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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1957)
HX MTOFORD (OREGOK) MAIL TRIBUNE Thursday. November 21, 1957 o 0 Trees Said Profitable For This Area's Farms Farmers mho are not planting their submarginal land to trees re missing a good bet, accord ing to Jack Mace, of the local office of the state department of forestry. A farmer is entitled to a pay ment of $11 per acre a year dur ing a 10-year contract, Mace ex plained. This comes under the conservation reserve section of the soil bank act. If a farmer wants to plant trees for prevention of wind or water erosion. This could be done under a five-year contract, Mace said. However the trees cannot be harvested before the end of the fiv-year or 10-year contract, he stated. "For taking part in the Con servation Reserve program, a farmer may receive cost-sharing End annual payments," the for ICfetry man said. fJUdi Farmer "The practice or cost sharing payment helps the farmer es tablish conservation measures," he added. "The federal govern ment will pay (1) 80 per cent of the cost of trees and planting, not to exceed $30 per acre; (2) 80 per cent of the cost of cultivation during the first and or second year not to exceed $1 per acre for each cultivation. The annual payment provides Income for land taken out of pro duction. The state committee has ifetablished the county regular fnnual payment rate of $11 per acre for both Jacksoa and Jose phine counties, it was explained. The total annual payment to any farm producer in any year may amount to as much as $5,000. The land which is eligible un der the soil bank program comes under three main classifications, Mace said. . 1. Land which was tilled or was in regular crop rotation dur ing the year immediately preced ing the first year of the contract period. This includes land which was established in permanent vegative cover (other than trees since 1953) and which was classi fied as cropland at the time of seeding. 2. Land devoted to tame hay on property which does not qual ify as cropland under definition of cropland. This must be also land from which a crop has been harvested for hay or ensilage during either of the two years preceding the first year of the contract period. 3. Land which was tilled or Stes in regular crop rotation dur ing the year immediately pre ceding the first year of the con tract period and which consti tutes (or will constitute, if till- j age is continued) an erosion haz- ard to the community. (Such iland is not classified as cropland.) May File Application Producers wishing to partici pate in the Conservation Reserve program may file an application for a Conservation reserve con tract at the county Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation office, Mace said. ! "The state forester has entered j into a working agreement with the U. S. Department of Agri ' culture through the forest serv I ice, to make effective and com ! petent technical forestry assist ! ance available to eligible crop land owners, tenants, and share croppers of Oregon," Mace ex plained. "Trees on your land are like money in the bank at compound interest," the forestry man said. "The demand for wood will go up as our population grows. In creasing use of wood for char coal, paper, lumber, posts, poles, veneer, plastics, particle boards, and other products yet to be de veloped, give assurance of fu ture markets." Demand Increasing Demand for Christmas tree production is increasing, Mace noted. The day of entering a for est to cut a Christmas tree for personal use is rapidly nearing an end due to forest regulations, Mace pointed out. Now there are over 20,000,000 trees cut an nually in the United States for the Christmas trade. The demand exceeds the supply. Last year the United States imported $5V2 mil lion worth of Christmas tree stumpage from Canada. Mace said the Christmas tree industry is profitable around Salem and Portland. The Shasta fir is the most suit able tree for this area for Christ mas tree production, Mace said. It doesn't grow so fast. The doug las fir is considered suitable if it doesn't grow so rapidly that the branches become too widely spaced. Noble fir is also being used. Austrian pine is coming into use particularly on southern slopes where the drying condi tions are bad, Mace added. The meat of watermelons va ries in sweetness, fiber and col or, the latter often ranging from deep red to light pink and some times even to yellow. About 90 per cent of all the farms in the United States now have electric power available to them. About one million acres of sugar beets are cultivated in the U.S. each year. 4-H Medal Winners Announced Locally By Extension Agent Outstanding work ag young farmers in 4-H Club projects has won for four Jacksort County 4 Hers county medals in the na tional awards program, it was announced. Jim Frink of Central Point and Russell Elmore of Applegate have been named to receive county medals in the boys' ag ricultural program sponsored by the International Harvester com pany. Jim, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Frink of Central Point, has been a club member for the past five years and his outstanding work in swine, crops, tractor, sheep, dairy and horse were cited as reasons for his obtaining the Boys' agricultural medal. A six year club member, Russell El more, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Elmore of Applegate, has com pleted projects in beef, forestry, tractor maintenance. His well rounded 4-H program has earn ed him the boys' agricultural medal. Others Listed Two other Applegate 4-H Club members. Philip Krouse, son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Krouse, and