Willamette farmer., July 04, 1884, Image 1

VOL. XVI.
omgganiltncij.
THE OREGON STATE FAIR.
Salem, Juno 19, 1884.
Id iter Willamette Farmer:
Tlio twenty-fourth annual fair of tlio
Oregon Statu Agricultural Society will
Lo held at the Fair Grounds, near Salem,
commencing on Monday Soptcmber 15th,
and continuing until Saturday following.
At tho annual meeting of tlio Iioard of
Managers, held in December, lS83,seveial
important changes were mado in the
premium list, tho premiums being in
Bovcra instances increased over last year.
In addition to tho liberal premiums
offered for tho fair this year by the
society, Messrs. Kennedy and Smith, "of
Gervais, offer special premiums for two
best "colts of all work," get of "Robin
Hood" for 7884, 1st premium $30, second
premium $20. W. It. Cunnington, Esq.,
of Sacramento, Cal., offers special pie
miums as follows : For get "of Tornado
and Bonaparte," foals of spring of 18S4,
exhibited at tho Oregon Stato Fair of
1884. First premium $35 ; socond pre
mium $25 ; third premium $17.50; fourth
premium $12.50 ; fifth premium $10. Mr.
Delos Jefferson, of Salem, was designat
ed sup't of special committeo to pass on
tho merits of tho colts competing for the
these premiums. Tho fine exhibits mado
by soveral counties at tho last Stato Fail
was one of tho best features of tho Fair
and tho Board of Managers offer this"
year to tho counties making tho best
display of "farm products," "fruits" and
"garden products," in divisions K. M. and
N. respectively of tho premium list first
silver medal.
This feature of tho fair, if taken hold
of as it f hould and no doubt will be of
special intcicst to visitors from abroad
who will be attracted to tho fair for the
purpose of gaining information, and see
ing for themselves what our State is
capable of doing in its agricultural
development: Wasco, Jackson, Douglas,
and tho valley counties can easily make
exhibits in these depaitments that cannot
he excelled by any Stato in tho Union.
Many new piemiums have been added
to the ladies' departments and there will
doubtless bo a finer exhibition in theso
departments this year than at any
previous fair.
Special premiums, 20 first and $10
second, are offered in each class in
division B, cattle, for the best herd of
fic animals, to consist of one hull and
four cows or heifers of any age. Those,
in addition to liberal premiums offered
as usual in this division, will bring to
gether tho finest exhibit of rattle ever
seen at tho .State fair.
In tho sliced department, this, year the
sociotv offers the sum of three thousand
two hundred and fifty dollars in pre
miums. Already the races advertised in
tho speed programme arc filled by the
finest field of trotting and running horses
ever entered in tho trials of speed
at the annual fairs of the society ; the
society has secured membership in the
National Trotting Association for tho
year 1884 and '85, and the public is cer
tain to have tho pleasure of witnessing
trials for blood, and exact justice to all
contestant.
Tho prices of admission remain tho
game, or nearly so as I.i9t year. Season
tickets for members of the society and
campers at the fair $2.00 ; season tickets
for ladies $l ; girls and boys under twelve
years of age free; day tickets for men $1;
ladies and boys 50c
In order to correct abuse in liccnso
privileges, and the impositions that havo
been increasing from year to year in tho
post, the Board of Managers took the
decisive action relativo to tho forthcom
ing fnir, Tiz :
Resolved, -That no licenso shall le
granted by this society at tho next State
fair for tho salo of spirituous liquor."
Resolved, "That no license shall be
Granted for tho operation ol any
gambling device prohibited by
the
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SALEM,
statutes of Oregon. And resolved, further,
That all parties attempting to violate
the law of this State at tho annual fairs
hold by this association, we will endeavor
to nave prosecuted by the proper author
ities." Tho abovo will be rigidly enforced. No
effort will bo spared to make the fair of
1884 a complete success. Wo thorforo
urge renewod intorcst by all former
patrons of the fair in bringing forward
exhibits in every department, and to all
who desire to pucourago the society in
advancing tho agricultural, mechanical,
and other industrial interests of our Stato
to co-operato with tho society in making
a grand exhibition this year. Let every
county toko hold of this matter and
make a showing that shall reflect groat
credit on the enterprise of its citizens.
