VOL. XVI.
fyvrrtfyvnAtntq.
Letter from Ilia, W. T.
Illa, W. T., July 22, 1884.
Editor Willamette Farmer:
As I haven't written to your valuable
paper Bince I left "Wasco county, Oregon,
' I will try and tell you something of this
part of the country. It has been seven
years since I came here, on Snake river,
and I have been going into the fruit
busineso as fast as my means would per
mit. I commenced with 200 peach trees,
and 100 each of plum and prune, 200
apple and 4 pear trees, a few cherries,
apricots, grapes, and the smaller fruits,
all of which grow well, and in fact do
better than at any place I have lived be
fore. I now have over 2,000 fruit trees
growing and shall keep on setting out
until I get 5,000 trees. When I com
menced in the fruit growing I read the
Farmer and everything else I saw re
lating to the subject, and worked and
watched and tried to find out what kind
of fruit would be tho most profitable to
go into extensively, and have about de
cided to set out two or three thousand
prune trees. I have tho Italian and
German that I have been growing six
years. Tho peach, Washington, Colum
bia, Jefferson and egg plums, all of
which are full and fine looking.
The prunes are very full and large.
Apples are full enough except a part of
them have what we call the apple louse.
The apples have fallen off and tho trees
are injured. They are everywhere that
I have heard of this year. They have
the same trouble in California, often kill
i ing the buds before the leaves come out.
In some places press pumps have been
used throwing a spray of Paris green
into the tops of the trees. I tried a so
lution of strong vitriol which killed the
lice, also the leaves, but not the bark.
My pear trees are very rank in growth,
but not very full. Some of them show
a little blight on tho leaves as though
they had been scorched.
The peach trees will bear a full half
crop which is considered good for this
season after the injury they received
during tho past winter. Cherries and
small fruits do well every year. Al
though there aro some disadvantages to
contend with I think the fruit business
is going to bo a success in this locality.
Yours respectfully,
Geo. W. Bi'rfoiu).
The Best Strawberries.
Editor Willamette Farmer:
According to promise, after noting
carefully which plants and berries wero
tho best this season, I proceed to state
tho result or conclusion.
Tho Sharpless, Jucunda and Wilson,
in the order mentioned, are the best on
my place. Tho Wilson did poorer this
season than it has ever done; the Jucun
da did uncommonly well, being large,
prolific, and late. Out of twenty-three
kinds it was one week later than any of
them. The behavior of the Sharplefs
was singular this 6enson, being not only
among tho earliest but lasting down to
within one week of tho latest, tho Ju
cunda. The earliest was tho Warren ;
and, it is not only the earlier but it is
alio among tho richest berries I havo
ever eaten. It is not so firm, nor so
good a market berry as the Wilson, but
for home uso I prefer it to tlmt great
market berry tho Wilson. If the
Sharpless would always behave as it did
this season wo should ncod no other. It
was early, medium, and away down to
quite late, covering nearly tho whole
season. It is A No. 1.
The Jucunda is only medium to very
late, nay, with me, the latest of all.
Tho only real objection I havo to the
Wilson is, tho last pickings are bo
small. Deep and constant culture im
proves the size, and quality, too, of the
Wilson. The Jersey Queen U late and
productive ; but, is not as largj as the
rikK SS
SALEM, OREGON, FRIDAY,
books would- have it; and, although a
pistillate, boro handsomely. The Big
Bob is a failure) a miserable failure.
The Glendale is late, firm, productive,
too sour for eating, but good for canning.
I do not think it worthy. Tho Jersey
Queen is equally late, even later, and far
better. The Finch's Prolific has be
haved admirably, and is the easiest berry
to pick I know of. My pickers would
almost quarrel about who should pick
them. They are large, firm making no
juico handling and grow in such clus
ters that you can get a handful at a
time, soon filling a box. Honce we love
to pick them.
It takes the breadth of a continent
and a decade of years to prove a straw
berry. The Sharplcss, Jucunda and
Wilson hae stood the test. They have
been found "not wanting" are worthy.
These three are early, Wilson ; medium,
Sharpless; and late, Jucunda. They fill
the bill. Still we may need, in time,
new ones, as these may run out, degen
erate, or become diseased to such a de
gree as to be worthless. There is much
complaint now, in various States, of the
Wilson, it having the blight, scalo, and
seoms sickly. Henco many are discard
ing it. So, too, in some sense, of the
Jucunda; rarely of the Sharpless, it be
ing a young aspirant, having been sent
out by J. K. Sharpless in 1872, and con
sequently now twelve years old. The
Jucunda (Knox's No. 700) is over thiriy
years old. Indeed, many contend thut
Knox's No. 700 is really the old Jucunda
brought here from Europe nearly half a
century ago. The Wilson originated
with Mr. Wilson, of Albany, N. Y., near
a quarter of a century ago, and
is, to-day, more universally known,
cultivated, and successful than any other
strawberry in our country. Any new
and superior fruit I welcome ; but cling
to the old till the now is proven superior.