Truman Elmore, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Elmore, have been named medal winners in the meat animal phase of the na tional awards program. These medals are presented by Thomas E. Wilson of Chicago. Philip has had seven years of 4-H Club work and has com pleted projects in tractor, fores try, junior leadership, electri city, swine, beef and sheep. His work in establishing a breeding flock of sheep and a herd of Hereford cattle has won him the meat animal award. He wag re cently named grand champion wool exhibitor at the state fair for the second year in a row, an indication of the breeding pro gram that he is using in his sheep flock. Truman has completed 8 years in 4-H Club work and has car ried forestry, electricity, tractor maintenance, beef, iheep, and swine as 4-H projects. He has car ried the beef, sheep, and swine projects all eight years that he has been an active 4-Her. His outstanding work with tiese pro jects in establishing a small flock of sheep and a breeders herd in sheep and swine has won him the meat animal award. The club members will receive their medals at their achievecent programs. This Week's Town, Country House Plan ; lip g-r 1 ..... I U 1 1 1 , - I t AHILV BOO ' 1 LL ii. is . 1 -J " HI in ii " i t g i 'J V. i" t A M M H 3 525 JsJ-ls - n6 so. ft ,.-. "Mr CHIT CHAT By JOE COWLEY Farm Editor Just for fun we looked up the definition of farmer in Web ster's dictionary. One of those listed is, "One who takes taxes to collect, paying a fixed sum for the privilege." We also looked up the definition of farm, one given is "a district or division of a country leased out for the collection of the revenues of govern ment." Probably quite a few farmers think this ancient definition of a farm is fast becoming a true one. Simplifying the figuring of depreciation and offering a wider selection of ways to figure it would help the farmer in a tax way. And that is what the state board of agriculture is trying to to do. The board is working through the state tax commission to get a state law to conform with federal regulations in figuring depreciation. Now only the straight line method is permitted, allowing the farmer or anybody else a set deduction from taxes every year for 10 years as depreciation on equipment. ' The federal government under its income tax law gives the choice of five different methods of calculating depreciation. One of the methods quick depreciation would allow a farmer, for in stance, to depreciate out his equipment and spend the difference he makes in overhauling his equipment. However, .this proposal would probably only affect the farm ers who have a lot of money in equipment and who buy new equipment every year. Carrying the financial angle further, a movement is under way to allow the Production Credit association to keep a tax free reserve to cover bad loans. This would bring state regula tions on a level with the federal laws. They allow national banks a tax-free privilege of maintaining a reserve to cover bad loans. We have heard agricultural leaders insist it isn't fair to compare farm products with wood products unless both are kept on a finished product basis. Robert J. Steward, director of the state board of agriculture, has suggested that farm products be remeasured on a new basis. However, some people figure most food is processed now, so any change in the figuring would not be fair. The idea behind this proposal seems to be that by prov ing agriculture in Oregon is even more important than it appears to be, more federal funds might be obtained to finance farm research. The Jackson county agriculture committee is pressing for procedure compelling manufacturers of insecticides, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides to designate the date of manufacture either on the label or some place on the contained. The chemist of the state department of agriculture is doing some research into this problem, we are told. In fact, this scientist has suggested the label read "this material effective to" and give the date. This would be similar to the dates you see stamped on flashlight batteries or boxes of photographic film. Otto Bohnert, Central Point farmer, a number of years ago lost over $1,000 on his clover crop when slug pellets proved defective. Trouble is he didn't discover the pellets were old until too late. The state board of agriculture received reports from several parts of Oregon that defective DDT was a severe handi cap in combatting Laegus bugs in alfalfa. ' Otto also tells us rumors that vegetable farming is on the increase in the valley are unfounded. Vegetable crops are on the decided decrease here. A big reason is little fruit and produce raised in the valley lg consumed here. There seems to be little market for it. Potatoes raised in the valley are given as high a grade as any shipped in and sell just as cheaply if not cheaper, Bohnert reports. However, the housewife seems to prefer those shipped in from Idaho and elsewhere. She seems to be working against herself as well as the valley farmer. Growing out of the first factor is the problem of higher freight rates. Bohnert said he discovered a few years ago it cost him twice as much to ship by rail into Portland as it did a Rose burg farmer. Bohnert ships his onions into San Francisco by truck. Trucks, he said, are easier on his onions. He can get them into market in 12 to 16 hours when it generally takes about three days to ship into San Francisco by rail. Bohnert used to be among the largest fruit and produce men here. During the last few years due to this double squeeze he has dropped from 30 acres of potatoes to none. He used