FLAX GROWING
MAY SUCCEED
PRACTICAL FLAX MAN GIVES
PO IN TS ON PROTECTION
Thinks Convict Labor Would Need
Special Handling but M ight Do.
Oregon A gricultural College, Cor­
vallis, Atig. 9.— (To the E ditor.)—
Your statem ents relative to the p u r­
poses for which flax is grown and
labor are correct, but there are sev­
eral features in the industry of flax
raising which the grow ers in this
state are sadly ignorant of and which
have m ilitated ag ainst the successful
growing of flax and the profitable
handling of the product.
Flax draw s heavily from the soil,
should not be sown two seasons in
succession upon the sam e soil and
should be followed by a crop of the
nitrogenous fam ily.
Seed should be selected in accord
with the principal use the crop is to
be directed. French, Relgian Russian
and Irish seed give different returns
in fiber and seed.
The bow or seed pod m ust be
stripped at once afte r the flax is
pulled, dried and milled. The bundles
are bound and placed in the w ater
for retting. The character of fiber
is governed absolutely by this pro­
cess, and only a person having had
practical experience knows how to
handle flax during this period. W hen
the flax is ready to be taken from the
w ater it m ust be spread not too thick,
evenly upon a pasture or hay field,
(the drip is good top dressing), and
allowed to dry, then rebound and
shocked for several days, when under
favorable clim atic conditions it is
ready for milling, sam e being regu ­
lated by the uses to which th^ fiber
is to be put, Hessian, tw ine or other.
The w riter has handled flax from
seeding to the cam bric handerchief
and the artistic patterned dam ask, but
does not claim to know all by any
means. 1 m erely inflict this letter
because I once considered flax a n a­
tional crop and would like to see it
grown successfully here— labor from
the continent m ight be secured. In
the countries where flax is grown la­
bor is cheap and women do much of
it both in the field ana the mill. The
labor you speak of requires special
handling but m ight do. I shall w atch
progress w ith very g reat interest.
( Professor Hyslop thinks these
points made by a Lane County citizen
very valuable and approves the idea
of one flax crop in a rotation. F urth er,
owing to the readiness w ith which
flax crops develops soil diseases, he
favors long rotation periods, p refer­
ably from three to six year.— Ed.)
WHAT SPECIAL EDUCATION
FARM ERS SHOULD HAVE
Oregon A gricultural College, Cor­
vallis, Aug 9.—"W hat should edu­
cation give the farm er, not as a man
but as a fa rm e r? ” inquired Dr. P. P.
Claxton, United States Commissioner
of Education in an adress to the stu ­
dents of the Oregon A gricultural Col­
lege on his recent visit to the coast.
Among other things m entioned as
necessary to the farm er's special edu­
cation ‘"or his profession the commis­
sioner then mentioned the following:
It should give a knowledge of the
soil, out of which he is to m ake his
living and what profit he m ay. It
should teach the farm er the physical
properties of the soil so th at he may
keep it in th at condition of tilth th at
favors m oisture for growing crops, ac­
cessibility of free plant food, freedom
form expensive weeds, capilarity, and
minimum erosion. It should also
teach him the chemical composition
of his soil to the end th at he may
know the elem ents which contribute to
fertility, the elem ents th at are de­
ficient for any given crop, and how
to unlock the stored elem ents th at the
plant cannot secure unaided.
It must give him knowledge of the
plants which he will grow. He m ust
know th at they are formed by a very-
fixed and definite combination of ele­
m ents from soil, air and w ater, and
th at if the soil in which they grow
THE OREGON BREEDING CRATE
Propared By
G. R. Samson
R. E. Reynolds
A breeding crate for swine is desirable for effecting m atings which
would otherw ise be difficult or impossible, for saving risk to valuable
boars and sows, and for conserving the vitality of boars. E xtrem es
of size in sexes are difficult to m ate; some sows do not respond to the
advances of certain boars; there is danger of heavy anim als slipping
and injuring their feet and legs; old boars som etim es become vicious
and rough w ith sows; and young boars frequently acquire the habit
of m asturbation because sows will not stand readily. All of these
dangers are decreased by the use of a breeding crate.
A crate m ay be of very sim ple construction
cases: but difficult m atings show such crates to
one which is servicable under all conditions is
hitherto not been worked out. The things which
in the construction of a crate are, first, th a t it
second, th at she be held in an accessible position;
be held so w ithout endangering the boar.
does not contain each soil elem ent in
sufficient am ount the plants will m ake
a short crop, no m atter how rich the
soils in all the others. He m ust
learn how to propagate, cultivate, h ar­
vest and m arket his farm crops, and
how to store and utilize farm products.
It m ust give him a knowledge of
anim als so th at he will be able to se­
lect, breed and raise livestock in an
efficient m anner. He m ust learn w hat
feeds to select of those available, how
to secure balanced rations from them ,
and how to feed for best results. He
m ust then know the tim e and place
for economical m arketing or conver­
sion to his own use.
All these things are additional to
a general education including chemis­
try, physics, bookkeeping, engineer­
ing, and shop work.
In view of the m any general and
special requirem ents of education for
the farm er Dr. Claxton does not look
w ith favor on the very general prac­
tice of suppyling young girls or others
lacking in this knowledge as teachers
of farm er’s sons in the country
schools. "It used to be said,” con­
cluded he, "th a t those who can, do,
and those who can’t, teach; but it
is coming to be recognized th at only
those who know a subject can teach
it.”