There aro somo others wo havo on
trial ; but will not speak of them now,
because they may, in future, behavo
badly, and far bo it from mo to recom
mend what might, to others, be a blight
and curse. Oregon, or rather the Wil
lamette valley, is tho natural home of
ttho strawberry. Our hills and prairies
wero, before settled, teeming with wild
strawberries, and many of them of good
size and quality. An experienco of
thirty-throo years has convinced mo that
wo can, with common sense and labor,
grow "tho greatest berry God ever
mado" to perfection in the Willamette.
I grew Sharpless, this season, weighing
two ounces; rich, firm and delicious,
too. But to grow them thus requires
more trouble than tho berries are worth.
Tho Sharpless, more than any plant I
know of being "a thing of conditions,"
"Its onironment makes it," as Darwin
has it.
These aro tho conditions that make
large, rich straw-perries : First, a deep,
warm, rich, well underdrained soil-either
naturally or artificially. Secondly, deep
and constant cultivation. Thirdly, all
runners cut. Fourthly, moisture in tho
form of rain or water applied. "Tho
cat is out of the wallet." Catch her if
you can. A. F. Davidson.
Tho following is slid to be truo : A
preacher out West, Mr. II., was a good
man, but very rough in his ways, and
very much given to chewing tobacco.
Ono timo ho was riding on horseback
through tho country, whon thoro camo
up a shower. Hiding up to a cabin ho
hastily hitched his horse and knocked
at tho door. A sharp looking old lady
answered tho summons. The preacher
asked for fheltor. "I don't tako in
strangers, I don't know you 1" replied tho
old lady, sufpiciously. "Hut you know
what th Biblo says," said the preacher.
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers,
for thereby somo hae entertained an
gels unawares." "You needn't quote
Bible," said tho old lady, quickly; "no
angol would como down from heaven
with a quid of tobacco in his mouth as
you have!" Tho door was shut, and tho
preacher unhitched hi horse and rode
away in the raid.
Midsummer Culture Saving Hay, etc
F. D. Curtis in the Country Gentlo
man writes as follows :
There is an opportunity for some ono
to do a good thing, and to improvo this
original millet, so that it may bo made
available for a lato forago plant to eke
out poor meadows, and to take tho place
of better grasses. It will grow on any
kind of land, but like other things, will
do host where tho soil is rich. I am not
able, from Flint on Grasses and Forago
Plants, to give the botanical namo of
this grass. When the oat crop is light
it is always found in it, and tho seeds,
coarser and lighter-colored than millet,
used to fill tho screen-box, and the old
timo farmer was bothered to know what
to do with them. I have found out that
tho hons aro fond of them, and that
when ground and mixed with grain
they aro good for cattle.
Like millet, the hay will be better if
tho seeds are not allowed to ripen, and
tho hay itself does not havo the sub
stanco and value of timothy and some
other varieties. When hay is short and
light, as a great deal of it is this year, It
must not be forgotten that it is moie
nutritious than when weak and bulky,
and a less quantity should bo given at a
feeding. The shortness in hay may bo
made up to a large extent by cutting the
grain early while the straw is still bright
and full of the juices, which give it value
as food. Farmers will find, if they will
do this, and feed a little grain with it,
that a goodly portion of tho hay mow
may bo sold, notwithstanding tho short
age. It will not do to let the grain stand
until it can bo cut in tho forenoon and
taken in in the aftornoon, or even when
cut tho day before. Straw harvested
under theso rules has very little value
as fodder ; but straw cut as soon as tho
most of tho grain on it is ripo, is good
fodder. My rule is to cut as soon as tho
straw is quite generally white. Even if
there aro green heads and somo green
spots, there is a saving in the shelling of
the grain, which is moroof an item than
most farmers imagine. Thoro is ono
crop which can be mado to help in tho
sawng of tho hay by affording a late and
nutritious pasture. I mean turnips.
All kinds of stock can feed on thorn till
winter fairly sots in, and this will savo
a month's foddering of stored proven
der, and a great loss of llcsh, beforo this
time, as stock nro quito often managed.
There is no flesh in frost-killed grass,
and not any moro in frost-killed and
bleached corn-stalks. Tho dead grass is
tho Pastern farmer's lesort, and the
killed corn-stalks the Western. A field
of turnips for tho stcck to feast in would
change their condition from depletion
to growth.
If superphosphates have any special
mission, it is for turnips. Horo they
toll. Tho growing season is too short,
and the wants of the plant so little that
they can supply it, and henco it is a very
easy matter to grow a crop of turnips.
