The Republican journal., 1901-10-31
Farming in Washington.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, Oct. 1901
Washington, as State, has experience
ed a term of general prosperity and
business encouragement marked by the
recent years of general improvement
which have favored the entire country
in more or less degree. 1t was not
many years since that the farmers OF
the State generally were heavily bur
dened with debt, because OF several
years of depression in the outside world;
but it only required one good year for
wheat. high prices because OF the
scarcity in other sections of the world,
to place our farmers ION their feet,
financially, and the mortgages were paid
off to pave the way for further prosper
ity, which has not since failed to attend
the sturdy tillers of the soil in this pro-
life State For the present year it
would seem that all conditions have
combined in this State to give the most
favorable results. Remarkable pros
perity and development is the report
from all portions of the State for the
season of 1901. Bountiful crops of all
kinds are the product of the farms;
cattle and sheep in immense herds from
the ranges; fruit in great abundance
from the orchards; fish in limltlesS
quantities from sea, sound and rivers,
and a bewildering amount of improve
ments everywhere greet the eye III the
pushing and progressive cities.
From the Walla Walla, Palouse and
Big Bend districts-the leaders In
wheat production come reports of an
enormous yield, with most favorable
weather in which to secure the grain.
In fact, in Washington rain or wind to
hinder or delay the harvests or thresh-
ing are almost unknown, the dry condi-
ton of the atmosphere causing the
ripened grain to stand unimpared for
weeks. Stubble here usually looks
brighter and fresher in December than
III eastern fields a week after the reap
ing. The aggregate yield of wheat in
this State for this year will probably
exceed 81. .O0o. 600 bushels, the largest
Weld before having been 22,0oo,O0O.
The average yield per acre is between
40 and 60 bushels for the State. The
milling industries of the State are quite
extensive and very much of the crop
will be exported to the Orient as Wash
ineton flour. Alaska, and the many
mining and numbering camps, with the
cities of the Sound make good home
market for -four Cargoes OF the sur
plus wheat will sail direct from Puget
Sound to the United Kingdom.
In Western Washington, where the
farmer devotes his attention to more
diversified farming, a very satisfactory
howing will be made. The dairylng
and fruit interests are prosperous: the
hops heavy crop, with difficulty to OBJ
tain sufficient numbers of pickers; and
hay. oats and similar crops a good yield.
In the Puget Sound basin the best
farmlands lie along the valleys of the
numerous rivers flowing into the Sound.
A visit to 'sMaplelawn," one of the
beautiful farms of the interurban
valley between Seattle and Tacoma, is
certainly a revelation to the fastener.
Here is found a 60-acre farm, every foot
of land in high state of cultivation,
numerous attractive and convenient
buildings, and a spacious house with
eyely evidence of comfort and even
luxury: a Well-kept lawn, tianked by
fine orchard, shade trees of elm and
maple in front, and every fence on the
farm neatly painted. But it is the
products OF MaplelaWn which are the
wonder and furnish fine income to the
owner. who though now most syste-
matte and successful farmer and mana
ger, and yet young man, was less than
ten years ago a clerk i'll bank, never
then having known a thing about
farming Here are few items of the
products of this farm, just to show
what even novice in farming can do
with the productive soil of Washing
ton:
twenty-five tons of rhubarb, shipped
this season.
800 crates of raspberries and black
berries shipped to Montana, Oh a con-
tract netting Sl.10 per crate at the ship
ping station.
Vast amounts of asparagus, potatoes,
Beans, and the various farm products.
Apples, pears, plums, cherries, ETC.,
from an orchard of over 500 trees.
From herd of over twenty thorough
bred Jersey cows, whose milk goes to
the nearby creamery, comes a steady
income, While pens of prize chickens
and a lot of hogs and other diversified
interests add to the constantly accruing
returns of the farm. O. NJ. MOORE.
The Lombard Failure.