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Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Timely, Pertinent Comment Upon Men and Affairs, Following the Trend of World News; Suggestion of Interest to Readers;
Hinta Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
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9
TO ADVERTISERS. $
Advertisers In this locality who wish .
to fully cover all sections of Oregon and
Washington and a portion of Idaho will
apply to local publishers for rates.
General advertisers may address 0. Ij.
Burton, Advertising Manager of Farm
Magazine Co., Publishers Oregon-Wash-ington-Idaho
Farmer, 411 Panama Build
ing, Portland, Oregon, for rates and information.
TO READERS.
Headers are requested to send letters
and articles for publication to The Edi
tor, Oregon-Washington-Idaho Farmer,
411 Panama Building, Portland, Oregon.
Discussions on questions and prob
lems that bear directly on the agricul
tural, live stock and poultry interests of
the Northwest, and on the uplift and
comfort of the farm borne always are
welcomed. No letters treating of reli
gion, politics or the European war are
solicited, for the Farm Magazine pro
claims neutrality on these three matters.
Comparatively brief contributions are
preferred to long ones. Send us also
photographs of your live stock and farm
scenes that you think would be of gen
eral Interest. We wish to make this
magazine of value to you. Help us to
do It.
POULTRY AND EGGS.
SHOULD the second largest industry in
the United States be rated as a "side
line" by the majority of farmers of
the Northwestf Should an industry that
is valued in Oregon more than four million
greater than the fruit, vegetable, wool, hops
and salmon industries combined be neglect
ed by the rancher f If so, there is some
thing radically wrong somewhere.
Too many farmers are accustomed to
thinking that as long as they have room
enough on the property upon which they
are raising cattle, fruit or vegetables they
"might as well' raise a few chickens. If
seen in their comparative value to the state,
chickens might be given first attention and
the other possibilities of the farm might be
devoted to the raising of the fruit, vegetables
or cattle.
Poultry and eggs were worth $41,750,000
to the State of Oregon last year. Fruit,
wool, hops, salmon and vegetable industries
combined were worth but $37,200,220. The
value of the great grain crops to this state
is rated at but $38,440,000. With the single
exception of cattle, which is held at $42,
000,000, poultry and eggs in Oregon are
worth more than any single livestock hold
ing. This industry is valued at more than
the dairy cows, horses and mules of tha
state combined, and nearly twice as much
as all the hogs, sheep and goats in Oregon.
An industry such as this is worthy of the
serious consideration of every farmer.
Poultry and eggs should no longer be rated
as a "side-line," for they represent one of
the greatest industries in America. Visit
the next poultry show, under the auspices
of the Oregon Poultry and Pet Stock Asso
ciation, to be held in Portland the week of
December 6-13, and see for yourself this
state's prosperity as rated in chickens,
ducks and turkeys.
JUST A SUPPOSITION.
SUPPOSE we had' built all the first-class
battleships that the big navy cham
pions have been clamoring for during
the past fifteen years; would the wisdom
of that course be vindicated by present-day
itaval developments?
If Germany shall make out a much
stronger case for the submarine than she
has thus far, we will not have long to wait
for the proof that the dreadnoughts and
the super-dreadnoughts are just so much
floating junk. And when we figure the
milliona it costs to build each unit, and
the other millions it costs to keep them in
active commission for the few years that
elapse before they are ready for the scrap
heap, it must appeal to everyone, who does
not believe that a battleship is the noblest
work of man, that we have spent a great
deal of money uselessly and foolishly.
There are plenty of enthusiasts who
would have had the Government build four
battleships of the first-class type annually
during the period mentioned. And it is safe
to say that if we had done that there would
have been strong advocacy of even a great
er number. Now, the chances are, that the
more we had built the more money we
would have thrown away. And with a fleet
of sixty battleships of the highest type,
would we be any better off than we now
are! Would they have been any greater
assurance of peace to us, in this world tur
moil! It may be said that the potency of the
submarine is over-rated ; but it is just as
fair, and a little more reasonable to say
that we do not realise what a revolution in
sea-fighting this arm of -the naval serviee
is destined to work.
From all recent developments there fa
genuine consideration of economy which
should urge Congress to go slow in this
business of battleship building. All opinion
of enthusiastic naval men and others to the
contrary, we have made no mistake so far
in inclining toward that policy.
PREPARE FOR PROSPERITY.