LA NE POMONA GRANGE
MAKES FORW ARD MOVE
Oregon A gricultural College, Cor­
vallis, Aug. 9.— Adoption of a road
patrol system for repairing roads be­
fore the dam age is extensive and its
repair expensive has been endorsed
by the Lane Pom ona G range, reports
the Eugene Register. O ther progres­
sive steps favored are the following:
A public m arket a t Eugene where
producers and consum ers can tra n s­
act business direct.
Im proving the dairy industry by
weeding out unprofitable cows, prac­
ticing more economical feeding and
m anagem ent and better breeding.
Uniform breeding and handling and
co-operative m arketing of farm live­
stock.
Developing the poultry industry by
and serve in most
be inadequate, and
desirable b ut has
m ust be looked to
restrains the sow;
and third, th at she
cooperative breeding, packing and
m arketing clubs.
•
A system of drainage projects.
The grange was addressed by C. E.
Spence, m aster of the S tate Grange,
who stated th at too much money is
given to road contractors.
SA LES LETTERS VALUABLE
IN SECURING ORDERS
Oregon A gricultural College, Cor­
vallis, Ore., Aug. 9.— The rales
letter th at is so effective in the hands
of the mail order expert fails to ap­
peal as strongly as It should to the
local m erchant, according to Clyde I.
Blanchard, O. A. C. teacher of stenog­
raphy and one of the four winners
of the world cham pionship efficiency
contest. “A lthough the local man
feels th at he cannot use this weapon
effectively it has been proved beyond
a doubt th a t he can m ake it more ef­
fective than can the mail order man.
We all know th at by means of these
letters' New York and Chicago houses
are continually taking business righ t
from under our noses here in Oregon.
It is needless to rem ind you w hat the
mail order houses have been able to
do with a tw o-cent stam p and a letter
sent to people in all parte of the
world, people they have never seen
and in all probability never will see.
"S urely th e retail m erchants should
be able to do as well w ith friends and
acquaintances as the m ail order men
do with entire strang ers. If any
have tried and failed to get business
by personal letters in connection with
consistent new spaper advertising,
th eir methods ra th er than the system
was probably at fault. An im portant
rtep in securing results is use of a r­
tistic and dignified dress fo r your cor­
respondence. A neat retu rn ta»tily
printed on your envelope will often
be the m eans of saving your letter
from the w astebasket.
“ Dignity, good taste and orders are
secured by having very little printing
in the letter head to d istract a tte n ­
tion from the typed m essage, which is
the all-im portant thing, in ordering
your stationery have printed only the
data necessary to enable correspond-
dents to tran sact th eir business effi­
ciently. N ever have the city and
state off to one vide a t the right,
connected by dotted lines to “ 19—.”
The style never was artistic, and be­
sides it is a bad tim e-w aster. F ar
better have the state and city p rin t­
ed at the top with the heading, leav­
ing room for the date a t the usual
place.
“ The personal letter m ay also be a
m ean? of keeping track of cash custo­
m ers whose names are not entered on
the firm’s books. And certainly the
cash custom ers are w orth looking a f­
ter. Som etim es they quit th e firm be­
cause of some m isunderstanding eas­
ily adjusted, and the personal letter
will enable the proprietors to learn
the fact and m ake the adjustm ent,
thus retaining a m ost profitable p a t­
ronage.”
SMALL SEED PRODUCTION
IN PA CIFIC NORTHW EST
Oregon A gricultural College, Cor­
vallis, Atig. 9.— A lthough W estern
Oregon is a particularly good place
for the production of m any sm all seeds
which m ay be used locally fo r seeding
purposes, in m any instances there is
not enough sm all seed of th e grasses,
some legum es, rape and some other
plants to m eet the local demand,
w rites Professor G. R. Hyslop in the
O. A. C. Oregon C ountrym an.
“Of the legum enous seed crops
which m ay be grown in W estern Ore­
gon, the follow ing are m arketed quite
extensively: red clover, alsike clover,
w hite clover, common vetch and hairy
vetch. Also, some crimson clover is
m arketed, although considerably less
extensively than any others m en­
tioned. U nder red clover m ay be in­
cluded both the cpmmon red and the
m am m oth, either of which m akes ex­
cellent seed yields in th e W estern
Oregon section and which are being
quite extensively grown and m arket­
ed. Alsike clover is also widely grown
so th at m ore of both it and the red
is produced than is used.”
STU D EN TS W IN D EGREES
ALONG D IF F E N E N T LIN ES
Oregon A gricultural College, Cor­
vallis, Aug. 9.— Students graduated
from the Oregon A gricultural College
in June 1915, represented w ork done
along 18 different but m ore or less
closely related lines. Of the 2.T6 re ­
ceiving bachelor degrees 82 had taken
agriculture, m ajoring either in h orti­
culture, agronom y, anim al husbandry,
dairying, or poultry husbandry, and
fiJ graduates, the second la rg est class,
had taken home economics, which in­
cludes both dom estic science and do­
m estic art. The other groups were
classed as follows;
Nine in fo restry ; 1 in logging en­
gineering; 1 in civil and irrigation
engineering; 11 in civil engineering;
10 in electrical engineering; 8 in m e­
chanical engineering; 3 in m ining en­
gineering; 4 in industrial a rts ; 20 in
commerce; 10 in pharm acy; 5 in phar­
m acy special; and 9 in music.
The fourteen g raduate students re­
ceiving degrees w ere divided, 12 in
agriculture, and 2 in home economics.
Among the 12 w as a young woman
graduate. Miss K ate Failing, of P o rt­
land. who received a m asters’ degree.
The 38 one year vocational students
who received certificates w ere divided,
36 in agriculture, 10 in hom e econom­
ics, and 2 in commerce.