With such unitod effort, success will bo
assured. Geo. A. Peebles.
Secretary O. S. A. Soc.
The Fruit Crop In Southern Oregon.
Bock Point, Or., June 25, 1S81.
Kditor Willamette Farmer:
In reply to your request concerning
tho fruit crop I will just mention that
my orchard is located on Sardine cioek,
which runs into Boguo river on the
north eido one-half milo above lioek
Point and one and one-half mile below
Gold Hill station ; is surrounded by
high mountains east, west and north, and
has a full southorn exposure. I believe
it is the warmest place in Oregon. Tho
thermometer often rising above 100 deg.
in tho shade. Tho soil is of various
grades, the bottom lands aro fine sedi
mentary, sandy formation of unknown
depth. Next comes tho bench lands of
black loam, red hills and mountain
slopes; in fact every variety except
adobe. Tho soil is evidently formed from
granite, slate, porpory and liino stone.
My orchard is mostly on tho bottom
land and contains from 1200 to 1500
trees caiefully selected from most evory
Stato in tho union as a test orchard to
prove the best varieties for our climato.
Tho most of those aro poach, thoir ages
ranging from 2 to 0 years; and sizo from
twelve inches down in diameter and
with high spreading branches. There
aro probably 200 peach and nectarines
that will yiold 1000 bushels of tho fol
lowing varieties: Amsden, Alexander,
Briggs' red May, Bowers' early Water
loo, Rivers' early, mountain rose, Down
ing, stump tho world, Crawfords, Saun
ders' early, Beers, smack, Briggspcach
(largest), Foster, old Mixon, Susque
hanna, Philadelphia, Magerla, Mulaca,
Hales early, Marshal late, Billyows late,
Chili, Sardine, all free-stones, except
some of tho earliest. Below aro cling
stones : Golden cling, orange cling, Bal
timore cling, queen of the boulli, Heath
cling, Dallas cling, Indian, all full and
fair. Peaches begin to ripen July 1st
and continue until November. Tlioie
is about 100 or moro prune trees that
will yield from ton to one bushels per
tree. The Italian is very full and lino;
Coo's golden drop, too full; Potito prune
d'Argeno, not full; Follenburg, moder
ately full ; Hungarian, very full ; Ger
man, a fow. Forty or fifty largo lio.ich
plum trtes, full, also a general assort
ment of tho leading varieties of plums,
all of which aro very fnll. As for pears,
somo varieties are fnll and soma have
almost failed. Tho following are full :
B.irtlct, early blood, Urundiwine, Sou
venier du Congress, Sekcl, sugar loaf,
Vicar of Wakefield , early huttor, winter
nellis, Douches do Augoulonc are mod
erately full; all others have but fow on.
Tho cherries varied moro this season
than usual: Mayduke, early May, early
purple, early Richuiond, black Itepubli
can, royal Anno, yellow Spanish, aro full.
Governor Wood, and all similar kinds a
failure. They arc now all ripe and gouo
except tho Republican and lilack Hawk.
There has not been many grapes rais
ed in our precinct because there wax no
market. I havo tried u gre-.it many var
ieties peculiar to California with tho
best result. There will I u. full crop
of apples. There U not as much fruit
in all this precinct as what I havo ex
cept apple. Most every farmer has a
OREGON, FRIDAY,
small peach and plum orchaid, with
apples, pears, ebonies, etc. All fruit is
generally laigo and highly flavored.
Corn is now waist high and some will
como up as high as a man's head. All
kinds of grain promises abundant. Tho
vegetables, such as potatoes, tomatoes,
melons, pumpkins, squashes, beans, etc.,
look very well. ' B. F. Mru.Kit.
A Remedy for Cut Worms.
G Kant's Pass, Or!, Juno 28, 1SS-1.