THERE never was a time in the history
of the United States when the Ameri
can farmer has had the opportunity
of a continued prosperity within his grasp
as at the present. The nations at war in
Europe have to be fed and they will con
tinue to require more food than they can
produce even if the war closes quickly.
The Kansas farmer is planting every
available acre to wheat, it already being
reported that the 1915 acreage will exceed
all previous years by three million acres.
It is estimated that 80 per cent of the
able bodied men of Europe are now at
war, therefore, theywill be unable to either
plant or reap a harvest, and the present
demand for American breadstuffs exceeds
the supply. Never in the history of the
Northwest was the available supply of
wheat so small at this time of year.
There is every reason to believe that
when the next harvest comes the American
farmer's crop will find a ready market at
even a better figure than today.
Not only will wheat be in demand, but
every product of the American farm will
find a ready market, for there is bound to
be a steady demand for all kinds of food
stuffs long after the war closes.
Farmers of the Pacific Northwest should
heed this call of Europe for American food
stuffs and be prepared to reap the bene
fits that war-stricken Europe offers.
HOW LONG CAN CALIFORNIA STAND
IT?
OREGON and Washington having voted
out the liquor traffic and California
having voted to keep it, the saloons
and breweries and whisky houses of Oregon
and Washington are preparing to move into
California.
"How long can California stand that
handicap?" asks the Kansas City Star.
"States and cities of the Pacific Coast,
like states and cities elsewhere, are in
rivalry. They are competing for industries
and for homes founded upon industry and
thrift. It takes more than the money of
tourists seeking a "good time" away from
home to build states and cities.
"The restriction of the liquor traffic grows
by what it feeds on. It is quite impossible
that Oregon and Washington (each having
its great and growing city) can shake off
the economic waste and the poverty, Tie
and crime attaching to the bquor traffk
without profoundly influencing their neigb
boring states. "
THE CATTLE EPIDEMIC.
THE FOOT and mouth disease has no!
yet appeared in the Pacific Northwest
and we hope it will notj but now 9
the time to guard against it. EveryaM
should heartily co-operate with the author
ities in preventing the spread of this dntd
disease.
The disease is almost as aneient as tb
history of man, yet there has never been
found a successful remedy. While not
necessarily fatal, it almost invariably crip
ples the animal affected to such an extent
that it has to be killed. It is virulently eon
tagious, often affecting other animals. The
only effective way to prevent its spread
is to kill the animal and bury its carcass m
quicklime.
It usually starts with a blister on the
upper part of the hoof, whieh the animal
licks, thereby affecting the mouth, often
causing the tongue .to drop off.
It may be carried to any distance bjf
other animals, and some authorities say it
is often transmitted from one herd to so
other upon the shoes of man.
The present epidemic is said to be tho
most severe that has ever appeared in
America, therefore, it behooves everyone to
co-operate in stamping out a disease that
knows no remedy save the killing of the
animal affected.
WHERE SLANG WOULDN'T WORK.
IT IS RELATED that a citizen of Topefca,
Kansas, cabled his daughter at Carls
bad, at the beginning of the war to
"beat it to London"; and the messaga
failed of transmission because the censor re
fused to pass any messages that were not
written in plain English.
"Go to London," would have been a dol
lar cheaper at the current rates, and it
would have said all that the slang phase
"beat it" intended to say. That Topeka
citizen paid for his lesson in the advantage
of plain honest English diction as superior
to the crop-haired variety that we get from
the stage and the street.
It may be, doubtless it would prove to be,
if we were to weigh the efficiency of the
average slang phrase, as compared with the
legitimate English it displaces, that the lat
ter is briefer, more expressive and alto
gether preferable if we wish to be under
stood at once and without question.
The, dairy cow is a machine and her effi
ciency is determined by the amount of
profit she returns on each dollar's worth
of feed consumed.
Do not put off the sowing of cover crops
until after the fruit has been gathered.
Some do lots of work without planning)
some do lota of planning and no work. A
combination of plan and work gives best
results. ,j xxi
The Duke of Manchester should be com
paratively undisturbed on the firing line if
that place is as inaccessible to creditors as
to correspondents.
There was a time when women wore three
petticoats. Doesn't this suggest a way out
for the suffering cotton states!
At least one of the troubles a president of
Mexico doesn't have to contend with is
ennui.
Luckily General Sherman 's not here to
br sued for damages on account of the asper
sion he is alleged to have cast upon a cer
tain place.
Now a Texan insists that the cotton erop
could be all used up if night shirts were in
troduced in South Carolina and socks in
Arkansas.