The gazette-times., December 17, 1914, HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION, Page 2, Image 10

HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Oregon Agricultural College Is the Farmer's Friend
VIEW OP OHEUU.t
Rural Credit Facilities
Helped by New Measures
AMENDMENT of the Torrens
land registration laws, estab
lishment of mortgage credit in
stitutions under Federal laws, and
organization of farmers' co-operative
banks under state laws, are three
measures designed to secure better
rural credit facilities receiving fa
vorable consideration at the first
meeting of the Rural Credits Com
mission recently appointed by Gov
ernor West. The session was held
at Salem on November 24, and was
organized by electing Dr. Hector
Macpherson, director of the Bureau
of Organization and Markets of the
Agricultural College, chairman, and
Mr. Dana 11. Allen, member-elect of
the statp Legislature, secretary.
A general discussion of the entire
subject of rural credits was taken up
by the Commission, but only tenta
tive conclusions were arrived at.
Recommendations concerning the de
fects of the laws for the registration
of land were unanimous, and Mr.
Allen and Mr. Garland were appoint
ed a subcommittee to investigate the
defects and prepare an amendment
that will make the laws effective.
That mortgage credit institutions
could best be established and con
ducted under Federal law, was the
sense of the Commission. The es
sentials of an act that would meet
the needs of the Oregon farmer will
be worked out and presented to the
Legislature with the recommenda
tion that they be embodied in a me
morial, adopted by joint resolutions
of the House and Senate, and sent to
Congress with an earnest request
that there be no further delay In
enacting such legislation as will
place the American farmer In a posi
tion to obtain credit On terms as fa
vorable as those enjoyed for many
generations by European farmers. "
The purpose of the proposed legis
lation providing for the organization
of farmers' co-operative banks is to
promote thrift and to Bupply short
term credits. It was pointed out
that a number of states already have
similar laws, notably Massachusetts,
Wisconsin, New York and Texas. A
study of these laws will be the basis
of further action at the next session
of the Commission.
The membership of the Commis
sion is as follows: Dr. Hector Mac
pherson, Corvallis; H. G. Stark
weather, Milwaukie; S. M. Garland,
Lebanon; Professor F. G. Young,
Eugene; Dana H. Allen, Salem; Sid
ney B. Vincent, member of the cor
poration department, and S. Q, Sar
gent, State Bank Superintendent. In
early reports sent out during the ab
sence of Dr. Macpherson It was in
correctly stated that he was head of
the Commission and had called the
session at Salem. Governor West
named the Commission and called
its first session, declining absolutely
to interfere with or take part in
either its organization or delibera
tions. Oregon Honored.
Oregon has been signally honored
In the appointment of one of its ag
ricultural leaders to a highly, im
portant chairmanship In a great Na
tional body. Ralph D. Hetzel, exten
sion director of the Agricultural Col
lege, has been made chairman of the
extension section of the American
Association of Colleges and Experi
ment Stations, the most powerful ag
ricultural organization in the world.
It is seldom that these responsible
positions come to Western men, and
Professor Hetzel'g selection is all the
more notable from the fact that he
was not in attendance at the sessions
making the appointment. It was
doubtless made as a tribute to his
unusually successful work In carry
ing the college to the people of Ore
gon, and will offer an enlarged op
portunity for service, both to the
state and to the nation at large.
Page of News Notes and Interesting
AGKKTI.TIKAL COIXEGU AT COIIVALLIS, OH. ITS SOLE AIM IS TO AID
Improved Methods Found
Useful in Dry Farming
g1"0 convince the average farmer
I that a more diversified and
extensive sort of farming Is
possible and profitable even on dry
farming lands requires but a careful
trial of some of the new crops or
varieties of . seed or of the improved
farming methods recommended.
That diversified production on East
ern Oregon dry farms may be very
successful has long been known,
fully proved and earnestly advocated
In every section or territory reached
by the Oregon Experiment Station.
It has been only recently, however,
that through the medium of demon
stration farms, co-operating farmers
and demonstration trains, definite
results have been reached. In every
community now may be found a few
farmers who are making splendid
success with the crops and practices
recommended."