to raise such things as melons, asparagus, rhubarb, raspberries and straw berries, to mention only a few. Now onions is the only re maining crop of that type he now raises. He is concentrating more and more on seed crops such as alfalfa. Another example is Bob Fields at Seven Oaks who stopped raising potatoes. He is now reported growing sweet-corn, onions and concentrating more on his purebred Hereford stock. We hope later to develop more into this particular phase of agri culture in the valley. Then we want to talk to more of the area's vegetable growers and learn why this particular phase is not growing here as some agricultural authorities say it should. A few dates to keep in mind are Nov. 29 and 30, 16th annual Oregon state corn show at the Clackamas county fairgrounds, Dec. 2, meeting on current marketing problems, Marion county courthouse 7:30 p.m. in room 82; Dec. 2-3, winter meeting of the American Society of Range Management (Pacific Northwest section) in Bend. Other meetings are 64th annual meeting of the Oregon Dairymen's association at Klamath Falls; Dec. 5-6, 72nd meet ing of the Oregon state horticulture society at Oregon State college; 17th annual meeting of the Oregon Seed Growers league, Multnomah hotel, Portland. Women who read the story in Sunday's Oregonian about hordes of mice invading southeast Oregon can get off the high stools and drop their skirts. Clifford B. Cordy, county horticultur ist, says this report is greatly exaggerated. There is nothing mysterious about the increase of field mice and it applies to the entire state such a thing occurs in cycles, Cordy explained. It was reported that many of the potatoes were left in the fields due to an unseasonable rain. Naturally the mice would gnaw into them. This might explain the 8 per cent estimate placed on potato crop losses in Klamath county because of mouse damage. We had mouse fears in our house, too. The little woman spotted a hole in a pillow. We told her if the pillow squeaked when she placed her head on it she could be sure a mouse was in there. For some reason, that didn't calm her fears. This 1746 square foot home in corporates many unusual fea tures planned to meet the prob lems of modern living. The center hall plan makes all rooms accessible to either en trance and to each other. The master bedroom suite is set apart, away from the work areas (is well as the children's rooms. Thus anyone arising early or (Seeping late will neither dis turb nor be disturbed by the rt of the family. A spacious dressing room and tiled three quarter bath completes this bed room suite. The family bath, with double jmllman lavatories and recessed (5?tures, separates the children's edrooms. Both bedrooms have exceptionally large wardrobes (nd ferge windows. Extra closets Oblong the hall contribute to the 'tnprage space. The family room and living room provide recreation areas for both adults and youngsters. Both open to the partially roof ed terrace and to each other to provide ample room for large gatherings and parties. In the living room of the big corner fireplace faces triple glass doors that slide open for indoor-outdoor pleasure in sum mer. Truly a work-saver is the U shaped kitchen, with built-in oven, countertop cooking, refrig erator, dish-washer and big double sink. A broad window lights the corner breakfast nook, and a pass-through counter is situated above the range to fa cilitate serving meals in the fa mily room. The service area ac comodates the washing machine and dryer. An integral part of the plan, the double garage contains the forced air heating unit and water heater, plus extra space for stor age or work bench. Natural materials enhance the simplicity and good taste of the modern exterior. The low clean lines of the rock roof are re peated in the boxed gable and the framing of the windows. Soft-hued stone is used in the chimney veneer and for the plan ter beside the covered entry. An attractive nail-on design finish es the garage door. Complete working drawings of the above plan can be obtained at a cost of S7.50 for the first set and $5 for each additional set. when ordered at the same time. This plan will be available for a period of four months from this date. Please allow two weeks for delivery. If the above home does not entirely meet with vour satisfaction, a new home plan book. TOWN and COUNTRY HOMES may be purchased for SI. Send all orders for either plans or books to: Hiawatha Estes. P.O. Box 404-T, Korthxidge, Calif. Local Representation Set For Hort Meeting A large delegation is expected to represent this area at the Oregon State Horticultural so ciety's 72nd annual meeting in Corvallis, it was reported today. A number of those attending from the Medford area will be speakers during the Dec. 5-6 ses sions. David Lowry, Medford, is on the board of trustees and Orville Hamilton, Central Point, is first vice-president. One of the more interesting sessions, under the apple and pear section, is expected to be a talk by Elmer Hansen, Oregon State college horticulturist, on controlled atmosphere storage problems. C. B. Cordy, Jackson county horticulturist, examined this type of storage when he at tended the national meeting of county agents in. Boston this fall. Cordy will participate in a panel discussion of rootstocks and new varieties scheduled for the first morning session on Thursday, Dec. 5. During the same morning pe riod, L. C. Terriere, entomolo gist and chemist at OSC, will explain resistance of orchard pests to insecticides. Hamilton Chairman Orville Hamilton, Central Point, will act as chairman in opening the Friday morning ses sion. Cordy will also participate in a panel discussion on estab