, 1872-02-15
Puget Sound Farmers Club.

|
The February meeting of the Farmers s
Club, at Olympia, was of unusual inter
est, clearly demonstrating the utility of
such associations. We have moi room
for full report of the proceedings, but
copy therefrom the following interesting
| facts:
Mr.. Woodward had his usual bouquet
on the Secretary's table. 1t was not an
extensive collection, but it was win
ter's floral offering that tells the story of
our mild climate far better than words
can. 1t contained gillas, mock lilac,
wall flowers, daisies, Towering cabbage,
anemone, and five varieties of wild flow
ers, eleven kinds in all. g-.l
Temperature for January, 1872, from
4th to 7th, at noon, 45 degrees above ze-
ro in the shade; 23d, 50 degrees above
zero at noon; 25th, 2S degrees above ze-
70 at Z o'clock in the evening.
The following very interesting COM
munication was read from friend in
the Chehalis valley: lt
Chehalis county was first settled in
tn, years 1S51-52 by J. F. Scammon,
C. F. Porter, W. O'Leary and three or
four Others Mr.. Scammon located at
Montesano, now the county seat; O'Lea-
ry settled at Gray's Harbor and Porter
at Elma; being from ten to fifteen miles
apart, and no means of communication
except by canoe or Indian trail. In the
fall of 1854 James Smith took claim at
what is known as the block house, be-
ing at that time the end of the road and
very bad one at that, about thirty
miles from Olympia and the same dis
river. The county now has popula-
ton of over four hundred; assessed val
ue of property $751; $3.50. There are
about fifty improved farms in the coun-
ty. 1t costs from $15 to $25 an acre to
clear the brush and timber off but after
it is cleared there is no better land in
the Territory. Crops of all kinds do
well, such as wheat, oats, barley, pota-
toes, rutabagas and all kinds OF garden
vegetables. The dairy business is the
chief employment of the farmers. Near
ly one-balf of all the butter brought to
Olympia comes from the Chehalis valley.
Among the most prominent butter-mak-
ers are the Campbell brothers, John
Metcalf, Andrew and James Smith, and
several others. They milk from Is to
80 cows each; the COWS requiring no
food except the wild grass, which grows
on the prairie in the summer, and in
winter they are fed on hay and few
rutabagas. Beef cattle is another staple
of the county.
In the Chehalis bottom lands, three
tons of hay to the acre is the average
yield; wheat, from 80 to so bushels;
oats, so to IS bushels; potatoes, 800 to
500 bushels; and ruatbagas. 1900 to
| 1,500 bushels to the acre. As an ex-
ample of what can be done, we will give
the amount of grain and other products
raised on one farm: James Smiths farm
consists of 800 acrse, 500 prairie and 300
timber. The prairie is only good for
pasture, being .gravelly. He has 100
acres of timber land cleared, having
cleared % acres during the summer and
fall of 1870, at cost of 5 25 an acre. He
sowed in wheat without plowing on the
I'd of February, 1871, and in Septem-
ber following threshed 1900 bushels,
which sold fer 81 so per bushel.
Alfred Hill, A. A. Isham and S. S.
Ford, have had the same success as Mr..
Smith.
Sheep and hog raising is also followed
on a smaller scale, there being no i'm
bproved breed in the county, so far. APP
Eples, pears, currents, gooseberries, and
all varieties Of fruit are in abundance.
There are schools at Montesano, Elma