The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1901-10-24
IAN IDEAL s.EEr couzrrr :

IAN IDEAL SuEEP COUNTRY"
The 0pinisa 81 Nsesd Agricultural A.
thority and Hls Reasons Ter Ie
In . letter to the Sheep Breeders
Gasette Prof. Thos. Shaw, Of the agri
cultural department Of the State Uni
versity Of Minnesota, who h one Of the
leading agricultural authorities Of the
United States, says:
1.-THE writer has visited no part ol
the United States or Canada where the
natural conditions for sheep husbandry
would seem to b superior to those In
the Puget Sound country, in tho state
of Washington, and he has visited Q few
sections OF either Of those countries In
which the natural conditions will even
Approximate those Of the AREA named.
Beyond all question 1t will some day
be famed for the number Of the sheep
that It will produce, and for tho excel.
from the standpoint Of mutton produc.
ton, wool production or from that Of
the breeder Of pure-bred stock"
Prof. Shaw gives the readers Of the
Gazette the various reasons for his be.
lief that this Is IAN ideal sheep coun.
try" He commends the character Of
the soil and says it evidently abounds
In potash, - witnessed in the marvel
GUS degree to which white clover
abounds wherever the land has been
cleared for any considerable length Of
time" He says the abundance Of the
white clover and lis luxuriance were .
revelation" TO him. at seems to grow
sverywhere. On land covered with
stones, amid the ferns, among the
brambles and the berry bushes, amid
the shrubs and stumps and logs, there
was the white clover and Of q height
such a l never saw BEFORE" He eX-
presses the opinion that "around Bell.
ingham bay, in the cleared or partially
cleared land behind Fairhaven, there
IL enough white clover going to seed
annually to fatten at least 100000 head
of sheep, and in the face Of the fact
that these lands have been pastured by
the COWS Of the town. What
= place this country would be for grow.
ing white clover seed, and yet the
thought Of sowing 1t for seed never
seems to have dawned on any Of the
farmers. hike sT0psy' grew, they let
it grow. But II must not be imagined
that white clover Ii the only kind o:
clover that will grow. The other kinds
@ the medium red, the mmAmOth, the
alsike and the crimson will grow equal.
IL we'll. In the lowlands the farmers
hesitate to grow alsike In lands being
laid down to timothy lest IL crowd the
timothy. On the side Of the road lead.
ing to the beautiful Lake Samish, that
lies asleep between the protecting hills
around II, the writer pulled up an
alsike clover plant with 1O2 distinct
branches and q medium red clover
plant with 100 distinct branches.
ut is an ideal country for growing
sheep, because Of the abundance of the
forage other than grass pastures that
can b grown. / counted the pods on
. vetch plant. This plant was taken
from the mass that grew In the field
1t is not therefore . plant that was
grown to sec what could be got from
It. 1t had 43O pods and each Of the
pods had an average Of six seeds. The
seeds with few exceptions were well
formed aud plump. There were thus
$3.50 seeds on this one .vetch plant.
dwarf essex rape seed was s0wn BY
Mr.. r. Watkinson on the Samish fats
and near the sea. On one plant taken
from tho MACS, and the plants were
grown too closely, there were ,435
good seed pods and $50 miniature ones.
Allowing thirty-two seeds to the pod,
which was fair average, there werc
on this one plant As, $40 seeds. One can
scarcely realize the completeness Of the
growth in this country until be sea It.
Imagine how sheep would fatten on
setches and oats grown together, and
fed to them in winter without thre0h.
ing either the oats or the vetches.
H6rse beans will grow here even better
than In Scotland. The Canada field
pea il in Its element. Orchard grass
and various fescues grow In fine form.
Why should not sheep do well in this
ready for being pastured In February.
ruary, March and April In the open
not been tried, for until recently the
should It not succeed? :
y nhesitatingly I say it, I believe
that ere many years 60 by. some Of the
uOc0S 0Oeep USOO Ou THO COuSlueut Will
b grown there, aud when % grown
they ought to I've purely bred. Inn.
mense tlocks Of sheep feed In the range
country east Of here where rain II shy
to fall. These fi0cks want stock rams
every year. Where can they be better
raised than here? Why send out Of the
country for them a. IL oftentimes now
done? Imagine car loads Of pure brrd
rams bought up outside Of the United
States and brought every year into
Washington and Oregon, two states
without . peer in all the world In
adaptability for sheep production"
Editors Note-These are merely . few
has been an enthusiast on tho subject oil
the agricultural possibilities Of this sec
ton since he first visited the Sound
country" several years ago. He does not
mention having visited this county.
though Il II tho writer's impression that
| he came over to Orcas island ON . little
pleasure trip about i've years ago. He
probably has not made any investigation
Of the special adaptibility Of this county
to sheep production and very likely hG
does not know that although ono Of the
smallest counties in tho state there ara
many moro sheep in San Juan county
Washint0n. AL that he says about th1
Puget Sound region ~ IN "ldeal Sheep
Country" applies with special force r.
this county.
POPULATION or TEE STATE