The foregoing Is a summary of
Professor H. D. Scudder's conclu
sions reached after repeated trials
oTiglnally on the Experiment Station
grounds and later on various farms
of the interior whose owners co
operated with the college in frying
out results more widely. As a result
of these trials outside of Experi
ment Station local work, unqualified
indorsement is given to such crops
for the dry farm as follows:
Field peas in rows either for seea
or-for hogging off; alfalfa in rows
for seed production, for forage or for
hogs or sheep; rape as forage for
hogs or sheep; corn for hogging off;
on irrigated lands corn for green
feed or silage, or for hogging off;
mangel-wurzels and rutabagas for
Winter succulents; and other crops
which with alfalfa or clover will
permit of Intensive dairying and
pork production, have frequently
been proven profitable.
Since the success of these cro"ps
has been established in practically
every section of Eastern Oregon, the
single-cropping system with the an
nual selling of the raw product from
the land may cease very largely. It
is not expected that this change will
be unduly radical, but in view of the
additional profits obtained there
from and the beneficial effects se
cured to the soil, it is believed that
the practice is bound to increase
rapidly with a great deal of benefit
to .the country and the Individual
farmer. This process will be has
tened by a thorough knowledge of
the crops and their methods of cul
ture so that only those crops and
methods will be used which bring
success on first trial.
Banish Hog Cholera.
Efforts heretofore made to keep
out hog cholera, the most disastrous
enemy to profitable pork production,
have not been entirely successful.
Methods of introduction and spread
are so subtle as frequently to be
overlooked, and In one unguarded
act the seeds of vast damages are
sown. General knowledge that chol
era is a germ disease and can be
communicated only by contact with
Infected substances, would serve to
put growers and dealers on their
guard against further spread and
eventually to wipe out the pest from
the few footholds it has already ob
tained in Oregon. This knowledge,
together with practical directions for
combatting the disease, is receiving
npws and editorial consideration by
many if not all of the Oregon period
icals, giving hopes of banishing
cholera entirely from the state. Spe
cial directions for control of the dis
ease may be had on application to
Dr. Virgil W. Knowles, who, as a
representative of the Agricultural
College Extension service and Fed
eral Department of Agriculture, is
devoting his entire time to the prob
lem of putting hog cholera out of the
state and keeping It out. ,
Articles Wntten by College Experts.
Publicity Is Grerft Aid to
Oregon Agricultural School
THROUGH the loyalty of the Or
egon press an Intricate and se
rious problem has been success
fully worked out at the Agricultural
College. Farmers' Week has been
held in the early Winter months until
farmers have begun to look upon the
plan as an established custom. This
view was further strengthened this
year by announcements In the college
publications and in the state press
that the week was as usital scheduled
for the first week in December. The
fact was known to probably 90 per
cent of the farmers of the state, many
of whom were planning to attend at
that time. Suddenly unforseen condi
tions developed, wnleh required the
postponement of the date to the first
week in February. Who were the
farmers to. be notified? Individual
notice to all of them, or any con
siderable part, was impossible; lack
of notice, whereby long trips would
be taken at great expense, would
be unjustifiable. So an appeal was
made to the press. The facts were
placed before the newspaper men and
by them published so generally that
it is altogether unlikely that a Bin
gle farmer will make the trip In De
cember, while hundreds of them will
make it In February. Oregon farm
era owe much of their prosperity to
the editors of their home papers, but
it is seldom that the loyalty of the
press to the agricultural interests of
the state is brought into so strong
relief.
Floral Tulile Decoration.
Simple and artistic must be
floral table decorations, If the
standard set by judges at the O.
A. C. Horticultural Show is generally
accepted. In the table decoration
contest entered by each of the four
classes In home economics, the win
ning table was a model of artistic
simplicity, decorated only by what
do you think? Some of the many
beautiful and expensive flowers, pot
ted plants and vines assembled
there, no doubt. But the supposi
tion is wrong; simple nasturtiums
.vines, leaves and flowers trailed
from a graceful reed basket, were
the only decorations used by the
juniors, who won the first prize.
Oregon housewives, every one, should
know this. The students had the
run of hundreds of dollars' worth of
flowers, shrubs and vines, yet chose
the simple home flower and won
with it. And the decision was
awarded by Mrs. W. J. Kerr and C.
