I belio vo to be in part the result of becoming uccliiiritcd, and more, the result of fall sowing. The other kind, us I will callltfortho purpose of designating it, was intro duced by Mr. Thomas Owens, in the vicinity of McMlnuvillc, and as I have understood alsocamo from Mr. Dickin son. This t-'oed has been conllned al most entirely to spring sowing, and has not quite so fine appearance either iu the head or grain as tho other, though I think perhaps tho samo treatment would soon bring it to tho samo stand ard. This wheat yields well, sown In tho fall; but does not stand Iree.ing as the old white or the Ihirton wheat as It Is called here. In Ifi'l, B. K, Stewart raised fifty bushels to the acre from ten acres. Last year nearly all that was sown frozo out badly and was re-eeded in tho spring. Howuver on tho place or Mr. T. 0. Davis was eighty acres of it, so badly frozen that It was not count ed on for u crop that would only in till probability scarcely pay for harvesting, yet it yielded over twenty-seven bush els per acre. This, I think, was of the Owens seed. 1 have .written much more at length than 1 had thought to do when I began this, and will not write further at tills time. I). C. Stkwakt. A letter from WaiUburir, W. T., lo tbe Sjmit, hay: "Flax ia not beitiK uulttva ed to me eiteut that it waa laat year, nwiutt to the fact that it proved an unprofitable ci op. The need liureua.ire furiiu-ned by me oil mill men has been vary foul, and it la a pinllou whether or not the cultivation ol tUx In this part of the country haa not, on the whole, proven a detriment to the country. With It any quantity of pernicious filth and weed, auob aa cockle, California mustard and the Ilka hart baea Utrodoead," t 4 v,