There is a phaso to turnip culturo yet
unstated, and which ought to bo moro
appreciated tho mid-summor culture
of the land. Land is getting so foul
that wo shall havo to resort to tho old
fashioned system of summer-fallowing,
or extend tho aica of buckwheat and
turnips. Buckwheat is a most excellent
crop to subdue rough land and bring it
into a moro mollow condition, but it is a
somewhat risky crop, and is apt to re
new itself tho next year, especially if the
land is sown with any kind of small
grain. Some farmers havo an idea that
buckwheat is poisonous to land, and on
this account thoy will nover raio it.
The straw is irritating to the skin of an
imals, and the flour causes a rash on tho
skin of Eomo pcopl, and this is all the
Ioison, in my judgment, there is about
it. I have fed tho grain to all sorts of
animals with no injurious results.
Turnips will tako root whero buck
wheat can, but a crop cannot be expect
ed with as little culturo. The soil
W r v( arm&&7& M ..TW
AUGUST 1, 1884.
should bo mado mellow and clean.
Buckwheat starts promptly, and makes
such a rapid growth that it will get
ahead of most woeds; whereas turnips
are of moro dolicato growth, on tho
start, and tho land must bo thoroughly
subdued beforo the seed is put in. There
is value in turnips in this fact. In what
better way can a farmer improve a field,
and at the same timo improve his stock.
It would be a profitable advancement in
the routino of Amorican farming, if ev
ery farmer mnile it a rule to fit ono field
every year for turnips. Ho would get
his pay in tho crop, and havo a fiold in
a condition the next year for producing
a largo yield.
I do not know of any cheaper or moro
effectual way to enrich a fiold and free
it from foul stuff than with turnip cul
ture, and f coding them otl'on tho ground.
Turnips do not exhaust tho land like
grain crops. Tho tap root penetrates to
tho lower strata, and opens it up for tho
introduction of the atmosphere and tho
rains. It also acts as a pulverizer, and
so deepens tho actual soil and enriches
it. I am satisfied that turnips dorivo a
considerable portion of their food for
growth from tho atmosphere, and whon
the crop is fed out on tho land whero
grown, thcro is a manifest addition to its
capacity to grow other crops, and besido
it is purged of weeds, and left in a fri
able condition, which makes future till-
ago easier.
Lousy Chicks.
Young chicks aro liable to a groat
many diseases, so much so that tho farm
er's wife often thinks thoir lives hang on
a very slender thread. When the chick
is hatched out its first work is, and con
tinues to bo for a couple of months, to
put out feathers. If they aro of healthy
stock, on suitablo ground, and fed regu
larly with suitablo feed, it would seem
they ought to get along all right. But
there is still another important condi
tion ; they must be freo from vermin.
If on examining a ten day chick tho lico
aro found so thick about tho nock and
throat that they stand on end liko quills
upon a porcupine, it may bo set down
that tho lico havo tho best of tbo bar
gain and tho chick's days aro numbered
unless relief como at onco. Ofton the
first thing is to put sulphur and lard on,
and, upon tho theory that if a littlo is
good much is better, and it is put on so
injudiciously that tho chick dies at last.
Sulphur is suro doath to insect life, but
the chick can seldom stand it. It is a
fact that tho worst result is in tho lico
sapping tho lifo blood from tho littlo fol
lows, thus reducing tho constitution o
that it is an easy preyto cvory form of
disease This exhaustive process of sup
porting hundreds of mites though not a
disease, would bo bad enough nt any
time, but whon in connection with that
of making feathers it requires moro than
a chick's digestive organs to moot the
drain. Now prc ontion is always better
than euro. Sulphur, or lime, will keep
the nests clean and if put in a week be
foro hatching timo thcro will bo no dan
ger to tho chicks whon they como out.
To mako a, suro thing of it, however,
tako a rag and saturate it with coal oil.
Then wring it out as dry as it can bo
wrung and rub each chick thoroughly
with tho rag whon they aro first taken
off tho nest. Or, after allowing tho old
hen to dust hen-elf thoroughly, rub tho
rag all over her, under tho wings and
breast so that tbo littlo ones will got tho
lxinclit of it whilo hovering undor her.
Probably tho greatest bourco of diteaso
among tho clucks is bvercotno when per
fectly guarded ngiinst lice.
"Father," asked a littlo three- car
old tho othor day, at dinner, of his pa
pa, "what is it that inukes tho light
ning?" "You can't underhtand it now,"
was tho answer; "I'll tell ou when you
get a littlo older," and tho father went
to his avocation. In tho evening ha
returned, ami iho young hopeful,
climbing upon his knees, en'ul to him,
"I'apa, I know now what makes the
lightning. It is Dod scratching match
es against tho sky."
