Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1915)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Editorial Page Home and Farm Magazine Section TO ADVERTISERS Advertisers in this locality who wish fully to cover all sections of Oregon and Washington and portion of Idaho will apply to local publishers for rates. General advertisers may address C L. Burton, Advertising Manager Home and Farm Magazine Section, Oregonian Building, Portland, Oregon, for rates and information. TO READERS Readers are requested to send letters and articles for publication to The Edi tor, Home and Farm Magazine Section, Oregonian Building, Portland, Oregon. Discussions on questions' and prob lems that bear directly on the agricul tural livestock and poultry interests of the Northwest and on the uplift and comfort of the farm home always are welcomed. No letters treating of re ligion, politics or the European war are soy cited. We proclaim neutrality on these Blatters. Comparatively brief contributions are preferred to long ones. Send ns also photographs of your livestock and farm scenes that you think would be of general interest. We wish to make this magazine of value to you. Help us to do it. SMALL FARMS. ONE of the leading New York bankers, in fact one of the leading bankers of the world, in passing through Portland recent ly, gave out an interview in which he predicted that Oregon, Washing ton and Idaho would lead all other states in the Union in financial and commercial progress during the next ten years. The prediction was made by one who is perhaps as able to fathom future financial conditions as any man in the world today. One of the thing9 he mentioned in particular was the cutting up of large tracts of land into small farms, and thereby making a hundred farms where one now exists. So much has been written regard ing large farms that the people of the East are prone to consider the Pacific Northwest only in the light of large farms. The great financial and commercial success that is cer tain to come to the Pacific North west will come only in proportion to the number of large farms that are made into small ones. Highly cultivated small farms means a hundred people on the same number of acres where now one or two exist. . ' Many a fanner has failed to suc ceed because the profits from his crop went to pay hired help, who, having no greater interest in their work than their monthly wage, were in no way fit to serve their employer properly. Hired help on an acre farm is not to be thought of, for one moment. The head and the hands of the owner combined are the forces that will wring from that acre of soil its greatest abundance. The ultimate financial outcome of commercial Buccess of the Pacific Northwest hinges largely upon concentrated farming, which can only be done by cutting the large farms into small ones and placing thereon a satisfied owner. THE APPLE MARKET. (Editorial in' Hood River News.) DURING the past two or three weeks, according to a dispatch from Chicago, the Gibson Fruit Company, of that city, has un dertaken to secure what amounts to 9 corner on the apple market. They started picking up holdings here and there about a month ago, and now have what are declared to be the largest individual holdings of box apples left this season, amounting to 140 cars of high-grade stock. The total holdings were cut nearly in half daring the month of March, and the movement has been decidedly bullish. According to Mr. Gibson, the holdings' east of the Mississippi River this year are now the lightest that they have been in five years, and he predicts that there will be a strong feeling in the market the bal ance of the season. These stateemnts are borne out by reports from other apple-distributing centers and, coming at the end of a big crop year, are decidedly en couraging. It is naturally expected that there will be no such bumper production this season, and conse quently the prospects at this time are bright. THE FARMER CAN DO IT. (Editorial in Albnny Democrat.) TO WHAT an extent business is dependent upon the farmer may be well illustrated by the statement of the fact that three fourths of the deposits in the Al bany banks, and probably in the banks in the other Valley cities of approximately the size of. this city or even larger, are fit the names of fanners. They have the money. They have made money and have it in the banks, where they are keeping it, waiting for things to loosen up and confidence be fully restored, when it will come out and in different ways go into' circulation. That will mean a good deal for the country. Whenever a fanner makes up his mind that there is something special that he wants he has the money to buy it with. The sooner he sets things to going the better it will be for this Valley. He can do it. Will he start something? PROMISING NEW FRUITS. THE problem of a varietal selec tion of plants is one of unceas ing importance, and new sorts are being introduced each year. As the improvement of fruits continues, it is necessary for the progressive grower to follow the advances made along the particular line in. which he is interested. During the past year no new varieties of apples or pears have appeared which are worth con sideration. However, the' Greensboro peach assumed importance in many sec tions during 1914. The variety or iginated with W. G. Balsley, of Greensboro, N. C, about 1893, from a seed of Connett's Southern Early. The fruit is large, attractive, white fleshed and ripens from August 1 to 15. The variety deserves extensive trial in good peach-growing sections of Northern states, where early peaches are in demand. The Late Muscatelle plum, which was obtained by the Government from Germany in 1900, proved dur ing the year to be one of the best late plums tried out by the Geneva (N. Y.) station. The frait is of good size, roundish, but inclined to be truncate in shape, and is of an at tractive purple brown color slightly splashed and mottled with russet. The tough skin is a valuable asset for shipping. It is one of the latest ta ripen, but its season is short and it is inclined to shrivel in