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Nineteenth Year
PROSPECTS.
Judging by the attendance at the
fairs this year, I am of the opinion
that the farming population of the
state has increased nearly 25 per cent
in the last year. Not only were there
more people, but the interest in the
displays was much greater. The en
thusiasm was at its height around the
stock pens, showing that there is a
very general awakening to the advan
tage of pure-bred stock. Only a few
years ago, when the higher types of
pure-bred stock were first exhibited at
the fairs, the natives were filled with
amazement, the contrast was so great
with the ordinary mixed stock of the
country. Whenever anyone plucked
up the courage to inquire as to prices,
the figures named gave a startling
shock. A few of the more progres
sive ones who dared to purchase were
set down as foolhardy, who would soon
regret their extravagance.
* * *
A marked change has taken place
among our farmers during the last
few years. The progressive element
attends the fairs and stock sales, in
spects the exhibits, carefully selects
good breeding animals of whatever
breed considered most desirable, and
is willing to pay a good price there
for, provided the stock fills the re
quirements.
Into the neighborhood where
pure-bred herds are introduced, the
standard of the live stock industry is
proportionately raised. Because of the
results thus accomplished the fairs
may be consiidered a most valuable
and practical educational factor, and
worthy of all possible encouragement.
* * *
Paul Morton, recently gave us his
reasons why country roads should be
improved. In the first place, bad
roads are an extravagance, and in the
second place they contribute much to
the isolation of farm life. A third
consideration may be added —the
wholesome effect of good highways on
the farmer himself. Any one of these
reasons is sufficient to warrant a con
siderable expenditure of money and
time on improvements. Together they
make an invincible argument.
• • •
The modern farmer keeps in touch
with the market either by telephone
or by his daily newspaper. Frequent
ly in the case of ordinary produce, oc
casionally with the important staples,
he can take advantage of a temporary
rise in the market —provided the roads
are good. If they are bad his precau
tions go for nothing. Of course the
trouble has been that farmers have
been unable to take care of this year's
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, NOV. 15, 1902.
crop. But the man who had a supply
on hand was able to dispose of it last
week for about fifteen cents a bushel
above the normal price. If bad roads
interfere with getting the goods to
the railroad —as occasionally happens
—the farmer risks losing opportunities
to sell at a high price.
* * *
The waste of time involved in haul
ing through mud is apt to be over
looked. The farmer is too inclined to
think that it makes no difference —
maybe he wouldn't be working that
day, anyway. But it is just in this
neglect to make the most of their
time that many farmers fail. It is as
important that all hands keep busy
all the time on a farm as it is that
they be kept constantly at work in a
manufacturing plant. Another ele
ment of waste in using bad roads is
the wear and tear on the horses, wa
gons and harness. All the appliances
have to be renewed much more fre
quently when they are subjected to the
strain of hauling through mud than
H. I. WEINSTEIN.
they would if used only on macadam.
The side of this question which af
fects the matter of taste also has a
practical bearing. Dirt and shiftless
ness tend to go together. The farmer
whose wagon is covered with clay
doesn't feel the pride in keeping up
his place that he would if his vehicle
came back clean from a drive to town.
Manufacturers and business men of all
sorts are finding that it pays to keep
their places ship-shape. The most
successful farmers have learned the
same lesson. Muddy roads are enemies
to the good order that helps make a
farm successful. It is hardly neces
sary to dwell on their relation to that
isolation which Mr. Morton rightly
said is the chief objection to farm
life. In part this is inevitable. But
it can be greatly relieved by the im
provement of roads. There is no reason
why a farmer's family should suffer
solitary confinement during many
weeks of the year.
* • *
The Oregon Land & LivestocK Com-
Subscription $1 Par Year
Worth TwojOold Dollars
pany"flled articlesTof incorporation last
week. The capital stock of the compa
ny is $1,000,000, and the principal
place of business is Eugene. The in
corporators are R. A. Booth, John F.
Kelly and George H. Kelly. The ob
jects of the incorporation cover nearly
everything in the livestock business.
This company has been formed by
members of the Booth-Kelly Lumber
Company, and is for the purpose of
developing a portion of the property
of that company recently acquired
from the Military Wagon Road Com
pany, and the new company will take
all that portion of the land grant east
of the Cascade Mountains which has
been found to be more valuable for
stockraising than for timber. An ex
tensive industry is thus to be devel
oped.
* * *
About forty manufacturers of pro
cess butter have organized themselves
into an association under the name of
the National Association of Process
Butter Manufacturers. They have
set forth their reason for combining
as "the desire to prevent the injuri
ous effects of individual competi
tion." In other words they will be
in a position to fix the price that shall
be paid for the butter that goes into
their factories to be worked over. If
they are paying twelve cents for it
now they will doubtless find eleven
cents all it is worth and a little later
may conclude that ten is enough. The
butter makers of the country may as
well settle down to the conclusion
that the price fixed will always be in
favor of the factories and not of the
country butter maker or of the corner
grocery keeper that sells it to them.
At this time about the only way to
escape from a condition where the
maker of the butter will have noth
ing to say about the making of the
price is to learn to make butter so
good that it will not have to be sold
to the manufacturers of process but
ter.
NO EASTERN MAN WOULD BE-
LIEVE THIS.
L. H. Spader, whose orchard is not
over a mile from Chelan postoffice, in
forms us that he has in his orchard
20 Gloria Mundi trees loaded with
apples so large that he doesn't know
what to do with them. They are too
big to be packed in boxes, and if he
ships them out he will have to pack
them in barrels. He also has 40 20-oz.
pippin apple trees, whose yield will
average at least 16 ounces each. It
must also be borne in mind that this
is an off year for apples in this sec
tion. —Chelan Leader.