Editor Willamette Farmer :
I notice an aiticlo in tho Farmer of
Juno 27, 1881, stating that tho cut
worms wore bad this season in different
parts of Oregon. Thoy'wero pretty bad
in this pait of tho country, but they did
not bother me, as I havo a sure antidote
for them and their ravages, and ono that
costs but little, will notinjuro the plants
if xised in modoration, and I tested it
pretty thoroughly last season. I moved
to Myrtle Creek and put out quite a gar
den, and tho first thing I know there
wore about six worms to ovory plant. I
set out about eight thousand cabbago
plants and they got about one-fourth of
them boforo I know what was tho mat-
tor. I set out about six hundred tomato
plants and it was but a short timo till
tho little bugs and worms had all of
them but about n dozen. I set out
again, but by the next day they wore at
work again, so I stopped setting
out plants and went to experiment on a
few plants, while as I did not know but
tho lemedy would lw, woreo than tho
worms, I only took a few, and I struck
tho nail on tho head the first timo ; but
by tho timo I found out what was tho
mattor the most that was replanted was
cut down. Now for tho remedy, but
hold your breath Tako a two-gallon
watering pot with a very coarse sprink
ler, fill it with water, and tako a good
sizod teaspoon nearly full of kerosono
and add to the water and gie each plant
about a pint of tho water, or if you aio
setting out plants givo them a pint
each, and tho work is dono till another
litter of worms como on and if they aio
ovor so bad twico applying this romedy
will cure an obstinato case. Try it and
you will doubt no longer ; it will also stop
tho little bug that troubles tomatoes
when they aro small to givo a light
sprinkling three or four times. Yours
truly, James W. Stewart.
row to Plow an Orcliard.
Whether to plow tho orchard to tho
trees each year, or to turn tho sod in op
posite directions in altcrnato years,
must depend on the soil and location. It
is only in exceptional cases that the for
mer oourso should bo pursued. In joor-
ly drained orchards, on low, black land,
this practice of heaping tho sod about
the trees has tho advantage of favoring
drainage. Evon in this particular, how
ever, it is doubtful if tho lienefits will
overbalance tho inconvenience icsulting
from such n practice. Better tile tho
orchard and keep tho surface oven.
Drainage is not always secured by tho
deep, dead furrows. The ground must
havo a good natural slope, or deep pools
will be formed in tho dead furrow just
where tho young roots demand warmth
and drainage. The constant lowering of
tho dead furrow cutri off tho smaller
roots and drivos them deep into the rub
soil where tboro is little nutriment. The
valuable surface soil is piled up around
about the trciw, where it does no good.
Roots feed largely ujioii the valuable
elements! which reach down from the
surface soil. Tho most active roots of
large trees aro far from tho trunk. An
uneven surface in an orchard is a con
stant source of aggravation, esiiocially
in picking time, when one mutt enter it
with a wagon. Windfalls roll into the
dead furrows, and become bruised, wet
and decayed. The sod does not usually
strike close against tho body of the tree.
As a consequence a little depression it
formed there, into which drifts litter,
forming an attractive homo to insects
and mice. Tliero is no danger of injur
ing trcoJ by plowing away from them,
and cloao to them if one has trained hi
trees projterly and if ho exercises care.
If the practice of close plowing .lp in
augursted in young orchard", the rooU
JULY 4, 1884.
will start deep enough to aoid tho plow.
It is not necessary to plow deep. Trees
should bo trimmed high. Low-headed
trocs aro an abomination, and they pre
sent hardly an advantage over high tops.
iiiVcn too on-repeated assertion thn'
they are easier to pick from I have
usually found ven wide of tho mark
To havo comfortable picking ono must
have room under the tree in preference
ion top som- that ho can step into it.
With mojJITely high-topped trees,
short, whiifie-trces, low hames, a ccntlo
team, and a careful man, ono need not
rear about injuring trees. Plow ono
year oast and west, the next noithiiud
south; ono year to tho t ices, one year
away from them.
rainier Lylo or Hlllhurst.
