The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1898-01-13
COTTON FOR THE NORTHWEST.
New Crop to Be Tried East OF Cascades
Other Plants will BE Tried.

oregon and Washington will raise
cotton next season. Their cotton crop
will probably not "bear" the market
the first year, but there is no telling
what effect cotton will have on the in
dustrial conditions of the future. The
cotton production of this year will be
under the fostering care of the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company, which
has just opened an industrial depart
ment that will experiment with various
things to develop the country reached
by its transportation lines. This is a
far-sighted scheme of President Mohler.
H. G. Judson, who has had considerable
experience in such matters in the East,
has been put at the head of the depart
ment. He will be guided to a greet
extent in his operations by the agricul-
tural colleges of Oregon and Washing
ton.
Cotton is successfully grown in the
panhandle of Texas, ut attitudes rang
ing from 1000 to 1900 feet above the
sea, where trosts occur in April. In
some parts of Eastern Oregon frost has
been absent through the entire year.
Portions of Umatilla county are espe-
cially favored in this respect. The ex-
periments with cotton will be made in
the arid and semi-arid sections of East
ern Oregon and Eastern Washington
in Wasco, Sherman, Morrow and UNA
tilla counties, of Oregon. and Whitman
and Adams counties, of Washington.
While the cotton plant will stand a
great deal of moisture, it can also en-
dure drought. It sends roots deep
into the ground. In many places where
wheat is not a reliable crop, or cannot
be grown at all on account of the lack
of moisture, it is believed cotton will
flourish. If so, it will solve the irriga-
ton problem for those sections. A
thorough test will be made the coming
season.
Among the other things in view by
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com
pany's industrial department is the
introduction of tobacco raising. A
considerable colony of Cubans in Florida
are negotiating to come out to the Pa
cific Northwest to raise and manu-
facture tobacco, and the parts of Ore
gon and Washington lying east of the
Cascade mountains are believed to pos
sess all of the conditions suited to the
business. The destruction of the trade
in Cuba has turned the attention of
these people to other fields of operation.
and they have sent agents here to look
the matter up. Martinez, the great
cigar man of Key West, examined the
country east of the mountains recently,
and he did not doubt that tobacco of a
superior quality could be produced in
the vicinity of Blalock, in Gillian
county.
The production Of forage plants in
the midland Empire will also engage
the attention of this move for industrial
development. Incidental to this will
come thorough investigation of the
possibilities of dairying and raising
livestock under different conditions
than now prevail-condition that will
admit of fuller development of the
country. A number Of new trees will
also be experimental with, to see if
they will not have the effect of precipi
tating moisture, SO as to make arabic
areas now arid. Among the exotics is
a tree that is said to have redeemed
portion of France from desert conditions
ages ago-a gum tree that is native OF
Assyria. It is reasonable to suppose
that the tree would be valuable in the
dry sections of the Inland Empire, and
it will be given trial there.
The mechanical device of a Boise
man for raising water from streams for
irrigating purposes will also be thor
oughly tested. 1t consists Of cylin-
der. on the outside of which are buck
cts that fold automatically, and the
contrivance is said to work well in a
current so slow even as two miles an
hour.
The excitement over gold in Alaska
will bring thousands and thousands OF
men, many of whom will for the first
time see the great natural advantages
of the farming country and not 60 to
the Yukon at all, stopping to plant
their own vines and fig trees, under
which they will repose in comfort and
happiness, while the goldhunters suffer
the hardships and uncertainties OF the
chase for sudden affluence.
In speaking of the proposed enter
prise a prominent business man said
recently:
"Many will 90 up the Alaska coast
and return to Oregon and Washington
to make their homes. Still others will
90 to the gold fields and then return to
engage in more sober pursuits. Prac-
tically all will have to pass through
the Northwest country, and the trip
will educate them. A new era is OPEN
ing for these states, and the far-seeing
and energetic ones are preparing 10
meet the new conditions. Prosperity
and progress are not in the dim dis
lance. but are at the door, and 1t IS
common sense and business sagaclty to
take these steps for opening and devel-
opinp the resources Of the country.
Northwest Notes.
A Coos county paper says that there
are number of Chinese pheasants in
the vicinity Of Remote, in that county.
The close OF 1897 witnessed an I'M
proyement in Olympia trade OF at least
% per cent over the corresponding
period of 1885,
Garfield has shipped more than ~
carloads of apples to the mining camps
this season, besides large quantities OF
pears and other fruits
Professor r. L. Washburn, biologist
at the university Of Oregon, has for
some time been in correspondence with
the commissioner of fish and fisheries
at Washington, D. c., to secure an ad-
ditional lot Of Eastern oysters for
= .,d hos mat received