The record-union., 1897-03-23
cessities of life for themselves and their

cessities of life for themselves and their
families.
Experiments in the culture of flax
have demonstrated that the region
about Puget Sound and in Western
Washington is one of the exceptional
localities where this fiber can be grown
with assurance that the product will
be of the finest quality. The summer
climate of the Willamette Valley and
particularly of the Yamhill country,
and the seasons during which the flax
attains its growth, is remarkable for
the coolness of its nights and the hu-
midity of the atmosphere Some of the
flax grown in this country was sent to
mills in ireland to be tested, with
the result that is was pronounced en-
inenty adapted for thread-making and
warp-yarn spinning purposes. being
exceedingly strong and working well
on the machines.
1t is estimated that prior to 1890
sums of money equal to two-thirds of
the amount of grain exports were sent
out of Oregon to buy butter, eggs,
beans, fruit, ham. bacon and other
staples of this character. In other
words, the cost of such articles amount
ed to SO per annum for every man,
woman and child in the State. At the
present time not a tenth of this amount
is expended for articles of this kind
produced outside of the State, and there
is no reason why all the mining region
Of the interior as we'll as that of Alaska
and the entire market of the Pacific
Coast should not be supplied with these
products from the Willamette Valley
alone.
One of the best food for hogs is the
field pea, a crop that never fails in
Western Oregon. The wild pea grows
rank over large sections of the State
and it is an excellent forage plant The
soil will support as heavy crops of peas
as of wheat or oats. and 1t will sell for
twice as much. 1t is claimed that for
consumption on the farm, peas make
good food for poultry. and that for fat
tening hogs 100 pounds of peas is equal
to 200 pounds of oats and 115 pounds
of wheat. Moreover it is asserted that
pork produced from peas is of the best
quality in the world.
THE CLIMATE OF OREGON.
The rains of the Webfoot State have
long been an amiable jest with outsd-
ers imperfectly familiar with the eli
matte conditions of the Northwest The
fact is that at no time of the year oc-
ours anything like a continuous down
pour or even steady showers. The dry
season, as throughout the entire Pacific
Coast. includes the summer months and
part of autumn, bat there are many
bright days during the winter months
popularly supposed to include ''the
wet season" Probably one-third of the
winter days come and go without any
rain whatever, and it is seldom that the
showers are twenty-four hours in dura-
ton Neither does the rain come in
storms. 1t seems to drop from warm
clouds condensed by the slightest pres
sure. and it falls like dew, utterly de-
void of the destructive force SO COM
mon elsewhere 1t is doubtful if any
country has less wind than the Will
annette Valley. East of the Cascades
the dry plains warm the air, and as it
rises it sucks down the cold wind from
the snow-covered sides of Mount Hood
and the high range north of it; but no
such effect is produced on the temper
Azure of the Willamette Basin by either
the ocean on the west or the mountain
ranges east and south. The only work.
men who seem to pay any attention to
the rain are the houSe-painterS and the
irrigators Extreme heat or bitter cold
are unknown. The Japan current does
for this coast what the Gulf Stream
does for Western Europe, tempering