About IS miles nearly due south from
Tacoina, over the picturesquo prairie
lands that form so prominent a feature
of Picrco county, in a forost-cmboucrcd
retreat, tho traveler suddenly comes up
on the highly-cultivated farm of Mr. Wil
liam Lyle, one of tho pionocrs of Piereo
county, who settled near Olympia in the
year 1853, and located a donation claim,
which ho subsequently sold, and in 1872
purchased tho Lo Grando pre-emption
claim of 100 acres, now his homestead,
and tho Lo Grando donation claim of
3C0 acres, a. little north, through which
Lackamas creek runs for a long distance.
As ono emerges from tho deep-shaded
forests into tho clearinc unon which Mr.
Lylo has mado his home for many yoars,
ho is both surprised and enchanted, for in
tho entire rango of country from Tacoma
to this point there is nothing liko tho
scono horo presented. Tho farm-house,
barn, and other buildings stand at tho
portals of tho domain, and from an
adjacent elevation, which resembles the
work of tho ancient mound-builders, can
be seen somo twenty feot below, a perfect
ly lcvol iicltl ot somo ciclity acres, the
hixurinnco of tho vegetation of which
discloses tho richness of its soil, and its
value as an agricultural tract. It is as
smooth as tho prnirio and is thoroughly
drained. There is hmdly any crop that
cannot be successfully cultivated on this
land. Twenty acres of it is in hops, the
average nnnunl yield of which is 1 ton
per acie; tho rcmaiandor boing devoted
to grass and other crops. Mr. Lylo has
mado ns high as four and a half tons of
hay from a single acre, and vegetables
aro produced without limit. Without
fertilizers bo has raised on this ground
50 bushels of wheat to tho acre. Tliero
is no better land for oats, tho weight of
the grain per bushel being as high as 40
pounds. This 80-acro tract, if cultivated
as closely as land is cultivated in somo
parts of Europe, would supply u villago
of 100 peoplo with tho nccossaiies of life.
Thoro is bolicvod to bo no bettor 80-acro
tract on tho continent,
The farm buildings aro convenient and
havo been well kopt. Tho barn is spa
cious and never empty of hay. Tliero is
a new and improved hop drying houso,
with all tho paraphernalia for hop rais
ing and curing, a good blacksmith and
wagon shop, whero Mr. Lylo often
amuses himself turning out articles of
utility that prove him to bo a natural
mechanic, though bo says anybody could
mako them if the will existed. A farm
wagon is his lutest piece of woikmau-
snip.
Thcio is no bettor ranco forcattlo than
that extending from Lylo's to a point as
far as the Nisqually river, whero cuttle
and shoep can subsist tho year lound,
though farmer Lylo prefers to feed his
stock in tho winter season, as a mutter of
economy, and to keep thorn near homo.
Ho has gradually reduced his herd of
cuttle, keeping only 100 head at present,
with from 5(X) to GOO Cotswold-Ix-'ster
sh(cp and some good horses. A 22
month's half breed Porclieron roll is a
stalwart specimen, which will make a
line stock or farm horse.
Chip Dirt aa Manure.
Farmers who dejiend Uxjn the wood
pile for fuel during tlio year, find, in a
little time, quite an accumulation of de
cayed, or partially decoyed, chips, cmjks
cially if the wood is worked up with tho
axe, at or near the house. Working up
wood with an axe causes a considerable
accumulation of chips, and us tlio smaller
ones aro seldom gathered for burning,
thoy go to decay quite rapidly, and are,
of course, coinjosel of vegetable matter
very largely, so that tho resulting sub
stance is of itself of considerable iiunii
rial value. In this condition it may bo
employed to good pnrposo in top-dressing
mowing land, and as mulch for fruit,
especially apple trees. An orchard that
WMnwywWiawp iwJVf '
str?""
NO. 21
was not doing well was dressed by n
quantity of chip diit, about tho trees,'
and result was an infusion of new vigor
into tho ttecs, manifesting itsolf in a
largely incieascd burden of fruit of a
greatly improved quality.