Frank Mnrkham, repairing tho fluino
of Isaac' mill this aftornoon, tuys tho
Walla Walla Journal, discovered, at 1 0
o'clock, a human body on top of tho
turbine rase. It gavo forth' a horrible
smell and had evidently boon dead
weeks or months.
NO. 25.
Natives of Texas are noted by all new
comers as being vory inhospitable. As
oninstanco: A man was traveling on
" tbo boundless prairie," and when night
was about to fall, ho spied a log cabin
near a small pieco of cultivated ground.
As ho was twenty miles from any other
inhabitant, ho felt that ho had boon
lucky in coming on this settlement. As
is customary when within hailing dis
tance, ho shouted, " Hello!"
In reply to this a, bushy female head
was thrust thiough tho door, and, in a
loud voice, demanded "What's wanted?"
"I want to stay over night and get a
bite to cat," wns tho answer.
"We haint got nothin' to oat," said tho
planter's wife.
"What!" said tho travelor in nstonish
ment, "Haon't you got corn bread and
bacon?"
"Wo haint got no cawn bread, wo haint
got no bacon, wo haint got no nuthin',
and you can't stay."
And as tho weary travelor turned from
tho door ho heard a voice which seemed
to como from behind a pilo of straw in
the corner, "Mariar, I reckon you had
better tio tho dog loose."
Perhaps tho most rcmarkablo thing
about Texas is her northers. It is a
sudden wind from tho north which often
causes tho mercury to drop twenty do
grecB in as many minulcB. The morn
ing of a day last winter was as pleasant
as ono could wish. Tho thermometer
stood at 75 degrees. Beforo ovening it
showed six degrees above zero. Thus it
is that luckloss travelers aro caught nnd
fiozcn to death on tho prairies. I havo
known tho wind to chango from south
to north in less than ono minuto.
No man can make a good living in
Texas by farming. Tho soasons aro too
uncertain. In 1879 thoro was no rnin
from tho fifth of Mny to tho following
December.
Tho farmers of Texas aro principally
Southern pooplo, who eko out a miser
able ONistonco by raising cotton and
corn. Their solo diet is bacon and corn
bread ; and lucky is ho who can got
money enough o buy these, togotlier
with quinine, which tho Toan takes al
most as regular as his meals.
Thoro is monoy to bo mado at cattle
raising, but this lcquircs largo capital.
Shoep aro also raised bore, though in
Hamilton county tho mobs of outlaws
havo almost totally discouraged sheep
raising. Cattle mon aro vory hostilo to
sheep men.
Ex-Socrctary Evaits tells a good story
at his own oponse about a small don
koy which ho sent up to his country
seat somo years ago for tho uso of his
children, of whom somo wero then quito
young. Ono of bis littlo daughters, go
ing out to admiro tho animal in its pad
dock, was sorely distressed when tliu
donkov lifted up its voice and brayed
dolofully. "Poor thing I Poor thing!"
exclaimed tho sympathetic child; but,
suddenly brightening up, sho turned to
hor uurso and said: "Oil I I am ho
glad ! Papa will bo hero on Saturday,
and then it wont foci so lonosomo!"
"What shall wo namo baby sister?"
asked a mother of her littlo four-year-old
daughter. "Call her Early, mammn,
that's a protty name." " Early, that's
not a girls namo." "Oh, yes it is. Don't
you romeinbor you lead to mo alwut tho
little girl who was to bo Quren of tho
May, and who wanted her mother to call
her Early?"
Mr, J. M. liiirhani, of Mohuiua in
the foot hill region of tho Sunti.uu
showed iih a pio-pliiut stem, the palm of
which was three feot nnd two inchos
acios nnd tho stem was in pioportion.
Mr, Il's place is wj en miles alxjvo .Mi'
liatna on iho little north foil: of tho
Kaiitiam. Tho quality of tho soil in
that region is of gieat fertility.
TUB "BOSS" TIIRE3HEE.
The "Kow MaisilUoa" Heard From.
Sir vnnt-ov, Ore., Aug. 1 1, 18811.
We, tho underhignod, lmo this day
wen tho "New Mnsilllnu" .'M-lnch
Separator and Ituiwill Ten-JIori'o Self
fleering Traction I'uuino (purchased by
W, O. Daws of T. 11. Wait) run, and pro
nniinco it tho best threshing outfit wo
liavo over non. It threshed fast, nnd
can't liii Ix-at "cpnrating and cleaning.
A. Cooliwik & Co., C. McAm-ix
JOHV IlAIXrt, Q. A.Mauhiiiiankh,
I SlcCfJiix, W. II. Tumi.v,
O. SrAix, John Dawh,
II. T. VON VoLKK.SJllXJK.
I concur in tho abovo statement,
W. G. Da we.