lishing young trees successfully During the Friday afternoon session, L. G. Gentner, entomolo gist at the Southern Oregon ex periment station will talk on in sects under "What's New in Chemicals for Insect and Dis ease Control." Another talk expected to draw considerable interest is one on bulk handling of fruit by S. W. Porritt, horticulturist, Summerland experiment station, Summerland, British Columbia. Under the stone fruits section, Don Korth, Phoenix, will partici pate in a panel discussion during the Thursday morning session. This will be a discussion on the Esfray Notice Shows 13 Cattle Missing Salem Thirteen strayed or stolen cattle art listed on the November estray bulletin, pub lished by the state department of agriculture. Henry A. Mat schiner, supervising livestock of ficer has given all the depart ment's livestock officers !and brand inspectors a description of the missing animals. - State police and county sher iffs have also been alerted to be on the lookout for the missing animals. Included on the estray bulletin was information from the El more county, Idaho sheriff who asks Oregon officers to watch for a missing reigstered Here ford bull, and two other animals, owned by a farmer near Hill City, Idaho. Eight other owners reported cows, calves and heifers missing from .farms and ranches in Ben ton, Linn, Jackson, Wasco and Malheur counties. Lean meat contains about 73 per cent of water. Top Stitchers Receive County Medal Awards Outstanding work in sewing and fitting garments that they made in 4-H club work has won for 11 Jackson county 4-H club members a county medals in the national awards program, it was announced. Judged on the basis of the con struction technique of their gar ments, the suitability for the individual involved, and the ability to model the garment, were the factors considered in the presentation of medals awarded by the Simplicity Pat tern Company. Named as the outstanding stylists in Jackson county for 1957 were: Gwen Palmerton. Arjrjlegate: Julie Ashton, Central Point; Ver nola Hutchison, Central Point; Nyla Murray, Antelope; Marj orie Wonderly, Medford; Ursula Bates, Medford; Elaine McKay, Central Point; Karen Jossy, An telone: Marveda Frost, Evans Valley; Diane Putman Eagle Point; and Georgia Hubbard, Antelope. future of stone fruits in Oregon. Lowry To Participate Dave Lowry, Medford, will participate on a panel on han dling fresh market peaches. Present status of the virus free program will be discussed by a panel during the Friday afternoon session of the stone fruits section. Attention will be focused on strawberries in the small fruits Several phases of raising vege table crops will be discussed in meetings of that section dur ing the two day program. These will range from fertilizers, to use of plastic mulches to micro scopic examination of soil. Weed control results will be outlined by H. J. Mack, OSC horticul turist during the final talk of the Friday afternoon session. Ward Spatz is a member of the general program committee, chairman of the nominating com mittee, and of the apple and pear section. Orville C. Hamilton serves on the resolution commit tee as chairman. David Lowry is on the Hartman cup commit tee and Paul Culbertson on the advertising committee. How To Judge, Manage Soil Outlined By OSC Corvallis No one expects to pick popcorn from prune trees or to market pork chops from black Angus, but the impossible often is expected of the soil, according to two Oregon State college soils men who are au thors of a new bulletin designed to help Oregonians make best use of their wide range of soil types. Published by Oregon State college extension service, the 32- page booklet, "Soil Judging From the Ground Up," was pre pared by Arthur S. King, con servation specialist, and Mur ray Dawson, soil scientist. Copies may be obtained free from coun ty extension offices or the OSC bulletin clerk, Corvallis. Vole Dates Set On Fryer Commission Salem A producer referend um on the proposed Oregon fry er commission will be held from Dec. 9 through Dec. 21, director Robert J. Steward of the state department of agriculture an nounced today. Ballots will be mailed before Dec. 9 to all producers who reg istered with the department by Nov. 18. Ballots may be return ed by mail to the department at Salem or they may be de posited in ballot boxes in the offices of county extension ag ents in Eugene, Albany, Salem, Oregon City or Hillsboro. Any registered producer who does not receive a ballot in the mail by Dec. 9 may obtain one from Market Development Chief Paul T. Rowell at the state de partmentof agriculture in Salem, or from any of the five county agents' offices listed. Public hearings were held last May after broiler and fryer pro ducers petitioned for a self-help commission. The commission will be creat ed if two-thirds of the registered producers voting favor it and if the number voting represents at least one-third of the total Ore gon production. If created, the commission would be authorized to assess and collect not more than 1.5 percent on producers' sales cf broilers and fryers. The funds would be used for research an4 promotion of this industry in Oregon. Bay At Builders Supply QUALITY BLOCKS Bricks, Flues, Drain Tile 727 W. McAndrewg Ph. SP 2-4107 I -V'1'"' ' ' ' BEST FOR i High in protein . . . low in calorie . . rich m vitamins and minerals. No wonder eggs are-highly recommended by nutritionists for building and maintaining strong, healthy bodies. And because Grade AA Nulades are locally produced, farm-fresh eggs, you always get an extra measure of goodness in every dozen. Try Nulade Grade AA eggs, the finest m table quality. Guaranteed fresh! G