I. Lewis, wives respectively of the
president of the college and the head
of the horticultural department, and
Miss Hitchcock, a specialist In do
mestic arts. A general acceptance
of this principle in table decorations
would relieve perplexed housewives
of at least one social care and of
one financial worry, as well.
Wheat and Moisture.
It requires about 40 tons of water
to produce a bushel of wheat and
the straw on which it grew, while
there are about 113 tons of water in
one acre-inch. This is pointed out
by H. D. Scudder, agronomist of the
Oregon Experiment Station, who
calls attention to the obvious con
clusion that one Inch of rainfall over
each acre planted to wheat would,
if all utilized in crop production,
produce three bushels- per acre.
Since the average annual precipita
tion over the bulk of Eastern Oregon
dry farming land is about 10 inches,
the annual wheat yield, with water
as the limiting factor, should be 30
bushels. As a matter of fact, the
annual yield of this section is but
seven to eight bushels per acre. As
farmers learn that fully three
fourths of the natural moisture Is
wasted in evaporation, they will
more and more join in the movement
in favor of farm practices that will
gave a larger per cent of water for
crop production.
Alilt It I LTl It IS I S.
Oregon Farmers Will Try to
Market Eggs by Parcel Post
MARKETING eggs direct from
producer to consumer by
means of parcels post ship
ments will soon be undertaken by a
number of Oregon "poultrymen. Lists
of city consumers who wish to re- .
celve eggs direct from producers
have been sent bv the Agricultural
College poultry department to pro
ducers that wish to undertake to
furnish the shipments. , In like
manner lists of producers have been
sent to city consumers, and thus the
sources of supply and demand have
been brought together.
It has been Bhown by experimental
shipments made by the department
that this method can supply city
consumers with eggs only a day or
two old, at prices as low as those
charged by retailers for eggs of
poorer quality. Producers can fur
nish fresh eggs in lots of five dozen
or more at a few cents above the
wholesale price of the best eggs, -giving
due consideration to the cost of
containers and postage.
Although either producer or con
sumer may own the containers and
pay the postal charges, it is sug
gested that the city consumers may
find it profitable to purchase a few
containers and mail them out to pro
ducers from whom they expect te
get their eggs. Lists of dealers
handling suitable containers are in
cluded in the general Information
supplied by the poultry department.
It Is further recommended that
both parties furnish bank or other
good reference as a guarantee of
good faith, although it is thought
that there Is great security in deal
ing through parcels post since either
party using dishonest methods might
have to answer to Uncle Sam. If
rightly followed It Is believed that
this method of marketing farm
products is profitable to all con
cerned. ltig Dairy Conventions.
The Oregon State Dairymen's As
sociation, the Oregon Jersey Breed
ers' Association and the Oregon
Holsteln-Friesian Association will
hold conventions at the Agricultural
College during Farmers' Week, Feb-
ruary 1 to 7. There will also be a
conference of milk producers and
dealers, and it is expected that a
state organization of Guernsey
breeders and another of" Ayrshire
breeders will be effected at that time.
"This will undoubtedly bo the big
gest gatheriug of dairymen the state
has ever known," says Professor
Graves, head of the dairy depart
ment. The work of the week will
be chuck full of information, valu
able and interesting to every one in
terested in Oregon's $25,000,000
dairy industry.
"Some of the best known dairy
men of the state and of the United
States are going to be on hand with
a message for Oregon dairymen.
Not a single dairyman tan afford to
miss it.
"Some of Oregon's record-breaker
producers, cows that have actually
produced on official test more than
700 pounds of butterfat, will prob
ably be on exhibition during the en
tire time.
"Interesting programmes are be
ing prepared for each of the con
ventions, the details of which will be
announced later."
Play for Belgian Relief.
A game of football was played at
Tacoma Thanksgiving day for the
benefit of the Belgian relief fund.
The contesting teams represented
the Oregon Agricultural College and
the University of southern Callfor
nla. The game was played in the
huge stadium seating 35,000 people,
and was arranged by the. Tacoma
Commercial Club. Unconfirmed re
ports say that the big stadium was
well filled, which indicates an addi
tion of many thousands of dollars to
the fund for relief of sufferers from
the great war,