storage. For local market trade, Late Mus catelle should prove a valuable'va ricty. A single variety of black rasp berry, known as Black Pearl, has at tracted attention. It combines size, color and firmness with excellent quality and flavor. From the single year's trial it promises to be valu able and a variety worthy of com mercial recommendation if future tests show it equal to its past ' standard. The Industry gooseberry, which was originated by Robert Wyndham in Northern England early in the nineteenth century, is one of the most productive European varieties. The bushes are strong, . vigorous growers. Where shoots grow long, they fruit to the very tips. This is a good variety to grow for market, either green or ripe, and is equally worthy of a place in the home gar den. While more apt to be affected by mildew and possibly less hardy than most American sorts, Industry is among the healthiest and hardiest of all English gooseberries. Another fruit of late prominence is the Indiana strawberry. It origi nated with II. J. Schild, of Ionia, Mich., in 1905. The color is some what variable at first, but later be comes a uniformly dark, glossy scar let. The variety appears to be one of the best shippers, having firm, meaty' flesh. The Barrymore is a berry resulting from a cross made by H. L. Crane, of Westwood, Mass., in 1901. The variety is slightly sus ceptible of leaf-spot and in the later pickings the color has sometimes been variable. Notwithstanding these defects, however, the Barry more is almost an ideal variety for early midseason. PLEASURE IN FARMING. HOW many people are farming for farming's sake, to appro priate the words of the artist, or how many would joyfully sell out tomoiTOW without the least regrets, if some other opening promised greater financial returns? We nat urally farm for the money there is in it, but the question is, is that all there is in it for us and is that all we are getting out of it? How many farmers are really enjoying their business and how many find a keen pleasure in their work from day to day on the farm? We must of necessity keep an eye on the financial side of our opera . tions, for this is essential to success ; we admit that. But too many of us go about the farm in a blind, me chanical sort of way, dragging from one task to another without getting an iota of enjoyment from the work ; one day follows another just as one round follows another with the team and plow, each merely contributing its part to the financial success of the season's work. The man who has never gotten be yond that conception has got much coming to hhn yet. The world of life and happiness swings on, unnoticed by him, except when he is attracted from himself by such creatures as crows, Effglish sparrows, moles and snakes. What's the trouble ? Why carry a long-faced grouch around all the time, when everything about ns is working together for our pleasure? We are out of tune, that's all out of love with our work; we need a shaking up to be brought back into line. The man who finds pleasure in his daily work on the farm, who has a habit of looking for it in whatever he undertakes, is not only a happy man, but the chances are that he is a prosperous man as well. The nar row, self -centered money-maker is a pitiful spectacle on a farm, because there is so much that he is missing and so little that he is really getting out of it. Let us all make money, but we cannot afford to become money-blind. Let us instill into our work a lit of the "farming for farming's sake" idea and train ourselves to look for the happy sides of our work. HIGH PRICES IN MEXICO. (From the Mexican Herald.) SINCE the shortage of flour has been so acute in the city there has been a run on every kind of crackers, both of local and imported brands. Soda crackers are to be found in very few stores today, and sell at $10 for a square tin box, even for the local product. The 10-cent boxes of sea foam or saltines, for which the housekeepers formerly paid 60 cents, and felt very much abused, now are held at $2.50 in a few stores where they still have a few boxes in stock. English sweet and fancy crackers and biscuit sell for from $10 to $20 a box. 5,039,000 MEN GONE. A NEWSPAPER in Rome, after a careful comparison of offi . cial statements, estimates that 5,950,000 men have been lost by the belligerent nations during the first eight months of the war. This is more than the entire pop ulation of Ohio men, women and babies. It is more than the popula tion of any state of the Union ex cepting only New York and Penn sylvania. It is more than the entire population of Serbia, one of the con testants ; more than the entire popu lation of Bulgaria, which may be come a belligerent. Eight cities as large as Cleveland would not repre sent the loss. It would require eighty or more cities of Cleveland's population to supply a military pop ulation to equal the total of men here reported already lost in a war which is not even yet near a con clusive issue. Such comparisons are appalling, but they may be of service if there are any Americans yet unconvinced of the folly and horror of war. Edison is now engaged in manu facturing dyes, our supply of which has been cut off by the war. "I am not making very much money in this line," says the wizard, "bat I ,thought I would at least make the start, and I hope some of these timid Americans who lack backbone to father a movement worth while will now come along and follow suit" The country owes a tremendous debt to Edison ; it ought not to expect him to supply it with backbone. A new police regulation in Phila delphia requires all children under 15 to be out of the streets after 11 o'clock at night Is this 11-o'clock curfew business designed as a re form? It would be interesting to' know at what hour the Philadelphia kids have been in the habit of get ting in. In the good old times it was 9 o'clock or a spanking. The investigation into the alleged wheat corner, which President Wil son ordered the Department of Jos tice to make, has resulted hi the dis covery of no evidence. What is the use of trying to find corners in a circle?