But, perhaps, tho moio importnnt use
of chip dirt is as an absorbent; by a lit
tle painstaking it may be, in tho dry
weather of summer, rendered very dry,
and from its peculiaily porous chaiaeter
capable of absorbing a gi eat amount of
moisture. For this teuton it is very val
uable to spread under lion roosts to bo
incorporated with the droppings of tho
fowls. In hat way, with no moro than
thirty or forty fowls, soveral barrels of
most oxcellent manure aro obtained.
Anothnr valuable service is to plnco
tho dry dirt in barrels or tight boxes,
and thou saturate tlio same thoroughly
with tho urino that accumulates in the
chambers. Tho only trouble with this
fcrtilior will bo its strength, as contact
with seed will, very likely result in its
destruction. No f aimer should fail to
mako an economical u-. of all the de
cayed rofuso of tho wood pile.
Antiquity ot a Agrlculuro.
The seasons of tho year float along with
exact eortainity, ono of tho most beautiful
of which is tho autumnal. They were
made for a wise and boueficcnt purpose,
aud thoy havo existed since tho com
meuccmentof time. Thoy nrcin thointer
ost of tho husbandman and secure to him
advantages and results guaranteed to no
other pursuit. No other vocation or
pursuit has its oact seed-time and
harvost, its summer and winter. Wo
recogui.o tho fact that tho first familic-,
that ovor oxistod were fanners. Thoy
spent life under tho shade of the orcliard
trees, cultivated tho soil, and fed and
looktd uftor their Hocks upon tho moun
tains. When wo recognize this fact we
feel that thoro is an antiquity as well a-.
dignity in iigiicultuie. Ami when we
read tho mythological history of pagan
times wo Hud that tho earth was lecog
iiied as tho source of all power. Aniens,
was tho son of Neptuuo and was a power
ful god. As long us ho was able to touch
tho earth, mythological history tells us,
ho was able to fight and conquer other
gods. Hercules was a mighty and
poweiful god, and when ho discovoied
that Anteus iccohed his strength fioin
tho earth ho lifted him up into tho
heavens, and there hold him, and by this
means ho was able to conquer him. So
wo find away back in mythological history
that tho earth was recognized as tho
sourco of great power. Ceres, too, w'as
tho goddess, of Agriculture, and was
worshipped in pagan times us such.
Gorgeous temples weio erected in Greece
aud Itomo to this goddess, and at stated
intervals thousands of peoplo collected
in them, under tho impeiial rule of
religious duty aud national law, and did
great honors to her. They glorified
agricultuio by sacrifices, by the pomp
and splendor of high festival. And
ought not wo to lie proud that wo livo in
this country of churches and school
houses, and that wo are able to worship
and thank tho only true nd living God
for tho great benefits which havo re
sulted to this Nation and country from
agriculture? Sacird history informs us
that nearly nineteen bundled years ago
Christ was born in Bethelhem amidst
tho suirotinditigH of a homo farm, ami
tho shepherds wero tlio first to bo present
and greet Jo-cpii and JMary tlio mother
of tho Hodcciuor of tho World. And it
was tho Star of Bethlehem that guided
the shophcidri to the sot whero tho
Redeemer was bom, and it was to the
representatives of tho humble farmers
of that country of .1 udc.i that wore given
tho message and tho honor to give to the
world tho joyful information that tlio
Redeemer of the world was born.
Frederick Ruble, in Homo Farm.
Hon. George B. Loring, in hisuddrcs
before tho Now England Agricultural
Society, showed that tho fanners of New
England aro growing richer lie said:
"Tho decline of eei tain branches of farm
ing, especially of those staples that can
bo more cheaply produced elsewhere, is
attended by an increase of all those
products that enter into immediate homo
consumption ; and heuco it Is that the
miralwrot farms has increased, the
production of butter has been enlarged,
the sale of milk has become an important
branch of dairy, and thu aggregate value
of tho annual products of the soil is greatly
enhanced."
A 1,200 ton steamer that came from
New York with a cargo of material for
Yanuiua Bay, landed it thoro and then
came hero (to Portland) for a cargo of
merchandise that was sent by rail.
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